Alessandra C.
Yelp
Wow!
I mean. I can't say enough about this little gem. I was in the upper west side to meet my boyfriend for dinner, but he had another 20 minutes of work, so I walked around a bit and came across this little bakery. My sweet tooth was craving so I walked in.
From the outside it's a window shop, and they have a small table right in the front side of the store (so you can eat and people watch at the same time ;) there is a small bench right out front of the store which is perfect for nicer days!
The interior is small, quiet and quaint. There is a lovely wooden display of about 8 different types of sweets on the left side, and a few mason jars filled with cookies on the right. Everything looked so delicious, I was having a difficult time deciding.
I had heard that their sour cherry cake was what they were known for, they had a mini version in their display, so I picked up one of those, a cinnamon apple mini cake and after seeing that there was a carrot cake hiding in the back, I also asked for a slice.
The cakes aren't very visible so if I were to critique anything about by the way bakery it would be to have those front and center so customers could see them! Other than that everything about this place was perfect.
There was a section for coffee and tea and had all different milks as well as agave liquid sweetener for you to add yourself. They had 8 of the cutest Halloween cards displayed on their wall, available for purchase!
The young girl working was very kind as well as informative. I didn't catch her name as she didn't have a name tag however I wish I had because she was an example of how everything employee/cashier should be. She knew about each item in the shop and was helpful to me. I asked if any of the items were gluten free (I'm not but a few of my cousins are intolerant so I'm always curious in case I want to pick something up for a party) she explained that everything in their bake shop is gluten free, and some even dairy free! They use a mix of almond flour, tapioca flour, coconut, chickpea and rice flour! The baker experiments and finds flours that mix well together.
Being that I've tasted many dishes gluten free I know that the taste isn't always pleasant, it's usually dry, grainy or flaky! HOWEVER, to my great surprise I was SHOCKED to find out these baked goods were gluten free, not only were they delicious but the texture was fluffy, some were more fudge like in texture. My treats were delicious.
Being known for their sour cherry, it was definitely a hit! I can see why it's so popular, and the carrot cake (which the young lady actually let me try) I am a HUGE carrot cake fan, but I get super disappointed when it's dry, flaky, hard or overly sweet. For this cake to be as good as it was AND gluten free I was mind blown. For realz, I might turn gluten free now, like all the other weirdos making it a new "diet fad"
Just kidding, I'm not doing that. But I'll be ordering that cake for many parties to come!
So good, if you see this shop, don't waste one minute, run in there...sprint in there, and order everything. No matter how full you are. Just do it.