Vegan MoFo 9: Dessert After Breakfast and Still in Philadelphia

After my visit to MiLah Vegetarian, I did a quick check and found that Sweet Freedom Bakery was half a mile away!

I was there two years ago, loading up a feast for the return of Futurama to television. The sweets were fantastic then, so I figured they would be now.

Sweet Freedom's mission seems to be to provide baked goods for those who avoid certain common ingredients, but still want to indulge. My experience with this is limited. My sisters are gluten-free, and one of them is an expert at avoiding refined sugars. I, however, have no qualms about any of that sort of thing.

Most of my party opted for cupcakes, and we all jumped right on the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip and Raspberry-Filled Vanilla. One thing that I was immediately reminded was that for someone like me, management of expectations is important. Cupcakes that have no gluten, no white flour, and no refined sugar are a bit dense and a taste reminiscent hearty grain cereal.

I certainly don't think they were bad - they were quite lovely, but my palate prefers a cupcake that is markedly not real food. Other than that, I had one minor complaint - the Chocolate Chip Pumpkin had no chocolate it in!

Now a good move in a bakery like this is to go for something that has a bit real food in it already. One of our party made that move and snagged an apple crumble. Oats, cinnamon, and apples make for dessert so naturally as it is that the absence of white flour or refined sugar goes unnoticed.

Bottom line, I would send anyone there to introduce them to alternative baking options. I would suggest they stick to the cookies, cheesecakes, and crumbles, but that doesn't seem so bad does it?