Dinkel’s
Rum Tart – Meringue, Rum Infused Cocoa Buttercream, Nuts
Red Velvet Cupcake / Carrot Cake Cupcake
Apple Fritter
Sourcream Donut
Caramel Nut Raised and Glazed
Moving from modern to classic the second stop on our morning tour was at iconic Dinkel’s Bakery, a Chicago institution since 1922 featuring old world recipe cakes, cookies, donuts, and more amidst cozy confines on Lincoln Avenue. Large in size and also in selection it was just prior to 7:45am when we arrived and with parking easily allocated we entered the shop along with a small trickle of traffic to peruse the options, clearly an affronting a rather unpleasant clerk as we inquired about the unmarked donuts behind the counter only to later see karma bite back when she spilled my aunt’s (admittedly dreadful and probably better off spilled down a drain) hot chocolate all over the pastry case and counter while packaging our order. Ordering lightly as we’d already indulged in Enoch’s Donuts earlier and taking our choices to the café next door it was with mixed results that we sampled the selections, the sour cream donut a warm, crisp, and textbook rendition while the both the yeasted option and the fritter were bready and boring, the later nothing like a fritter but rather a sort of cinnamon pull-apart nearly devoid of fruit. Moving next to the cakes, both the red velvet and carrot were light and flavorful if not particularly memorable but intentionally saving what I anticipated to be the best for last it was in the Rum Tart that Dinkel’s redeemed itself as the meringue remained crisp between layers of boozy buttercream while toasty, crushed walnuts and pecans proved an admirable foil to the sweetness.
