Our 13-stop North Carolina dessert tour gets 40(!), photo-rich pages in this month’s Our State, a legend of southern publications —  in print for nearly 80 years. What a plum assignment. Peter Frank Edwards and I drove hundreds of miles, hung around all manner of bakeries and cafes, and tasted dozens of pies, cookies and cakes.

Oh, what sweet adventure. This sugary story could have started in any number of towns. With just a trifle of effort, it’s possible to discover independent, local bakeries in North Carolina offering hot doughnuts at dawn or slices of cheesecake at near midnight…

From the opening pages:

One of the terrific bakers we met along the way, Samantha Smith at Sugar on Front Street in Wilmington (maker of the cherry pie in the opener):

– Sandy Lang, February 2012