Written by Amy Stoltenberg
Photographed by Katherine Rountree
Swimsuit season is here already, so you can quit that diet you never stuck to and just embrace the body you so finely cultivated throughout these last few weeks of midnight study binges. Summer has arrived and that means it’s time to indulge yourself. Luckily, Savannah has no shortage of decadent summer treats, and we found four of the best here for your viewing and drooling pleasure.
GOOSE FEATHERS CAFE
Try the Peach Whoopie Pie at Goose Feathers Cafe this summer. Photo by Katherine Rountree.
One of Goose Feather Cafe’s signature menu items is their whoopie pie, which they introduce in new flavors every season. Homemade from scratch, their peach-flavored whoopie pie is only available when the cafe has access to the freshest, juiciest peaches in May and June.
“A whoopie pie is like an inside out cupcake. It’s two cakes with a sweet cream center,” said owner Beth Meeks from Savannah, Georgia. “It’s an old Amish tradition. The name comes from school children opening up their pails and saying ‘whoopie’ when they saw the treat.”
Goose Feathers Cafe will also offer fresh key lime pie in May and June.
SWEET CAROLINA CUPCAKES
The Velvet Elvis cupcake from Sweet Carolina Cupcakes. Courtesy of Sweet Carolina Cupcakes.
Though it may sound more like the stage name of drag queen than a baked good, the Velvet Elvis Cupcake could not be more refined with its banana and walnut pound cake base, topped with a swirl of peanut butter and cream cheese frosting. Oh, and don’t forget about the bacon for garnish.
“The velvet elvis is absolutely fantastic,” said Cadell Martin from Atlanta, Georgia, the Special Events Coordinator at Sweet Carolina Cupcakes. “I usually describe it as eating a peanut butter and banana sandwich next to a campfire because you get a lot of smokiness from the bacon, but it’s not overpowering, and you get a really nice salty-sweet flavor, as well.”
This emblem of decadence was named after Elvis’s favorite food: a fried peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich. It will be available at Sweet Carolina Cupcakes from June until mid-September.
LEOPOLD’S ICE CREAM
Leopold’s flavors change regularly with unique options like Rose and Thin Mints and Cream. Photo by Katherine Rountree.
Starting in June, Leopold’s will offer two specialty summer flavors: Huckleberry Cheesecake and Dutch Utopia.
For the Huckleberry Cheesecake flavor, graham cracker crumbles are immersed in a cheesecake ice cream, then swirled with huckleberry preserves.
“The Huckleberry Cheesecake is actually a dedication to Johnny Mercer, an American songwriter who wrote ‘My Huckleberry Friend,’” said Brittany Callaway from Savannah, Georgia, one of the managers at Leopold’s. “Way back in the day, he was a regular. He lived right around the corner from the original store at Habersham and Gwinnett.”
As for those customers with a hankering for chocolate, the Dutch Utopia flavor is a dark, Dutch cocoa ice cream with orange cocoa cognac truffles mixed in.
MAISON DE MACARONS
Look out this summer for Maison de Macarons’ new ice cream macarons. Photo by Katherine Rountree.
For those foodies who refuse to do away with their skimpy summer suits, Maison de Macaroon offers a lighter French pastry that will satisfy the more refined sweet tooth.
Laura Hale from Carbondale, Illinois, one of the co-owners of the pastry shop, said, “We will be doing a Jasmine Passion Fruit Macaron. We make a homemade passion fruit curd for the filling, and then we have a jasmine tea that we put into the cookie that’s a really nice compliment.”
Starting in June, Maison de Macarons will also offer a Georgia Peach flavored macaron, as well as ice cream sandwich macarons made with specialty gelato from a creamery in Atlanta.