Filtering by Tag: British,Cakes

Alina’s Cakes: New Bakery Opens In Westport with Gluten Free Treats!

Restaurant Opening Bakery Westport Custom Cakes Cakes Bread Shop Homepage

Dan Woog

This just in from Dan Woog’s 06880.

In her native Romania, Alina Dancho often waited 2 hours in line, for half a loaf of bread. Now customers stand in line for her croissants, cookies, cakes, cupcakes and pastries.

And bread.

Alina’s Cakes & Cookies opened recently in the shopping plaza next to Fortuna’s, Greens Farms Spirit Shop, Gofer Ice Cream and Westport Cigar & Vape. It’s a tasty addition to those treats. It’s also the healthiest option.

95% of her bread is sourdough — an excellent, all-natural source of antioxidants and prebiotics.

Nearly all of her offerings are gluten-free. Her sugar and flour is non-GMO. She uses organic milk, and cage-free organic eggs. Some even come from the chickens she keeps.

“It’s not how much you eat. It’s what you eat,” Alina says, comparing the prevalence of food allergies in the US to Europe. She is adamant about the importance of avoiding pre-processed products like fillings and frostings.

“I want people to eat healthy breakfast foods and desserts, without allergic reactions and diabetes.”

Read the complete article here.


NYC's Iconic Asian Bakery, Lady Wong, Now Delivering to CT

Features Delivery Dessert Cakes Asian Asian Desserts

CTbites Team

 Lady Wong, one of New York City’s hottest bakeries, is now delivering to Connecticut and Westchester. With its innovative desserts rooted in Southeast Asian tradition, the bakery has evolved from a pandemic era delivery service to one of New York City’s hottest bakeries. Founded by the dynamic Greenwich, CT-based husband and wife duo, Mogan Anthony and Seleste Tan– Lady Wong will give Fairfield County and Westchester foodies something they've been missing — a special occasion cake or pastry that’s at the center of their table and conversation.  


Bonkers Cupcakes Offers Build Your Own Cupcakes in Fairfield CT

Restaurant Features Cupcakes Bakery Baked Goods Dessert Build Your Own Kid Friendly Fairfield Cakes

Oliver Clachko

Build your own cupcakes? Yes please.

We really feel like we hit the jackpot,” says Kris Stevens, owner and operator of Bonkers Cupcakes in Downtown Fairfield. “We absolutely love making these things, and being able to sell them is truly amazing.”

Bonkers offers a variety of cake flavor options, and gives customers the ability to select a cake flavor and then top it with their favorite frosting. Sure they have all the cake classics like chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet, as well as more creative choices like banana. To complement these flavors, Bonkers has a large selection of both Italian and American buttercream frostings. Stevens points out that Italian buttercream, which is much softer and not as overly sweet as American buttercream, is preferred both by himself and many customers. The notable frosting flavors include coconut, raspberry, salted caramel, and even coffee.


Guide to New Haven Bakeries: Italian, Mexican, Puerto Rican & Asian Must-Try Bake Shops

Features Restaurant New Haven Bakery Baked Goods Dessert Cakes Cookies Pastries Bread Bread Shop

Carly Terzigni

New Haven is a foodie hotspot in Connecticut, with no shortage of top-notch restaurants featuring cuisines from all around the globe. That level of quality, sheer abundance of choices, and beautiful blends of cultures extend to the city’s bakeries and cafes, which offer some of the best sweets and baked goods you can imagine. Whether you are looking for a quick dessert or a catered order for your next big event, you definitely do not need to look beyond New Haven’s city limits to find what you are looking for.

The next time you find yourself in New Haven, be sure to carve out some time during your visit to check out one (or several) of these great bakeries listed below. Pro tip: don’t stop at just one dessert; stock up on these tasty sweets like we did and enjoy them all week long.

NOTE: If you have a favorite New Haven Mexican, Italian, Puerto Rican, Brazilian, or Middle Eastern bakery and it’s not on this list, please contact us and we will add it to the list.


