The Sweet Stuff

INDULGE IN A DOSE OF SWEETNESS TO BRING A SMILE TO YOUR DAY.

By GAIL WILLIAMS

There’s good news for those who occasionally indulge in a guilty sweet treat and for those whose hearts skip a beat at the mere mention of a gooey, molten lava cake or a sensuous lick of fluffy ice cream in a crisp, waffle cone.

Sweet treats do actually make you happy. The surge in dopamine as you bite into a square of chocolate also triggers memories of childhood sweet treats and feelings of happiness, excitement, and joy.

We all know the importance to our health of putting the emphasis on the word “treats”. But, hey, we do deserve an indulgence sometimes. And the Bunbury Geographe region is full of outlets to reward oneself with a mouthful of dopamine-inducing joy.

Here are a few to put a skip in your step...

Taffys

Twenty years ago, Sam Morris followed his sweet tooth and gave up teaching history to open a candy store with his daughter, Chelsea, and created history of his own in Australia’s only saltwater taffy shop with customers calling in from all over the world.

Using recipes handed down from his mother, grandmother and aunts, the pair recreated the delicate American treats from Sam’s childhood spent growing up in Cincinatti. Taffys is still going strong and is Bunbury’s waterfront treasure trove for sweet tooths and a legion of young and old saltwater taffy fans who regularly pop in for Mum’s Fudge, Aunty Dorothy’s Peanut Brittle as well as the old-fashioned taffy which takes around two-and-a half hours to make and is pulled by machine.

It’s a secret recipe but Sam says, despite its name, it does not include saltwater.

“It does include salt though,” he says. “And it comes in flavours of strawberry, banana, passion fruit and is cooked in a big copper kettle, cooled, and placed on a specially made pulling machine.”

Life is certainly sweet at Taffys.

4/21 Holman St, Bunbury

Visit taffys.com.au

Guardians of Happiness

You don’t have to ask why pastry cooks are the guardians of happiness. You just have to walk into Natalie Moremon’s colourful store, which is absolutely brimming with happiness as people deliberate between nine different flavours of brownies, to see smiles abounding.

It’s like walking into an edible rainbow, with layers of different-coloured creamy icing decorated with butterflies and roses, and cartoon characters and fruit. Put in an order, and you too, can have your supersized share of cakey bliss. There’s also a daily-changing assortment of donuts, cupcakes, fudge, macarons, truffles, chocolates and pastries.

13 Stephen Street, Bunbury

Visit guardiansofhappiness.com

Dardanup Bakery

Want to know what they eat in heaven? Chocolate custard croissants made by John Obermeier, the Dardanup baker, that’s what. And closely followed by a Berliner donut or if there’s room — a sneaky cinnamon scroll.

Rumour has it that when John and his wife, Laine advertise for staff applications come with a proviso they get paid in donuts. Easy to see why.

13 Charlotte St, Dardanup West

The Bean and Cone

If a lick of artisan gelato is what transcends you to your happy place head to The Bean and Cone, a tropical coloured gelato paradise, where Margaret Adams oversees around 38 different flavours on sale every day. Burnt fig? Passionfruit? Turkish Delight? It’s all made — and eaten — to the mantra “I licked it, so it’s mine.” We like their style. Oh and here’s another scoop — there’s dairy free sorbet and waffles and enough Dutch sweets to satisfy any lolly lover’s cravings. And best downed on site with a woodfired Frothin’ Coffee.

115 Victoria St, Bunbury

Visit thebeanandcone.com.au/bunbury

Choccy-licious Bouquets & Gifts

It might be the lure of The Pink Gin Goddess basket that gets customers into this den of decadent delights in the Bunbury Forum Shopping Centre — owned and operated by Trish Fostinelli for the past four years — but they leave with a bouquet of chocolate hearts, a packet of Chocobee honey-whipped chocolate and, just for fun, a cuddly teddy bear. Oh, and a big, satisfied smile on their face. Trish also delivers intrastate and interstate.

Bunbury Forum Shopping Centre, 33/63 Sandridge Rd, East Bunbury

Visit choccy-liciousbouquets.com.au