For many, choosing the cake is one of the first things on their to-do list. Calls are coming in to the Bakehouse daily inquiring about wedding cake consultation appointments. We specialize in totally custom, hand-made cakes that taste as good as they look! Whether you want an traditional white cake or a totally unexpected creation, we’ll help you dream up your one of a kind cake. We offer really cool groom’s cakes and tasty wedding favors too! We take care of every detail from our first meeting to taste cake samples to the moment it’s delivered to your reception.

Don’t take our word for it. Here’s what some of our brides had to say:

“We got comments from a dozen guests that our cake was the best they ever had.” -Lauren K.

“Thank you so much for making our wedding day even more lovely and delicious!” -Katy G.

“Everyone went out of their way to make sure we were happy. You worked with our ideas to design a beautiful cake that tasted excellent!” -Amber R.

“Taste is the most important factor for us when it comes to food. The cakes tasted amazing. It was also beautiful, the ordering process was a breeze and the service was top notch.” -Holly O.

If you’re in need of a great cake for any celebration, wedding planning season or not, give us a call!

1. Maple Bran Muffins -A better tasting bran muffin! Sure these muffins are made with bran, but also toasted sunflower seeds, Michigan maple syrup and sweet tart dried cranberries.
2. 8 Grain 3 Seed bread -Totally jam packed with whole grains and a touch of Michigan honey. Bonus…on special in January for $5.99 a loaf! (reg. $6.99).
3. Country Scones -A tasty way to start the day. Our heartiest scone, made with organic oats, toasted pecans, juicy red flame raisins and cinnamon sugar.
4. Pain de Montagne bread -The chestnut colored crumb of this bread comes from the wheat germ-restored whole wheat flour. Great for every meal and lasts for days.
5. Country Wheat bread -100% whole bread, made soft and moist with mashed potato, local Moo-ville milk and a touch of butter and honey. Kids like it too.
6. Vollkornbrot -A substantial loaf made with whole rye chops and rye flour, rolled in toasted sunflower seeds. Best sliced thin.
7. Mary’s Wild Oats -We make one tasty granola! Fresh baked organic oats with toasted almonds, dried cranberries & Michigan honey. Give it a try.

Of course, if your resolution is to eat more chocolate, we can certainly help you out with that too! And we’re baking up more than a week’s worth of chocolate choices! Hope to see you soon. Happy new Year!

What will get you out of bed on New Year’s Day? A thick slice of Sourcream coffeecake, an enough already bagel with cream cheese, or a ham and cheese croissant? If you really over did it the night before, maybe a chocolate challah french toast would do the trick. Visit our neighbor Zingerman’s Coffee Company for a cappuccino and a bag of fresh roasted beans.

Holiday hours
Saturday, New Year’s Eve 7 AM – 7 PM        Sunday, New Year’s Day  7 AM – 6 PM

Give us a call to place your order. We look forward to seeing you and here’s to a tasty 2012!

Chanukah Treats
Olive oil cake with fresh lemon zest, $19.95 each
Rugelach- currant walnut or apricot, $0.95 a piece, $19.95 1 LB gift box
Zzang! candy bars- super size original bar with Chanukah wrapper, $15.95 each

Great gifts under $20
Cranberry Pecan bread, $9.99 loaf
Brownie 4 packs, $12.95 each
Gift boxed coffeecakes, $15.95 (small)
Zzang! original super size candy bar, $15.95 each
Zzang! candy bar holiday 4 pack, $19.95 each

Stocking stuffers under $5
Ornament shaped decorated cookies $3.95 each
Magic brownies, $3.95 each
Zzang! candy bars, $4.95 each

Holiday specialties for the table
Christmas sweet breads- Panettone or Stollen, $24.95 each
Christmas cakes- Buche de Noel, Snowman, or Poinsettia (pictured left), $35 each
Pies (pecan, cranberry walnut, jumbleberry, apple, pumpkin, chocolate chess), $19.95-$26.95 each
Cheesecakes- new york or pumpkin, $30.00 each

Give us a call to reserve your favorites or stop in and ask for a taste! We hope to see you soon. Have a great holiday season!

Special Holiday Hours:  Christmas Eve 7 AM-5 PM       Christmas Day, CLOSED

About a month ago we unexpectedly completed a two-year search for delicious Michigan butter. Doug Westendorp, the owner of MOO-ville Creamery, Nashville MI arrived, unannounced, at the Bakehouse with a treasure of dairy treats in his truck — 60 pounds of butter, real buttermilk, creamline milk., egg nog…Now we’re buying about a quarter of our butter from Mooville. The quest for fine Michigan butter is over!

