Inside a Wards Corner Road shopping center, Patricia Sebold gives me a primer on brigadeiros, the ping-pong-sized truffles covered in chocolate sprinkles, crushed pistachios or Belgian chocolate. They are made from sweetened condensed milk, cocoa powder and butter and are often served at special occasions, including weddings and holidays, often in a tiny paper cup or scooped up with a spoon. One bite of a brigadeiro coated in coconut and I’m hooked.
Sebold and her husband, Thiago Riva, are the owners of Sweetness Brazilian Bakery, which opened about three years ago in Loveland. Thiago grew up making brigadeiros at his parents’ market and bakery in Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil, as well as Brazilian-style carrot cake, where the carrots are pureed into a moist cake and layered with Belgian chocolate cream.
After the family sold the grocery in Brazil, the Rivas moved to Ohio, where, according to the website World Population Review, is home to around 5,600 Brazilians. Sebold told me many of them live in Southwest Ohio and that they opened their bakery to make them feel more at home. “This is our dream come true,” she said.
Sweets aren’t the only Brazilian specialties you will find here. There are savory coxinha, breaded croquettes made with potato dough, my favorite of which is stuffed with corn and cheese and served with a bright garlic and parsley mayonnaise. There’s also a cheese coxinha with an addictive mixture of mozzarella, gouda and Parmesan. Sweetness also offers chicken and cream cheese empanadas, ham and cheese sandwiches and a picanha steak sandwich with tender sirloin steak and cheese served on soft, house-made Brazilian-style bread.
And I strongly suggest ordering a cold can of Guarana Antarctica, a soft drink made with a berry found in the Amazon forest, which tastes vaguely of apple and ginger. You might end up buying a case of it from the bakery’s small grocery, which also sells Brazilian snacks and other items that, like this bakery, provide a much-needed taste of home.
471 Wards Corner Road, Loveland, 513-908-2410.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: ‘This is our dream come true,’ A Brazilian bakery thrives in Loveland
Reporting by Keith Pandolfi, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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