Peridot Sweets
Strawberry Cheesecake
Lemon Tart
Red Velvet Cupcake
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcake and Pecan Cupcake
Maple Bacon Cupcake
Banana Cream Caramel Cupcake
Caramel Shortbread Truffle
Cookies and Cream Macaron, Creamsicle Macaron, Salty Caramel Cream Macaron
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Banana Brigade Cake
Peanut Butter Jelly Thumbprint
Mexican Wedding Cookie
7-Layer Bar
Turtle Cheesecake
Owned by Tiffany Jones and inspired by a childhood of baking intended to please her own personal tastes with skills honed at California Culinary Academy and some of the best properties on the Strip, it was largely a matter of location that had kept me from revisiting Peridot Sweets for so long but a recent encounter with Mrs. Jones over pizza proved plenty an impetus to point the GPS south, the young lady’s work having reached new degrees of refinement with cookies, cakes, and confections all trumping any West-side bakeshop, several selections proving the best in the Valley as a whole.
Carefully trending ‘cutesy’ without going all-in like Wonderland or other commercial outfits throughout the (702,) Peridot Sweets features a small cooler-case up front alongside a couch and cafe with the prep kitchen tucked away in back, and greeted by Tiffany on entry the entirety of an order consisted of nine items, another eight sampled the previous week with not a single one failing to set high standards for texture as well as taste.
Assured in her skill-set with recipes based on education, experience, as well as good ol’ trial and error the inspiration behind Peridot Sweets came from the owner’s desire to leave behind Las Vegas Boulevard’s long hours in order to start a family, and with much of the business based on elegant event cakes those looking to experience the shop’s signature bites are strongly encouraged to begin with any of the scratch-baked cupcakes, the cocoa-laden red velvet far less dainty than the majority while both a banana-caramel composition and maple stuffed with bacon prove even more robust.
Having admittedly perused the website in order to make a few requests it was in two stacked cakes that taste buds were additionally invested and as much as the carrot cake sang with savory notes and spice beneath the lightest of cream cheese frostings it was the “Banana Brigade” that proved the very best of Peridot’s creations, the same supple banana bread as that from the cupcake given a baba au rhum treatment with cream cheese frosting and caramelized bananas adding levity, though certainly not enough to render the booze mute or particularly ‘kid friendly.’
Stating that cheesecakes were another item she loved to create, suffice it to say that Tiffany’s silky smooth version trends far closer to her ethereal cream cheese frosting than any heavy New York slice, and whether topped with fresh berries or a thick lacquer of chocolate and caramel the results are equally enthralling, a buttery rich crust more than capable of standing up to the moisture both here and in the case of a tangy lemon petit four sampled just one week prior.
Also offering cookies, bars, brownies, and fanciful macarons in a variety of flavors that change with the the Chef and her team’s whims, one would be hard pressed to find fault in anything except perhaps the confusing colors, both the ‘cookies and cream’ and ‘salty caramel’ oddly tinged in blue while creamsicle trended more appropriate, the tastes absolutely spot on with textures improved by room-temperature serving, the “7-Layer Bar” an entirely sinful amalgam of sweetness reined in by coconut while both the Mexican Wedding cookie reminisced of the Russian Tea Balls of Christmas during childhood.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS: Easily overlooked or dismissed as a ‘cake bakery’ in a city where Freed’s has far too long held sovereignty Peridot Sweets is putting on a mighty fine showing in the West Side of the Valley, what it lacks in quantity more than compensated for by an investment in quality.
RECOMMENDED: The Cheesecake is reference standard for those preferring something less dense than the style popularized by Junior’s in Brooklyn while the Banana Brigade is one of the city’s top three cakes with the carrot version not far behind.
AVOID: The Peanut Butter Thumbprint was a touch dry once you got past the jammy filling and the macarons warrant time to warm up before serving.
TIP: Closed on Mondays but offering a full catalog of cakes and treats to choose from online or in-store otherwise, those looking for a quote are encouraged to check out the website and contact the store directly.
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: 5 World Class, 4 Excellent, 3 Good, 2 Fair, 1 Poor
http://www.peridotsweets.com/
