The MICROBAKERY @ The Cake Coop
Bakery · Ballard ·
Self-serve bakery smart fridge with cake slices
Self-serve bakery smart fridge with cake slices
"Located in a snoozy residential stretch of Ballard is a self-serve bakery kiosk on someone’s property with a fridge that automatically unlocks once your online order goes through. Think of it like one of those little free sidewalk libraries, only with slabs of delicious cake instead of crockpot cookbooks and a disheveled James Patterson paperback from 1998. And you do need to pay. Are these pilgrimage-across-town slices? No, but this is still some great cake, and the novelty of it all is exciting to experience at least once. While the buttercream trends a bit loose after softening to room temperature, their olive oil cake with brown butter frosting is highly worthy of a dessert-breakfast. The crumb is moist and springy, with excellent caramelization across each layer. Though the biggest achievement here is the vegan cake—it almost eats like a muffin, tender and light between ribbons of blueberry buttercream and lemon gelée. Note that The Cake Coop is only open Friday-Sunday from 11am-8pm, but stock is pretty much depleted by noon. The early bird gets the vanilla sponge, we guess." - Aimee Rizzo
"Nicole Conley, who bakes under the moniker Butter Half Cakes, converted a front-yard refrigerator into a small self-serve cake vending setup: anyone can walk up, take a photo, peer inside to choose, scan a QR code, pay, and the fridge unlocks to release a slice or mini cake. Conley taught herself the electrical engineering and software know-how to build the system—"It was quite the endeavor," she says—and the most visible piece of tech is a light that reads "LOCKED" which turns off once your payment is received. There’s no Amazon-style tracking; "It works on the honor system," admits Conley. The experience is part of the appeal: a friendly, almost whimsical line of people (the writer notes there was "no Seattle freeze here"), a deliberate, ritualized ordering process that can take a few minutes per person, and the small pleasures of seeing the light go off and collecting your purchase. On a recent visit the writer had an Earl Grey cake slice with lemon curd buttercream, which was pleasantly tart and not overwhelmingly sweet. Conley stocks the fridge in the morning for Friday and weekend openings at 11 a.m., and in the third weekend of operation slices and mini cakes were "literally flying like hotcakes." She says the challenge is "trying to find ways to keep up with the excitement.... It’s just a small little fridge and it’s just me." Located at 8039 30th Avenue Northwest in Sunset Hill, the setup often sells out early, so arrive soon after the 11 a.m. opening if you want a slice." - Harry Cheadle
Ahmed N.
