tsp. baking company
Brownie Batter Cupcake – Chocolate Cake, Brownie Batter Frosting
Monkey Bite Cupcake – Cinnamon Banana Cake, Caramel Frosting, Potato Chips
Oatmeal Raisin
Chocolate Walnut Chip
Red Velvet Chip
Peanut Butter
Oatmeal Butterscotch
Mega Chip – Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Butterscotch Chips
Fairy Roll – Flaky Dough, Sugar, Sprinkles, Vanilla Bean Frosting and Magic
CB O.M.P. Pie – Graham Crust, Cookie Butter, Cream Cheese Filling, Whipped Cream
Last seen baking some of Sin City’s best Cupcakes at Retro Bakery in North Las Vegas, and emerging from divorce into a bourgeoning market that stretches from Rosallie in the Southwest to CRAFTkitchen in Henderson, Kari Garcia’s tsp. baking company on North Decatur Boulevard sees the same broad smile that has been greeting patrons for nearly a decade now selling everything from Ice Cream to Cakes, Pies and Cookies in a cheerful space chock-a-block full with items bound to please.
Opening late in 2016 and slowly gaining a following, its position nestled between a nail salon and Starbucks seemingly a good place for foot traffic, it was just past noon that the small shop was visited shortly after a sizable FedEx delivery had arrived to further diminish available floorspace, the music overhead joined by clever phrases including “cake it until you make it” while pastry cases are divided into Cookies and Cupcakes with freezers featuring Lappert’s Ice Cream plus a few decorative cakes and “Cream Pie for You and Me.”
Shortly debating all available options, the Cupcakes priced at two-dollars for what amounts to just under a mouthful, it was after a few suggestions from the staff that $24 worth of product was boxed, bagged and taken outdoors to one of a few small tables, the Cupcakes both gone in a few moments with each as fluffy and moist as those remembered from Kari’s former establishment, the Caramel topped Monkey Bite particularly memorable with the salty Potato Chips playing well off the natural Banana flavor below.
Curious about the Instagram-friendly Fairy Roll, essentially a curl of laminated Dough topped in melted Sprinkles and Vanilla Frosting as opposed to the more traditional Cinnamon and Sugar, those looking for something truly indulgent would be well advised to investigate the O.M.P. Cream Pies, a $5 choice of Peanut or Cookie Butter Mousse proving indulgent and smooth atop an old-school Graham Cracker base that is sold for sharing, though a ‘some now, more later’ approach may be just as advisable for the gluttonous or greedy.
Turning eyes towards the Cookies, some flavors familiar to fans of Retro, the choice of which to omit is probably easier than which to select for those counting costs or calories, five of the half-dozen sampled on-point as relates to flexibility and flavor, the Mega Chip taking a shotgun approach with four styles of Chips melting into a buttery backdrop while both styles of Oatmeal restrain sweetness save for mix-ins, the Peanut Butter round a true masterpiece of American baking with a delicate crumb plus just enough Salt and Sugar to differentiate the flavor from sticking a spoon straight into a jar of Jiffy.
THREE AND A HALF STARS: No doubt a place with potential, especially as other bakeries in town continue to specialize down to a single item, tsp. baking company would be well served to lose the cupcakes and forget the past rather than try to reinvent it with prices that are discordant to the rest of their products, especially the chocolate which tastes too sweet, both in the “Brownie Batter” that pales in comparison to the “Brownie Sundae” at Retro and in the so-heavily-dyed-you-can-taste-it Red Velvet Cookie.
RECOMMENDED: Peanut Butter Cookie, Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookie, Monkey Bite Cupcake, CB O.M.P.
AVOID: Red Velvet Chip Cookie, Brownie Batter Cupcake
TIP: The Peanut Butter Cookie is Gluten Free.
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: 5 World Class, 4 Excellent, 3 Good, 2 Fair, 1 Poor.
https://www.tspbakingcompany.com/
