This Bakery Is Tampa Bay’s Most Secret Spot

There are so many different options when it comes to picking out doughnuts. Sure, you can go to Dunkin Donuts, Walmart, Publix, or even the gas station, but what if you’re looking for something a bit more local and less cookie-cutter? Sunshine Bakery in Largo is Tampa Bay’s most secret spot for doughnuts and pastries.

Tucked away in the back of a strip plaza off Starkey Road, Sunshine Bakery is one of those secret spots that sits off the beaten path. They bake up fresh doughnuts, muffins, danishes, croissants, and turnovers every morning.

I go to the gym across the plaza from Sunshine Bakery and every morning, you can smell the aroma of freshly baked doughnuts and pastries filling the parking lot. Everybody loves good doughnuts, so I stopped in this morning to pick up a few.

When I arrived at the parking lot around 6 AM, a few people were already waiting outside. I stopped in around 7:30 to pick up a couple of doughnuts and check the place out. 

I went with the strawberry-filled glazed, glazed twist with vanilla drizzle, the classic glazed with drizzle as well as a chocolate cake doughnut with vanilla drizzle and it only cost $6 for all 4. These pastries were the perfect combination of thick, fluffy, and moist.

I grew up going to local bakeries in Northern Wisconsin with some of the best homemade-style doughnuts you could find. From the first bite, I could tell that these pastries rival for some of the best I’ve ever had. Sunshine Bakery will be my go-to spot for doughnuts from here on out.

If you want to pick from a wide variety of options, be sure to get there early. The turnovers, croissants, muffins, danishes, and special doughnuts sell out quickly.  

Sunshine Bakery is a wholesale and storefront retail bakery serving up the people of Tampa Bay. They are located at 12650 Starkey Road in Largo, Florida. They do not accept card payments, so you’ll want to come ready with cash in hand. 

They are open to the public for walk-ins on Tuesday - Saturday from 6:30 am - 10:00 am. On Sunday and Monday, Sunshine Bakery is wholesale only. 

For questions or to learn more about Sunshine Bakery, contact Anna Lakic at 727-585-5575 or email anna33716@hotmail.com.

Ben and Jerry's new flavors couldn't be more different from each other. The popular New England based ice cream brand has added three options to their creative family so far this year, and here I will rank them all.

Coincidentally, I tried each of these in one sitting. This was an unplanned taste test. With a house full of young kids, a visiting friend recently stopped by and knew the way to quickly win over the youngsters. Pints of ice cream.

Before I get into explaining which was best, I should note I am not an ice cream (or dessert) enthusiast by any means. Dare I say, I hardly seek out ice cream, even in the summer months. However, if it is put in front of me, I will eat it if it's one of my favorite varieties.

If I'm going for ice cream, though, Ben and Jerry's is easily my brand of choice. Being a New Englander, I have toured their Vermont location a handful of times. Their half-baked in a cone is my go-to choice.

If you are not familiar, these are the Ben and Jerry's new flavors that have rolled out in 2024. Impretzively Fudged, PB S'More, and Marshmallow Sky. Now, it's important to note that Marshmallow Sky is new just to pints. Meaning, it was available in their scoop shops only.

Another flavor entitled Strawberry Cheezecake was also unveiled earlier this year. This did not qualify here as a new flavor ranking because it had been an ice cream flavor (branded "cheesecake). The new "cheeze" version is a vegan dairy-free dessert.

Upon seeing these at my house, I realized they were new. So, instead of selecting one pint to scoop, I took one for the team and realized I needed one proper scoop of each.

My process was to try one at a time and not have all three in the same bowl. Blending flavors might compromise the intended taste.

As a result, there was a flavor where one bite was enough. Another where I couldn't get enough, and the third was somewhere in between.

Here is my official ice cream ranking of Ben and Jerry's new flavors.

It's chocolate ice cream with fudge covered pretzel pieces and pretzel swirl. The problem here is that I do not like chocolate covered pretzels. Oddly enough, I love pretzels alone. Dip them in sugar and ice cream and it either compromises the flavor or classifies as "too much." So, this was my least favorite.

Here we have toasted marshmallow ice cream with peanut butter cups, graham cracker pieces, and marshmallow swirl. The graham crackers are the star of this show. They pair better with the ice cream and chocolate than the typical marshmallow of a S'More. This was certainly a tasty delight, but I feel if the marshmallow swirl did not need to be invited to the party.

Admittedly, I was a little cautious about the blue ice cream color thinking it could suffer from cotton candy syndrome (where too much equals upset stomach city). That is not the case here. It's marshmallow ice cream with swirls, and then chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough. The latter of the cookie dough bites just brings this to another level. Some sweets get forced together and some just belong together and make each other better. That's the case here. It's no wonder Ben and Jerry's decided to promote this flavor. It tastes as cheerful as it looks.