Hug Life

Garden Grove, Orange, and Long Beach

If you’ve been a fan of this shop for a while, you’re probably missing their discontinued hug-a-pies. The hug-a-pie was a warm cookie topped with ice cream, whipped cream, and a drizzle of your favorite sauce and toppings. But here’s the scoop—you can still order it off the menu! If you’re feeling more experimental, try defying gravity by piling up as many ice cream scoops as you want on a cone. Think you can beat their most recent record of twelve scoops? There’s only one way to find out!

Charlie’s Brownies

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You all know about ice cream sandwiches and sundaes, but what you probably don’t know is that you can make a hybrid of the two at Charlie’s Brownies. Order the vegan AF sundae from their secret menu and you get a beautiful concoction consisting of their ice cream sandwich made into a sundae. This item may be fun to say, but it’s even more fun to eat!

The Karma Baker

Westlake Village

Get treated like royalty at this heavenly bake shop with each and every cupcake frosted to order just for you! Stray from the options on display and try something new with any cupcake and frosting combination, like strawberry frosting on a chocolate cupcake. You can also make a monthly pit stop and try their rotating donut of the month! If you can’t make it into the shop but can get hold of their products from grocery retailers, their DIY secret is to warm up a pastry, such as their peanut butter brownie and top it with your favorite ice cream!

Madame Shugah

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Jenny from the block? More like Madame Shugah from the Block Party at Highland Park! Madame Shugah serves up vegan, gluten-free, and soy free cookies, cakes, and shakes at Highland Park, Smorgasburg, and other spots! Her most popular hidden item is the flan shake. Another thing most people don’t know is you can do a half chocolate/ half vanilla shake, not just either/or. To take it to the next level, try her special adult cookies with THC!

Cocobella Creamery

Hollywood

In the land of unicorn magic and cookie monsta ice cream, anything is possible! Most people don’t know this but you can customize just about anything on the menu! Use a menu item like a sammie, sundae, or float as a guide and play around with swapping and customizing the scoops, pastries, and toppings. House divided? No problem! For an extra dollar, you can order a split pint with two flavors of ice cream, problem solved!

Hello Cake Girl

Boyle Heights

Located inside St. Louis Drug Co, this one-baker bakeshop makes all-natural and allergen friendly cookies, donuts, cake rolls, coffee, tea, and cakes! The insider tip is that any of their cupcakes or baked donuts can be made into a cake form. For example, their strawberry churro cupcake can be made into a strawberry churro cake, or the hibiscus lemon donut into a hibiscus lemon donut cake. Why choose between a donut or a cake when you can have both?

Noho Bakehouse

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If you miss any kind of sweets from your pre-vegan days, fear not! Noho Bakehouse has everything from Neapolitan-filled twinkies, peanut butter and jelly cupcakes, and cookie cakes, to mini filled sandwich cookies. Did I mention everything is vegan, gluten-free, and organic? Sign up for the bakery box, their weekly subscription service, or place a special order! Something not known to most when placing special orders is that you have the option to let the baker get creative. Just give them an idea of your favorite flavors and treats and let them curate the most deliciously unique creation for your special occasion! Who doesn’t love surprises?

Frozen Fruit Co

Santa Monica & Food Truck

Want something to satisfy your sweet tooth without all the added sugar? Frozen Fruit Co is the perfect spot to fulfill your needs! All of their flavors are vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, and sweetened by nature’s candy—fruit! At their Santa Monica store, they offer a secret coffee flavor made from coconut cream, coffee, and dates. Yep, just three ingredients for a flavorful frozen fare!