Bakeries are personal. One bakes your favorite baguette; another rolls the perfect rugelach, and another brews the best coffee. Then there’s cake and donuts… The best advice is to cast your net far and wide and sample the wares. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Thurston County
Both the San Francisco Street Bakery and the Blue Heron Bakery have deep roots in Olympia. It’s literally been decades. At the San Francisco Street Bakery, did you know the round shortbread cookie with the dollop of white frosting with colored sprinkles is a Carmen, named after the owner’s daughter? Each business has a second location at the Olympia Farmers Market. The San Francisco Street Bakery is on Olympia’s Eastside and the Blue Heron Bakery, now a cooperative, is on Harrison Avenue on the Westside. Both have seating and serve savory and sweet items.
Phoebe’s Pastry Cafe and Miss Moffett’s Mystical Cupcakes both made a splash on Food TV. Phoebe Martinson’s stylized cakes are singular creations made-to-order. Her two Westside locations offer sweet and savory items. Making cupcakes cool before many others, Miss Moffett’s Hawks Prairie kitchen is dedicated to maintaining a gluten-free, celiac-safe and peanut-free bakery.
Left Bank Pastry made a new, larger space up the hill on Olympia’s Eastside. Its lovely French things sell out, and usually there’s a line. The Bread Peddler also gets people lined up for top-notch bread and pastries.
Pierce County
The Cat and Rabbitt Cake Shop now in Puyallup offers whole cakes and cupcakes but is best known for daily delightful cakes by the slice. They have a different flavor daily and the shop closes its doors when it runs out for the day.
Celebrity Cake Studio is a family-owned and award-winning cake boutique offering signature custom cakes, cupcakes and petit fours.
Farm 12 is a non-profit restaurant and bakery which offers support to moms in need in the community. The location has a restaurant and coffee house and is revered for its cakes and pastries. Guests are invited to sit and linger with a full range of coffees to go with your favorite pastry.
Looking for the widest cupcake variety in Pierce County? Locally owned Wanna Cupcake has you covered. With locations in Puyallup and University Place, they offer gourmet cupcakes, cakes, cake pops and pastries.
Wren’s Nest Baking Company in Tacoma was born out of a passion for elevating gluten-free baked goods with quality ingredients and flavor that even gluten-lovers will keep coming back for. In an attempt to replicate traditionally glutenous baked goods, gluten-free foods have hidden behind too much sugar for years. At Wren’s Nest, they took a different approach – highlighting each ingredient that makes the menu naturally gluten-free.
BY MARY ELLEN PSALTIS & SHOWCASE STAFF