"Sweets for the Sweet" is a local restaurant dessert competition hosted by the Caritas House Inc., which assists people living in 25 counties of northern West Virginia who are living with HIV/AIDS. The Caritas (Latin for charity) House was created in 1994 and is one of three organizations in the state who assist these individuals.

The 19th annual event was held on Saturday at the WVU Alumni Center. It cost $20 and the proceeds benefited the Caritas House. The event featured the dessert tasting competition, the Fairmont State University Jazz Ensemble, door prizes and auctions.

We started with some heavy hors d'oeuvres - sliders, corndogs, pepperoni rolls - before devoting our evening to straight sugar. 

We picked the restaurant nearest to us and made our way around the room.

Table 9 - caramel pot de creme & devil's on horseback. This set the bar pretty high. While I've had the devil's on horseback, which are really quite tasty, the pot de creme was really quite good. The top was a salted caramel pretzel almost, and the consistency was smooth.


Ramada / The Heritage Grille - tiramisu. When we went to this table, there was no one there to talk to us about it, but it seemed fairly standard tiramisu. Nothing too outstanding or different.


Erickson Alumni Center - pineapple toasted coconut cake drizzled with warm pineapple sauce made with Heston Farms moonshine & fruit (kiwi, strawberry, blueberry) shooters & chocolate-covered strawberries. They really go hard. I had the cake and a shooter, and both were really pretty good. The pineapple cake was familiar, but a little different at the same time.



Rising Creek Bakery - "gone bananas" buttermilk banana cake with a buttermilk custard mouse, malted chocolate ice cream, caramelized white chocolate sauce and hazelnut sand. This was one of my favorite desserts, for sure. Tons of different texture and flavor here. And it all comes together seamlessly. A well-thought out plate here with a delicious dessert.

Jameson's Pub & Eatery - salted caramel brownie with a pretzel crust. This sounds like it would be my be-all, end-all dessert. But I was getting some odd coconut notes I wasn't super crazy about. I DO love that a lot of the places this year have gotten the "salted caramel" dessert, because it's my absolute favorite.

Tutto Gelato Cafe - salted caramel pretzel cake. I loved this idea, but I think the pretzel crust was more salty than the sweet part of the ice cream. But it was still tasty.

The Cupcakerie - fluffer nutter, strawberry lime margarita, mudslide and orange crush cupcakes. The Cupcakerie tends to do the same sort of cupcakes at these events, so I've had many of these before. I went with an orange crush one, and it was good.





The Preston Co. Inn - beignets. The Preston Co. Inn had a really cute theme going with the props and whatnot surrounding their dessert of choice: beignets. They were fresh from the fryer and covered in powdered sugar. Just like a donut, but airy.

The Dancing Fig - apple fig cobbler with granola crumble and creme anglaise foam (left in photo above). The Dancing Fig is one of my favorite restaurants in town, period. And this dessert was phenomenal. It's like a deconstructed apple pie with a perfect granola crumble. So warm and comforting.

Bartini - Guinness cheesecake (right above). I'm actually pro-Bartini for their sliders. This cheesecake bite, though, was so rich, it was hard to stomach. That could've also been because we had about 15,000 desserts at this point.

Tin 202 - truffle cheesecake, graham and cocoa crust, salted caramel layer, cream cheese and ganache. Though it doesn't have the best curb appeal, I actually liked this dessert and finished the whole bite. Many of the other desserts I only tasted so I wouldn't have a total sugar overload. I love the creamy texture with the ganache and salted caramel. I'm a fan.

Terra Cafe - chocolate cake topped with a duo of hazelnut and coconut mousses, crowned with a hazelnut macaroon, white and milk chocolate sphere and a dark chocolate cage. This was by far the most elaborate, and I would venture to guess most time consuming, dessert here. Heavy, dense chocolate cake isn't usually my bag. I always go the caramel route. But there's no denying the creativity and execution of this dessert. Just look at it.

Apple Annie's - coconut cream pie. Apple Annie's actually had another dessert, but they were our very last stop, and we were up against the time clock to vote for which was our favorite, so we really didn't get to savor this dessert like I would have liked to. But, it was still good regardless. It was just a bite, btu there was a good bit of coconut flavor, and the meringue was on point.

OK, and the big winners for the night were:

MOST EXOTIC: Table 9

TO DIE FOR: Erickson Alumni Center

TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE: Dancing Fig

BEST PRESENTATION: Terra Cafe

PEOPLE'S CHOICE: Erickson Alumni Center

SWEETEST OF THE SWEET: RISING CREEK BAKERY

Congratulations to all the winners! And thank to you the Caritas House for hosting such a fun event. I hope the event raised TONS of money for the cause, and I can't wait to see what next year's event brings!