Franny’s Cup & Saucer
And a little doughnut adventure
A luscious beauty, well worth the adventure
If you’ve stayed with us before, you probably know that we like good food. We like to serve it, we like to eat it, we like to talk about it, we like to share it. If you but ask, we’ll delightedly grab one of our maps and scribble all over it for you as we lay out the best spots in the area for pizza, ice cream, Michelin Star dining, coffee, sandwiches, burgers, wine, beer, picnics, and more! With such less-than-subtle enthusiasm for all things tasty, it would perhaps come as no surprise then that we made a pilgrimage the other week down to Point Arena for a little visit to what could quite possibly be the best bakery on the coast – Franny’s Cup & Saucer.
Now, we don’t often drive 45 minutes one way just to pick up pastries, but sometimes… well… sometimes it’s just worth it!
Here’s how it happened…
Where to start, where to start….
SCENE 1: The office at the inn, paper strewn about their desks as Guy and Laura deal with all the little odds and ends of running an inn while it’s shut down.
LAURA: Hey, look! Next Friday is National Doughnut Day!
GUY: That sounds like a day I could definitely celebrate.
LAURA: Ooo… Franny’s Cup & Saucer does doughnuts every Friday. I went down with a friend for her birthday one week this past fall. They were probably the best doughnuts I’ve ever had in my entire life.
GUY: What kinds do they have?
LAURA: Well, Franny makes a totally different kind every week, and she and her crew don’t announce it until Thursday. Regardless of what kind it ends up being though, we should probably order ahead, because I think they only make a certain amount and tend to sell out early.
GUY: Alright! Let’s do it!
SARAH (coming in with ELLA): Yes! I agree!
ELLA: Doughnuts! Doughnuts!
SCENE 2: Next week, on the drive down.
GUY: I can’t believe we’re spending basically all morning to go get doughnuts. Still, I’m intrigued by this week’s special – I saw on Facebook that they’ve made Mango Pineapple Pavlova Doughnuts today…
LAURA: I know it’s kind of crazy to make such long a drive for such a small thing, and I can’t even imagine what a pavlova doughnut would be like, but I can pretty much guarantee you it’s going to be amazing. I mean, the doughnuts I had in the fall were outrageously good, so I’m sure these will be right up there too.
ELLA: Doughnuts! Doughnuts!
A splash of color on a grey day. Can you see the line of customers starting to stretch down the street??!
SCENE 3: Guy’s pickup is parked on Main Street in Point Arena, right across from the tiny, bright blue façade of Franny’s Cup & Saucer, which is neatly tucked in between the buildings on either side. There is a line of morning pastry devotees that straggles down the block from the door, each eager customer shifting from one foot to the other at the proper 6 feet apart with masks on. As Laura and Ella watch from the truck, Guy’s turn comes to step up to the door, which is currently functioning as the bakery’s counter due to COVID precautions. He slowly swings around to start across the street, a massive white pastry box balanced precariously in his hands, a slightly dazed look on his face.
ELLA: Yay! It’s time to eat doughnuts!
GUY (as he opens the box to show them): Oh. My. Goodness. Look at these things! They’re huge! These aren’t doughnuts – they’re works of art.
LAURA: Wow. Just… wow.
ELLA (practically jumping out of her seat): Can I have one now, please? Please? Can I?
GUY: We’re going to have to wait and find somewhere special to eat these, maybe a pullout along the highway where we can eat on the tailgate and watch the waves. There’s no way we are going to eat these in the truck!
Things tend to get delightfully messy when the pastry is almost as big as your head.
Now, when we did finally get to sink our teeth into these massive, succulent beauties, we weren’t near the water, but we didn’t care. The meringue of the pavlova crumbled delicately in our mouths, the cream inside the doughnut gooshed over our fingers, and the mango pineapple compote and bright whipped cream atop it all got pretty well smeared on some of our faces. The taste? Divine. Sweet but not so terribly much as most of the doughnuts we remember from childhood. It was perfectly balanced, in fact. The aftermath? Well… let’s just say we made good use of the nearby garden hose before we were clean enough to get back in the truck and head back to the inn. And all the rest of the doughnuts in that massive pastry box? Don’t worry, we had plans to share…. maybe.
These little guys had their eyes on our doughnuts, we were certain! Photo by Ella Pacurar
Franny’s Cup & Saucer is a true small-town bakery. Franny’s parents owned the building and ran it as the Point Arena Bakery from 1997 to 2004, with Franny herself growing up in that world of pastries, breads, and all things tasty. As a young adult, Franny moved down the coast a bit to Gualala, where she learned and grew a lot as a baker at Trinks Cafe. Then in 2006, she moved back to Point Arena and took over the old bakery space, partnering with her mother to bring her own vision of pastries to the world. She has established a strong business over the past 14 years, working with a lot of weddings and events, creating a little retail shop inside the tiny bakery’s entry, and devloping a devoted following of locals and regular visitors that will make the trek down from Fort Bragg and Mendocino just for her Friday doughnuts or one of her other amazing treats. (The Sea Salt Caramel Brownies are oh-so-good, and the All Day Macaroon will blow your mind!) Her desserts are at once creative and comforting, and they definitely keep you coming back for more!
Just a little example of some of Franny’s wedding work… Photo courtesy of Franny’s Cup & Saucer
Words and most of the pictures by Laura Hockett