Last week, I ventured down to the Pike Place Market with the goal of checking out new bakery Svedala Bakery. It's a small stall in the same corridor as Daily Dozen Donut Co., specializing in Swedish pastries none of us had ever even heard of, but wanted to try, such as Mandelfläta (cardamom yeast bread with almond paste), Mazarin (almond tarts) and Dröm Rulle (chocolate sponge cake rolled with vanilla buttercream). You can imagine my horror as I approached at about 9:30 in the morning and they weren't open yet. Seriously, it should be a law that all bakeries open by at least 6 in the morning--or ideally, they'd be open 24 hours.

But reading that their goods were also sold at Whole Foods, today I ventured over to the Westlake location and picked up one of their very pretty Katalan--a Mazarin with a layer of raspberry jam.

Dude, this thing was good. Starting from the bottom, you've got a delicate, buttery crust that wasn't too flaky but was deliciously crumbly and moist; a very thin layer of raspberry then gives way to a thick filling of sweet almond paste, which was all topped off with a sort of raspberry jam icing. It's not a very large pastry--maybe 3 inches in diameter--but it certainly packs a decadent and delicious punch.

Katalan from Svedala Bakery, via Whole Foods Westlake.