Cake & Loaf

This bakery is one of the reasons I regret having left Hamilton for Toronto. The bakers are so creative, the drinks are so delicious, and the staff are always friendly.

enjoyable! I always get excited to get a treat from cake & loaf. I will agree with Steven w. J. That the customer service can be hit or miss. I too have experienced feeling rushed to make a decision to choose something. They stare with steely eyes so intently that it feels like they are willing you into choosing faster so they can get back to those text messages they are writing when the store is empty. I can understand they might be a little antsy when you’ve got a line up of 20 people out the door, but no one was behind me or in the store for that matter. Why the rush!
As for the actual baked goods; they are pretty good! I’ve had various muffins and squares and cookies over the years all of which have been fine and yummy but not a lot that really stands out. (I can’t comment on any savoury things or lunch items) Recently I got a lil Deborah –oatmeal cookie sandwich with icing in middle; was ok, but way too sweet for me. Also got a cinnamon bun with cream cheese icing and it was super yummy.
What I really want talk about though, is the gourmet eclairs they make on occasion. I believe we got the hazelnut éclair, and It was heavenly. With each bite you get the perfect gush of whipped cream, combined with the airy pastry and chocolate syrupy glaze. It’s so wonderful they get an extra star on this review. If you go and they have them, get a bunch and go find some friends to share with. heck, even find strangers to share with. They won’t be strangers for long and you will be their new best friend and they will love you forever for bringing them this delectable treat!
you could also hoard it for yourself, but i think things like this are better shared.

Awesome! Yummy! Friendly! What a great little bakery with yummy selections. Me and my youngest foodie hit this spot for some goodies after lunch at another spot on this great street of fun foodie places. We couldn’t decide between a few awesome looking treats so we bought a few different items to try out like skor brownies, chocolate donuts, cupcakes, and a loaf of potato garlic bread. All delicious!
We found the staff to be helpful and really friendly. On another plus the coffee was great too.
We were intrigued by the donut showdown show to try this spot out, and we can see why they won flavor flavor flavor! We are happy we went and will return for sure!

Customer service lacking — really, get some friendlier cashiers… seemed annoyed when I was taking my time to pick something out and did not smile once.
Bakery goods have been OK.

I have to say that I am very appreciative that Cake & Loaf offers vegan options when ordering cakes, that is pretty uncommon around here. But, I was disappointed by what I received. I ordered the coconut cake and the cake itself was wonderful but the buttercream was awful. There were gobs and gobs of it everywhere and it was sickeningly sweet, most of it had to be scraped off. Next time I special order I will request that they halve the buttercream, I think it could be a delicious cake overall if that were done.

I’ve gotten medicore brownies here since my first visit. And their pie crust is too… chewy, for lack of a better descriptor. I’m not sure if the baker has changed, but my opinion did.

I was really looking forward to this place. I haven’t been back to the hometown in a while, and was so excited to see this cute lil’ newcomer to the bakery scene in the Hammer. It looked promising from the outside. I wasn’t hoping for anything fancy. I wasn’t expecting Pierre Hermé to suddenly set up shop in Hamilton. I was just hoping for a place to do the simple things really really well. Unfortunately, this isn’t the place.
It has really cute décor, but it’s pretty small inside. I can’t speak about the bread and savoury items as I didn’t try any, but I went during the weekday and since they didn’t have a huge selection of sweet baked goods, I tried almost all of what was on offer.
I bought:
— Vanilla Nanaimo Bar
— Chocolate Brownie
— Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake
— Chocolate Cupcake
— Strawberry Cupcake (This last one should be labelled as a filled cupcake. There was no indication of such when I bought it and we were all surprised when we discovered jam in the middle. Not a big deal, but it would have been nice to know.)
There was nothing that really stood out. All of the baked goods tasted like they could have been bought at the supermarket bakery. The cupcakes also had way too much frosting on them. I shared these with a few friends and we were all of the same opinion. In fact, my friend’s young daughter usually demolishes cupcake frosting, but abandoned almost all of the icing because «there was too much and it was too sweet». Altogether, everything cost ~$ 18, which isn’t expensive, but also not cheap. You’ll see me at Fortino’s bakery section before you see me back here.

Anyone can (and will) rave about any individual Cake and Loaf creation: their impossibly decadent caramel cinnamon buns, their perfectly prepared artisan breads; their gorgeous, time-​stopping cupcakes and savoury pies. But that is all secondary to the thing that elevates Cake and Loaf from a ‘good’ bakery to an ‘Excellent’ bakery. They are consistently excellent. Day, nights, weekends, special events… always exceeding expectations and doing so with style and grace. Very few bakeries (or eateries of any kind) are capable of managing execution so well and making it look effortless. How many bakeries will YOU visit at 3:00 in the afternoon? Not many, right? I stop by Cake and Loaf in the morning; mid-​day and at the end of the day (most often) and the food and customer experience never waiver one iota and THAT is truly praise worthy… now, if I were JUST reviewing their food, I would tell you that their desserts are so bloody delicious, I have to hit things and curse loudly but THAT kind of a review only makes sense to me. So, I will say that they deserve all of the positive priase that you’ve heard about them and more and will always and consistently exceed your expectations.

Just moved to the neighbourhood and was excited to see this cute little bakery! Tried their take on the Oreo and it was absurdly delicious! Yum! As well, bought a chicken pie to go and it hit the spot as a warm comfy meal in this hideously cold winter! Planning to go back and indulge again!

Inexpensive and tasty treats and lunch takeout. The breads are not great. Too dry for my liking.

Someone recommended this bakery to me. They admitted they had not been here but had heard «good things.» That never is a good sign. However, I went. The sign outside said «We’re back.» After having been, I can’t imagine anyone missed them. There is nothing bad about this bakery. It is a small shop, difficult to find parking outside. The thing is, when one opens a bakery, they have to create something or offer something that differentiates them apart from other bakeries. I don’t see anything here that would make me want to return if I was ever back in the area. I think of Batch Bakehouse in Madison, Wisconsin. They are a small bakery in a vibrant but cold college town. Their bread is fantastic and plentiful, they make outstanding croissants, and they serve Intelligentsia coffee. At Cake and Loaf, they had a few loaves of bread. They offered up the standard fare of cupcakes, muffins and scones. There were «pizza buns» and «savory pies.» So what? I opted for a few items, a scone, a «ginger crinkle» a pizza bun. Nothing stood out. Why does anyone offer cupcakes anymore? Its been so overdone. The ginger cookie was no different than one I bought at a chain coffee shop. Pizza bun? I guess as a quick lunch, but not something one can build an empire on. Find something more unique. Perfect good bread or croissants. Make yourself memorable. It is Canada, how about maple shortbread? If you can’t make yourself unique and you have resigned yourself to serving the standard bakery items, do something that makes me want to go there. Serve homemade hot chocolate made from Callebaut chocolate and home made marshmallows or serve coffee from a roaster unique to your region, like Blue Bottle or Stumptown. There are some amazing bakeries in this world. Bouchon, Eric Kayser, City Bakery in New York, There are some unique bakeries in small towns like Batch in Madison, Wisconsin and then there are the ordinary ones. Cake & Loaf is an ordinary, small bakery.

This bakery is fantastic! So charming with a huge selection. AND they even have vegan goodies which is great for me (and for my friends). They have a great list of hot and cold drinks as well, and their americanos and lattes are delicious. Plus, the staff is so friendly and accommodating! I can’t praise it highly enough.