Salt Lake City may not be known as one of the world’s best dessert cities, but it certainly has quite a few world-class bakeries. Here are some that I highly recommend:
Streusel
Streusel is a lively morning bakery just getting started on 1700 South across from Sweet Lake Biscuits and Limeade. The shop is run by a friendly staff that enjoys creating delicious Danish pastries.
The charm of Streusel lies in its head pastry chef, Andy. When asked about his shop’s niche market, Andy explained it with his mission statement: “Our purpose is to build a coalition of positive, forward-thinking people who value compassion and humanity over profits and arbitrary gains. It is, therefore, our duty to build a world where all people feel safe and are inspired and fulfilled by the work that they do.”
Karim Bakery
Karim Bakery is famous for its baklava, pita bread, and homemade hummus. This little bakery with its general store is located on State Street just south of I-80. You’ll find a delicious selection of Middle Eastern goods as well as some Western-style baking prepared by the owner Rami and his family.
“It wasn’t easy getting started here (in Salt Lake), but now we are making the only locally baked Lebanese Pita Bread around the city,” Rami explained.
The 10-month-old bakery is taking off thanks to the good will and delicious food.
Crème De Bakery
Créme De Bakery is an Asian bakery offering some of the most unique cake flavors such as Mango-jelly shortcake and Durian-icing shortcake are just two of their tasty choices. My favorite is melt-in-your-mouth carrot cake.
Créme de Bakery’s signature pastries are their Chinese sweet buns filled with taro root paste, red bean paste, cream cheese, meats, and other flavors.
Fillings and Emulsions
This high-end bakery offers some of the most colorful and delicious macaroons around town, baked by Mike Woods, at its two locations, 1475 S Main Street and at the SLC International Airport.
Founder and co-owner, Adalberto Diaz, was featured in Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship and Best Baker in America due to his exceptional creations such as danishes, cookies, and cakes.
When asked about the crowd favorites at Fillings and Emulsions, early-bird worker Nora told me, “people mostly buy the colorful macaroons, but the key lime cheesecake is also a big seller!”
The Baking Hive
This buzzing little bakery located in Millcreek off of 2300 East is a petite café that presents a beautiful showcase of sweets ranging from gingerbread mansions to baked beehives! The display case is lined with cakes including Carrot Cream, Suzi’s German Chocolate, Almond Raspberry, Coconut Butter, Triple Chocolate, David’s Luscious Lemon, and Caramel Buttercream. They also offer delicious baked treats for one, such as soft chocolate chip cookies, baked smores, along with an assortment of gluten-free options.
The founder of The Baking Hive, Elisa Barber Crockatt, has experience baking in the UK and here in her hometown of Salt Lake. “I like to learn new recipes all over the place and then bring them back home to ‘the hive,’” she says.
Tulie Bakery
Tulie Bakery located near 9th and 9th or 15th and 15th is famous for its flakey bakes and delicate cakes. Tulie’s display of oversized croissants provides a feast for the eyes, while the aroma of freshly brewed coffee fills the whole space. One of my favorites is the soft and sensational olive oil cake which I can only describe as an explosion of flavors. However, the Morning Bun is the bakery’s bestseller.
What sets this bakery apart is that Tulie’s was founded by a single mother, which is not easy in a primarily conservative state.
Vosen’s Bread Paradise
Vosen’s Bread Paradise is a German bakery located on 328 West and 2o0 South.
Vosen’s has it all, tasty Cinnamon Rolls, Croiliners (a croissant and German Donut mix), a Bienenstich (a classic Bavarian cake made with vanilla custard and topped with honey glazed sliced almonds), and a great variety of bread.
Uli, a chef at Vosen’s, was happy to share some of Vosen’s history. “We’ve been here for over 30 years. Our German-style breads are hard to find, so we sell our pretzels to most local restaurants and they even make their way up to Idaho. I’m happy to say we are open every day!”
Hruska’s Kolaches
Hruska’s Kolaches located in Sugar House has been baking fresh kolaches for the past 7 years.
Kolaches are Czechoslovakian-style pastries filled with a variety of sweet and savory flavors such as fruit jelly, cream cheese, meats, sausage, eggs and cheese.
Hruska’s bakes their kolaches fresh every morning. Their sausage and gravy kolache was featured on Food Network but my favorite is the delicious ranchero kolache.
Hruska’s head baker Britain talked to me while she was pulling buns out of the oven. “This place is busy! It’s hard to find time to just sit down and talk … Our best sellers are the bacon, egg and cheese kolache and the sausage and gravy kolache.”
Mrs. Backer’s Pastry Shop
Mrs. Backer’s Pastry Shop on 434 East South Temple has been open since 1941. Mrs. Backer Pastry shop is famous for its beautifully decorated cakes. My favorites are cowboy cookies and delicious Danishes but the raspberry cream cheese tarts and buttercream floral cakes are the bestsellers.
Mrs. Backer’s Pastries are bright, beautiful, and brimming with colorful icing on top.
Délice Bakery & Café
Délice is a French bakery located on State Street and 2747 South. In the evening, the west-facing glass walls accentuate the beautiful assortment of baked treats on display. The great selection of baked goods includes fruit tarts, beautifully decorated cakes such as Black Forest cake and tiramisu to name my favorites, cookies, brownies, as well as gluten-free options.
The list of exceptional Salt Lake bakeries goes beyond the ones I mentioned above. Thirty years ago everybody bought white wonder bread and Hostess cupcakes and Twinkies. Today the Hostess factory is out of business and there is a growing eclectic mix of artisan bakeries to explore.
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