Resistance is Futile

When it comes to desserts, I like to think of moderation not so much as an angel on the shoulder reining in our lower nature, but figuratively as a prudish aunt rationing out her cake in wafer-thin slices and serving each with a tiny dollop of whipped cream. If you can more readily identify with the uncle who carves up for himself a colossal wedge of the same cake, buries it in a mountain of ice cream and tops off the formless mass with a cascade of hot fudge, the ethos of Delectable Delights is for you. Located in Kansas City, Missouri (an underrated venue for gourmet sweets), this is one business that puts the devil in delicious, tempting us with, among other vices, a patented line of one-pound-weight Sundae Cupcakes in drool-inspiring flavors like Cherries Jubilee, Cinnamon Apple, Boston Cream and something called El Pastel de Reyes that looks like it fell right out of the ecstatic three a.m. vision of some raging chocoholic with a culinary license.

For those of us who eat and drive at the same time (not recommended, by the way), this dream factory of desserts also offers a number of more easily handled treats such as Red Velvet Cookies, traditional Sugar Plums, Russian Tea Cakes and Chocolate Pecan Bars. Lest you think these goodies are served up on the end of a pitchfork by someone hell-bent on destroying every dietary resolution you’ve ever made, rest assured there’s a very real human behind these amazing creations, who humbly profiles herself as “a young single mom” (but fails to mention her supernatural ability to make mouths water). We’ve sampled a couple of the products made in her kitchen, and we can vouch for the fact that they’re every bit as tasty as the names would suggest. Next step: figuring out how to keep my family’s car from heading in her bakery’s direction this weekend…