Coffee & Treats in Miami Springs

A towering wall of book-lined shelves and a wooden chessboard tucked in the corner create "that vibe where you feel like maybe you should stay for a spell" at Moloko, according to the Miami New Times. That feeling grows stronger as you sip from a cup of steaming coffee or steeped tea and drive a fork into abundant crepes stuffed with anything from prosciutto to raw, organic maple syrup.

Overhead, exposed wooden rafters keep the ceiling from floating away from the walls, adding a rustic touch to the otherwise modern décor. Customers lounge beside cherry-red walls at the coffee bar, settling into vinyl seats that fall somewhere between stools and armchairs. When the space isn't serving customers, the staff hosts crepe-making classes and live music.

Cushy Cakes conjures up sweet sensations with the lighter-than-air lusciousness of the Andes' famed cotton-candy clouds. Using organic butter, milk, and eggs, Cushy Cakes commandant Melissa Jarquin will whip up a dozen cupcakes ($20) in flavors such as Bananarama, the key-lime-pie-tinged Southernmost Cupcake, and Betty's Carrot Cake, or in the customized flavor of your choosing. Sweet tooths seeking the cream of Cushy Cakes' crop should opt for the Cafe Con Leche, a flavor based on the beloved breakfast coffee, or the Stout Cupcake with Kahlua frosting, made with the beloved breakfast beer Guinness. Gluten-free and vegan cupcakes are also available.

The North Miami Beach Italian-ice and bubble-tea shop specializes in frosty cold treats to cool summer-warmed bodies. The chilly-treat experts offer more than 30 flavors of their signature bubble teas ($4.25)—fresh-brewed iced tea with small tapioca pearls at the bottom of each cup, served with a thick straw for sucking up the gummy-esque spheres. The creamy and mostly fat-free tea is made from fresh fruit and milk and comes in fruity flavors such as pomegranate and passion fruit, as well as latte-inspired brews such as the caffe latte and caramel rooibos. If tea isn’t your treat of choice, opt for a refreshing Italian ice ($2.99 and up) and dine on one of nearly 60 flavors in two iced styles. The fat-free and dairy-free water ice pleases with flavors such as rootbeer and cotton candy, and low-fat cream ices such as bananas foster, cannoli, and chocolate peanut butter will satisfy dairy-deprived palates. With nine no-sugar-added and sugar-free options, the Italian-ice treats are sweet options for sugar strikers and diabetics.

Elite Cake Creations began as a little bakery in Cuba way back in 1921, so it's had nearly a century to perfect its cakes, desserts, and pastries. Today, Jorge Garcia continues the long family tradition started by his grandfather, using tried-and-true recipes that call for buttercream frosting and fondant with vanilla-, chocolate-, and marble-cake bases. Garcia can customize cakes to look like everything from a flame-painted speedboat to a bucket of cold Coronas. He extends this art form to cupcakes and push-pop cakes. He also relishes the opportunity to craft cakes for special occasions, constructing eight-layer wedding cakes, birthday cakes shaped like wrapped gifts, and 50th anniversary cakes made of solid gold.

On a trip to Georgia after giving birth to her third child, Desiree Polazzo had her first taste of a bite-sized orb of cake that—despite her strict dieting to get back into pre-baby shape—had her hooked. Awed by the decadent treat, Desiree returned home to Florida and headed straight for her kitchen to experiment with a recipe of her own. She finally architected a dulcet, velvety cake pop that recaptured the excitement of that first Georgia pop, she opened Cake Pop-It to share her discovery with the community’s sweet teeth.

In the years since, Desiree has let her creativity take the reigns of her confection-crafting process, decorating each pop with a whimsical design or turning it into an edible character replete with a smiling face and a mysterious past. Cake Pop-It’s staff of bakers also forges other sugary nibbles including custom cakes and cupcakes with inventive flavors such as salted caramel, key-lime pie, and crumb cake.

Dawn Michelle Simon](http://gr.pn/GRjH5P), a registered dietician, was tired of looking for grain-free baked goods for her clients with dietary restrictions. Rather than poring over the limited options available in stores, she developed her own line of baked goods, drawing upon organic ingredients to forge loaves and confections free of gluten, grain, and casein—a milk protein. She continually tinkers with new recipes, striving to craft products so that her clients can continue to consume the treats they enjoy or recover blackmail photos from a duck with dietary restrictions. Once off-limits, specially crafted breads such as chocolate-chip loaves and hamburger and hotdog buns arrive grain-free with accompanying batches of cupcakes and muffins.