Sweet of the Week: Bombed Cherry at Lizzie's Bake Shoppe

I'm a sucker for a cherry cordial. Ya know, those gooey, viscous Maraschino cherries encased in chocolate? I've always loved them, but for some reason I always felt they were too mature. When I was young, my mom would receive them on holidays, while my siblings and I got kid candy like fun-sized candy bars, and let me tell you, there is nothing fun about being ripped off on candy portions. Now the best thing about being an adult is that when I want a cherry cordial, I get a goddamn cherry cordial. Or even better, the bombed cherry at Lizzie's Bake Shoppe. You want to talk about mature candies, that's about as mature as it gets, mostly because it's soaked in booze.

The bombed cherry at Lizzie's Bake Shoppe, the retro-inspired grandma-esque bakery in Ukrainian Village, is a tipsy nod to cherry cordials. The name is a play on the idea that the cherry is bombed, meaning hammered. Owner Liz Isaacs updates the confection by adding booze and cake to the mixture, marinating Maraschino cherries in vodka before encapsulating them in chocolate-cherry cake and dunking them in dark chocolate, stem and all. She paints a little "TNT" on front, and the stem sort of looks like the wire you would ignite to detinate an explosive. Fortunately the only exploding happening here is an eruption of flavor in your mouth.

(Bombed Cherry. Photo: Matt Kirouac)