Frank and I met Doug and his wife Louisa about two years ago. I can’t quite remember the circumstances of our encounter and neither can they, but somehow Frank, Doug, Louisa and I found ourselves sitting in a tight (somewhat awkward) circle in our office discussing butter. I’d been trying to buy Michigan butter and Mooville, was making some. Yes, a credible lead! Doug was sorry though, he could only make enough to sell in his own store. That was the story of my search, either the local butter was made in such small batches that the producer wasn’t able to share any with us or it was being made in a large plant and we were too small a customer. I was feeling bold or maybe I ought to call it entrepreneurial and I told Doug, (which he reminded me of last week) that I could buy as much butter as he could make. Was he interested in increasing his batches? He didn’t commit but he heard me. Recently because of an arrangement he made with someone else for large quantities of skim milk he found himself with a lot of cream and so he turned it into butter and drove it to us! You can imagine our delight (and surprise) since we hadn’t spoken since that one meeting. MOO-ville can make about 300 pounds of butter each week and just like I said we can buy it! That said I’ll be careful what I say to Doug in the future.

MOO-ville butter is very high in fat 85-86% compared to what we can normally buy which is 82%. It’s got a rich yellow color and it makes a significant improvement in the taste and texture of our pastries.  Right now we’re testing the MOO-ville butter in many of our pastries. In January we’ll choose a few to feature it in and we’ll let you know which ones they are. Stay tuned.

Thank you Mooville! Besides the great quality of the butter it’s a real pleasure to work with the Westendorps and to support a Michigan family farm.

Amy Emberling- Bakehouse baker & co-managing partner

Bountiful bread basket- Cranberry Pecan loaves and dinner rolls: Rustic Italian, Farm, Multigrain or Brioche.
Leftover turkey needs sandwich loaves- Farm, Jewish rye, Sourdough and more.
Pies a Plenty- Pumpkin, Pecan, Apple, Jumbleberry, Cranberry Walnut, or Chocolate Chess.
For those who pass on pie- Gobble Gobble Cake! A classic American combination, chocolate cake with vanilla butter cream and a cute hand-made turkey on top. A great centerpiece for the kids table, or any table.

We’re all thankful this holiday, to be baking and sharing great food, from our hands to yours. See you soon!

Thanksgiving hours:
Wed. 11/23  7 AM-7 PM
Thurs. 11/24 CLOSED
Fri. 11/25 7 AM-7 PM (we will open with limited bread selection)

In September we began our exploration into Hungarian cuisine with a trip to Budapest and a note to you explaining our choice of Hungary as a cuisine to study. (Didn’t catch that article? Here it is) Since then we’ve been baking and cooking and tasting. Now we’re very happy to have two new savory strudels and a new soup to share with you.

We’ll be serving Gabor’s Hungarian Pork and Bean Soup on Tuesdays—Gabor was our terrific guide in Budapest. This dish combines three iconic characteristics of Hungarian dining: soup, pork and paprika. In Hungary, dinner isn’t dinner if soup isn’t served. So the breadth and variety of Hungarian soups is remarkable. Gabor’s is our second Hungarian soup—on Wednesdays, we’ll continue to serve Cserke Gomba Leves, Hungarian Chicken and Mushroom Soup.

Gabor’s Hungarian Pork and Bean Soup soup is a hearty blend of flavorful ham, smoky bacon, plump butter beans, fresh carrots and two forms of Hungarian paprika—smoked and sweet. Pork is the meat of choice in Hungary and it comes in every imaginable form so a soup flavored with pork and a pork stock is a classic. The paprika gives the soup an interesting flavor uncommon in American cooking. Gabor’s is thickened with a butter roux that gives the soup a smooth silkiness. For all the richness added by the roux, the soup is actually very homey and hearty, a really great choice for cold weather.

We’ve been making strudel for several years now and since our trip we’ve been very motivated to make more flavors, more often. By the end of February we hope to provide many choices of flavors, sweet and savory, every day, as well as having frozen strudels available to you to take home and bake.

Until then, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday please come and enjoy our two new savory strudels. The first is potato and bacon—a familiar and delicious combination. The second is more unusual—cabbage and goose fat. We were amazed at how common goose meat, goose broth, goose liver and goose fat are in Hungary. One night at a strudel restaurant we tried the cabbage strudel and thought wow, this is delicious. When we asked what was in it the secret ingredient turned out to be goose fat! Who would have thought? Not us! Surprisingly goose fat is easy to find in the United States. Just google it and you’ll find Schiltz Goose Farm. It might even become your new fat of choice.

Sweet strudels are available on Wednesdays and Saturdays. This month we are making raspberry and cheese, a staff favorite combination.

In December we’ll have our first late 19^th Century Coffee House Torte. More about that later….

Amy Emberling, Bakehouse Co-Managing Partner & Baker