Marble Hill Cakes has an abundant wealth of sweet goodies

Recently, Marble Hill Cakes moved to 4215 State Highway 72 in Jackson, and so there was really no excuse not to visit anymore. Be aware, the door is a little hidden. Just follow the bakery signs around to the back of the dark gray building and look for the neon sign in the window.

Like most bakeries, Marble Hill Cakes smelled wonderful upon walking in. It was warm and smelled of freshly rising bread, all yeasty and with the promise of soft, chewy bread. My main reason for coming on this day was the picture of Challah bread on Marble Hill Cakes' very active Facebook page. Challah bread is traditionally braided and has a slightly sweet interior. I've been wanting to try it for a while now, and here it was, nearly in my backyard. There were two women in the bakery, both wearing snappy and sharp black uniforms with delightful baker's hats. Since there was only one loaf of Challah left, I told the friendly women that I wanted it while I returned to perusing the rest of the goodies.

I was quickly fascinated by the watrushkas, a ring of bread dough cradling a red fruit mixture in the middle. I asked about them and was told that they were like a Danish, with cream cheese and fruit in the middle. After doing some internet research, watrushkas (or vatrushkas) are of Eastern European origin, and after tasting one, I would argue that it is better than a Danish (my apologies to the Danes out there). A watrushka has a much different dough — less flaky, more soft and chewy, beautifully golden brown and as large as two of my hands. Mine was filled with cream cheese and raspberry filling, and I enjoyed every bite.

A bouquet of cruffins, croissant muffins stuffed with various sweet fillings.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

I also tried a cruffin, which appears to be a smash up of a croissant and muffin. It looked like croissant dough, flaky and soft, had been formed into a spiral and baked in a long, deep muffin tin. They come with various fillings, but mine had a caramel, almost like pudding, that had a toasty flavor. The combination of the flaky bread and the rich filling was very complimentary.

But I almost missed out on the best treat of all, because one of the women came out from the back, balancing a huge tray in one hand. The tray was loaded with the most beautiful tarts, covered in chocolate ganache with little pearls of white chocolate adorning the peaks. She told us they were freshly made, a new tart that she was calling "Snickers tarts". What looked like a pie shell holding it all together was molded chocolate, and the inside was filled with puffed chocolate rice, peanuts, toffee, caramel sauce and white chocolate mousse. Sign me up! I bought two.

I took all of my goodies and went to the car. Upon sitting down, I immediately tried a Snickers tart, because it was just too pretty to wait until I got home. Though I fully expected to make a mess eating it, it held together like a champ while I picked it up and ate it like a heathen. Man, oh man! While this treat could have easily tipped over into so-sweet-that-it-hurts-my-teeth territory, it did not. Just the right amount of sweet, the chocolate ganache peaks on top were my favorite. I enjoyed the light texture of the whole thing, with the crunchy shell, and the pops of flavor inside as I ran into peanuts and toffee. So good, and I will definitely crave this one again.

The Snickers tart, a surprisingly light chocolatey beauty.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

As for the Challah bread, I did wait until I got home for that. I spread it with the Summer Butter that I bought at Green's Garden previously, and just let that wonderful bread melt in my mouth. There is nothing like freshly baked bread.

One of the things that Marble Hill Cakes are known for that I did not try this time are the gigantic Apple Cinnamon Rolls, but there is always next time. If you are ever in need of one of your favorites that is not currently in the display counter, you can always special order a batch of whatever tickles your fancy. As the name implies, Marble Hill Cakes also does custom cakes, cupcakes, cake pops, etc.

I was not expecting to be presented with such a wealth of things I had never tried when I visited Marble Hill Cakes. This place is a gold mine of goodies.