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Good bakeries in the burbs?

I live in MontCo and I have yet to find a decent bakery in my area. I hate to admit this, but I use the bakery section in my local Genuardis far too often. I'm looking for a place with great birthday cakes, cupcakes, butter cake (I'm getting hungry thinking about it). Also, a place with great bread would be a huge bonus! Any suggestions in Eastern Montgomery County? I live in Ambler and I would be thrilled if I could find a really good place within a 15-20 minute drive.

To any aspiring entrepreneurs, any of the shops along Butler Ave in Ambler would be a great spot to open a new bakery (hint, hint)! I feel the local corner bakery is slowly becoming a thing of the past!

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  1. AmblerGirl, though it isn't technically in "the burbs," Bredenbeck's bakery in Chestnut Hill is right around the corner for you and, in my opinion, is the semblance of a corner bakery. They have great cakes, pastries (think danish not petit fours, though they have those too) and cinnamon buns, as well as a full ice cream shop. I find their prices to be very reasonable, and they have great hours as they are open 7 days a week from fairly early until fairly late by bakery standards (plus you can buy their baked goods through their ice cream shop once the bakery has closed for the day). Cake (as mentioned here on another post) and The Night Kitchen are also awesome bakeries in the Chestnut Hill area, though I wouldn't classify them as corner bakeries. If you want a great butter cake, as well as amazing donuts, cinnamon buns, cakes, etc, I would get in the car and head up the boulevard to The Holmesburg Bakery on Rhawn Street in Northeast Philly. It isn't in your neighborhood, but it is definitely a corner bakery at its finest. Good luck!

    3 Replies
    1. re: Laura D.

      The Lucky Cupcake in Pipersville (about 1 mile north of Doylestown) on Route 611 is the only place I can recommend. They have a great website listing the 30 types of cakes/cupcakes that they carry. We have had their items 3 times now and they are consistently good and fairly priced. Unusual flavors, standard flavors, the icing, cake are decent. Finally a decent bakery. Wegman's chocolate cake is good too. Weinrich's in Willow Grove is Ok for standard fare. Buttercrumb in Chalfont is also decent basic fare. There is also Rillings on Street Road in Southampton - a little above the other two. There is also J. Scones in Doylestown - good but very expensive. My vote goes to the Lucky Cupcake.

      1. re: doylestownhoppie

        doylestownhoppie have you tried Let Them Eat Cake or the cheese shop, both in Doylestown? Lately I have been going to Alice Bakery and Confectionary in North Wales. Ran into cgarner there (not literally although the traffic can get a bit crazy) and it was so much fun to meet someone I've talked to on chowhound quite a bit. I really like that Alice stays open til six pm on tues-fri. They also have a nice bathroom near the seating area which is a plus for people coming from a long way off or stuck in traffic. Another thing I noticed when I visited on wednesday was a huge flat screen tv on the wall that was off. Now that is a nice touch.
        My friend and I got there about five twenty five or five thirty and even though someone had just finished cleaning they let us eat our late afternoon snack at a table. I got some good coffee, a cinnamon bun and split a chocolate croissant with my friend. The chef cheerfully warmed our baked goods even though it was close to closing time. I was feeling stressed, but I took one bite of that warm sticky bun and suddenly I was having an awesome day. Just like that.

      2. re: Laura D.

        dont forget about baker st in chestnut hill. they were the first all natural preservative free bakery in philadelphia & paved the way for other bakeries like metropolitan. they have amazing tomato pies/pizzas & their pastries are really good. there have been multiple food blogs recently on their cran-orange walnut biscotti & i just bought their chocolate chunk brioche loaf to make some french toast with :)

      3. Wegman's in Warminster (which is only 15-20 minutes from where we live in Ambler, if you take the "back" roads) does a nice job with birthday cakes,and the cakes are reasonably priced. Much better than Genuardis!
        Ann's Cake Pan in Horsham http://www.annscakepan.com/
        is a place for special occasion cakes though I must admit to also liking Night Kitchen a lot. Night Kitchen has locations in both Chestnut Hill and Doylestown.

        1. Hey AmblerGirl, my fiance and I have been searching for the same stuff, since we recently moved to Glenside. I personally love Genuardi's cakes, because they're moist and I've never been a fan of buttercream frosting (which they don't do).

          But I do have one suggestion for you. In my opinion, Weinrich Bakery in Willow Grove has very yummy cupcakes http://www.weinrichbakery.com/. I haven't tried anything else there yet, but I would order from them again in a second. I have tried both a chocolate and vanilla cupcake there, both of which were moist with sweet frosting, just the way I like them.

