Dig in With Graver: Dirty Os, Buttercream Chicks and Bunny Cakes

PHOTO COURTESY OF ZAC’S SWEET SHOP

I enjoy eating dirt.

The no-bake dessert — layers of chocolate pudding and crushed Oreos in a cup with a gummy worm on top — was a staple of my childhood, but, somewhere along the way, I ditched the delicious plot for greener, more “grown up” pastures.

I’m glad Pittsburgh native Zac Coughlin didn’t follow the same path.

Known as the “Gen Z Willy Wonka,” he launched Zac’s Sweet Shop from his mom’s McKeesport kitchen when he was 13. These days, the Los Angeles-based business sweetens Hollywood premieres and Oscar after-parties and collaborates with brands such as MAC Cosmetics, PUMA, Fanatics and Amazon Prime.

Coughlin’s homegrown company specializes in fun, brightly packaged treats that are edible pieces of ‘90s nostalgia, including S’Mores Bark, Rainbow Crunch Pretzels and Cookie Butter & Cream Dessert Cereal.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ZAC’S SWEET SHOP

The new Dirty O (no, that’s not a reference to Pittsburgh’s long-shuttered Original Hot Dog Shop), landscapes the classic dirt cup by coating a cookie sandwich in milk chocolate and white chocolate and topping it with cookie crunch and two gummy bears.

Now this Gen X Augustus Gloop can finally enjoy eating dirt on the go!

“I think chocolate and candy and baked goods and everything should always just be fun,” says Coughlin, who dreams of opening storefronts in Pittsburgh, L.A. and New York.

Until then, you can find Zac’s Sweet Shop products online and at Feast on Brilliant in Aspinwall and Wilkinsburg’s Workshop PGH.

Even before chatting with the Zoomer Oompa Loompa, I was feeling sentimental about dessert.

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

While doomscrolling earlier this month, I saw a Facebook post heralding the return of H.D. Dudt Bakery’s St. Patrick’s Day frogs: yellow cake and buttercream coated in green fondant.

Seeing their little faces made me so darn happy, I hopped over to Wexford to pick up a few. Now that it’s springtime, chicks have replaced the amphibians. In October, ghosts will haunt the bakery case until snowmen move in like a cold front.

Admittedly, it’s hard to bite the head off of something so adorable, but, as a professional, I’m able to power through.

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

On May the Fourth 2020, I drove to a bakery far, far away to buy Wookiee cookies for Star Wars Day. Two Fraus in Harmony was already sold out of Chewbaccas by the time I arrived (womp-womp), but I was able to snag a half-dozen Wampas (wamp-wamp)!

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

Why do I go to such great lengths for a sugar rush?

I was raised on derpy desserts.

Every Easter, my mom Frankensteins two, 9-inch round cakes into the shape of a rabbit wearing a bowtie. Sometimes she sprinkles the frosting with coconut before making a face out of jelly beans and shoestring licorice.

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

This thing is more essential to our holiday meal than ham.

Does your family celebrate the season by slicing up bunny heads? I’d love to see ‘em! You can send photos to kgraver@pittsburghmagazine.com and I’ll post my favorites online.

If you’re feeling sheepish, on Sunday, April 5, Chef Beth Zozula is hosting a family-style Easter brunch and lamb cake bake off at black radish kitchen in Point Breeze. Local pastry pros will display their creations and guests will judge them on presentation and flavor.

In my eyes, ewe are all winners!