          8 Replies
          1. re: potroastcat

            I second Weinrich's. Their cakes are terrific, and they do a lovely job of decorating. Their chocolate sheet cake is about the best I've ever had. The cupcakes are also really good. Their other baked goods vary in quality and are mostly fine, but kind of ordinary.

            1. re: potroastcat

              I tried the cookies from Weinrichs once and was very disappointed... they just were not good at all.

              1. re: missfunkysoul

                I have to agree with you...I wasn't impressed (it wasn't bad, just wasn't very good either) with any of their stuff, though I did go to the Newtown Square location so I'm not sure if that made a difference

              2. re: potroastcat

                If an important cake I'd avoid Weinrich's. I ordered a large 40th birthday cake that I planned on using as the table centerpiece. I was mortified when I picked it up, it looked nothing like the sample they had on display I had ordered and they were unable to remedy. Fortunately my local florist bailed me out with a floral centerpiece and I hid the cake away. They have beautiful samples on display but apparently fancy cakes are not their specialty so they can't really reproduce.
                The two in Chestnut Hill are reliable. I'd use them anytime.

                1. re: mhozlock

                  I also am not a fan of Weinrich's. Heavy-handed birthday cakes, the kind my kids would like (and they do).

                  1. re: Karen K

                    Karen K. aned mhozlock: wow. That has never been my experience. I'm sorry to hear that your experiences were less than good.

                    1. re: PattiCakes

                      UPDATE: we just had Weinrich's do the cake for my daughter's baby shower. She was very specifi about what she wanted: no supper sweet filling, no heavy buttercream. We ended up with a wonderful strawberry shortcake. It was a very big cake (half sheet, but double the height of a regular cake), and beautifully done. Very light, airy, sponge cake, in 2 layers, with a not-too-sweet strawberry preserve in the middle. Vary light whipped cream icing & studded very generously with strawberries. It was so light that you could eat a mega piece without feeling like you'd had you sugar quata for the next week. We were more than pleased. One of the guests was so pleased that they want a similar cake for their party.

                2. Perhaps a little out of the way, but Hennings in Harleysville has a great bakery. I love their cakes, they are so rich and moist. Their chocolate chip pound cake is to die for. Their breads and rolls are also excellent, beats Genuardi's hands down.

                  1 Reply
                  1. re: jaime79

                    Hennings bakery is awesome the chocolate chip cheesecake is really good too.

                  2. THIRD ON Weinrichs!!!!!

                    Good BD Cakes and great Cinnamon buns(Now a little cafe next door so go dn try the differerent yummies!

                    Also there is tucked away in a little strip shopping center on Mt Carmel Ave in GLenside/North Hills a bakery called Mindys!!!!(Next to a great produce store) I have not had much from there but what I have had has been GOOD!

                    7 Replies
                    1. re: jazziellen

                      No reason to drive all the way to Bredenbecks for mediocre fare when you have Roma bakery in Center Square (Blue Bell) right around the corner. It's a European-style bakery with lots of Italian influences.

                      1. re: luvlemonchow

                        Where exactly is Roma bakery and, btw, do you know if the place replacing Ravenna has opened yet?

                        1. re: luvlemonchow

                          i, too, consider bredenbecks to be mediocre.
                          it does have that 'corner bakery' thing going, it's very family friendly, but i don't like their baked goods. it's closer to me than cake or night kitchen, i'll always walk to them rather than go to B's.

                          1. re: Bob Loblaw

                            Couldn't agree more. Bredenbecks is a sorry choice when Cake, the Night Kitchen and the totally fantastic Metropolitan bakery are all a stone's throw away. I'd be suprised if B's uses actual butter, anything I've ever had from there tasted like it was from a package from a super market. I avoid it completely.

                            1. re: missclaudy

                              Hmm, I'm surprised to hear that some of you feel negatively towards Bredenbecks. While it isn't a place I'd go to for "pastries" per say, they have some of the best pound cake that I've ever tasted, and I don't think that anything I've had from there has been bad. They offer a lot of the simple desserts that places like Cake and The Night Kitchen do not...in my mind that is what a corner bakery is.

                              1. re: Laura D.

                                I agree about the pound cake. It is very good. The other cakes are too cloyingly sweet for my taste and I also wonder about the butter content. Agreed totally about Night Kitchen, Cake and Metropolitan. In addition, have you ever tried Zake's Cakes right there in Ft. Washington, a stone's throw from Ambler? Their cakes are fabulous; in fact all of their pastries are wonderful. In addtion, Flourtown Bakery makes the very best cake donuts! Not like the air-raised fluff from Dunkin' Donuts. Flourtown Bakery is family owned and operated and they are right next to the Genuardi's Shopping Center in Flourtown.

                                1. re: gardens4me

                                  have you tried baker st in chestnut hill?