Bridgeport's Brazilian, Mexican & Italian Bakeries Worth a Sweet Visit

Features Restaurant Bakery Dessert Custom Cakes Cakes Cookies Homepage

Carly Terzigni

Bridgeport, Connecticut is teeming with hidden culinary gems. The city is an exciting kaleidoscope of culture and is among the top cities in the state to immerse yourself in Brazilian traditions. And when it comes to Brazilian cuisine, some of the more highly sought-after destinations are the bakeries. After all, who doesn’t love a perfectly baked dessert after dinner (or before dinner – or as a whole meal itself – we won’t judge)?

Next time you are in Bridgeport, make it a point to stop by one of their many bakeries to experience some of the best in locally-owned sweetness. Whether you are craving a freshly baked concha or a savory breakfast item, you should be able to find them in ample supply in The Park City.

NOTE: If you have a favorite Bridgeport Brazilian, Mexican or Italian bakery and it’s not on this list, please contact us and we will add it to the list.


CLASSIFIED: The Remarkable Life of Chef Karen Hubrich, Owner, Gruel Britania

Features Interview Chef Talk CT Chef Interview British

Lloyd Allen

Beef Bourguignon. She was not supposed to be able to do that. Prepare it. Cook it. Cook anything, much less make lunch for a few aristocratic types, members of Parliament, the diplomatic corps. The Royal Family.

London, England. 1976. The British Press Association. High noon. The chef had just resigned. More to the point, retired. “My daughter can jolly well do it,” her father exclaimed. The report is that Karen countered with a startled, “Me?”

Though brought up ever so polite and proper, Karen showed little to no interest in finer British manners, and well, “off you go!” Perhaps the nuns could shape the morals of this wild young thing, set her right, mold her— or so her parents hoped, but that’s a another story. Unclassified, but still a story.

But executive chef for royalty? She had no culinary training, no experience in a kitchen, although she has admitted her parents were, “quite the cooks,” but right there and then, she decides to, for lack of better words, just “wing it!”


Tina Zaccardi: The Woman Behind The Italian Cookie

Features Baker Cottage Bakers Custom Cakes Cakes Cookies Caterers Westchester

Donna Monaco Olsen

Do you follow Tina Ziccardi Bakes, aka @theItalianCookie? Her media pages are loaded with baked deliciousness that is not only drool worthy, but is downright eye-candy perfection! Following her grand win on “The Great American Baking Show” Season 4 (Hulu), Augustina Zaccardi (Tina) became a bit of a local celebrity right here in Westchester. Her huge fan base from her hometown of Eastchester rooted her on with each baking challenge, becoming more difficult as each week passed. We all watch in amazement as contestants fly through the challenges on each food competition, but meeting with Zaccardi and listening to her describe what it is really like to be on a cooking show was enlightening. She described the experience, which filmed in England, to be competitive yet jovial and the contenders to have more comradery than might be expected in a contest pitting bakers against each other in difficult timed elimination assignments. Although they were in a heated competition, they became somewhat of a family and are still in close contact with each other today.


Connecticut Cottage Bakers & Makers: Small Food Businesses You'll Wanna Know

Features Ingredients Bakery Bagels Cookies Custom Cakes Cakes Pastry Chef Dessert Cottage Bakers Made To Order Homepage

April Guilbault

You drive through your town and notice bakeries and specialty food shops here and there. One on this corner, another on that one. Now we’d like to introduce you to a plethora of cottage bakers and makers who are flying right below our radar, creating delicious delights, yet they aren’t in plain sight because they are baking out of their homes or commercial kitchens. Have you heard of many of them? How do you find out about them? Word of mouth, usually. Consider us your word-of-mouth and then please, spread the word about these delightful, delicious, de-groovy custom cottage bakers and makers. Everything starts small, after all…

If you know of a cottage food business that is not on this list, please contact us such that we can add them to the directory.


Baker of Black Rock: Outrageous Custom Cookies and Confections

Features Bakery Dessert Cookies Cakes Custom Cakes Black Rock Homepage

Stephanie Webster

Julia Preis is the Baker of Black Rock. Sure, there may be other bakers in the Black Rock neighborhood of Bridgeport, but none like Julia. I knew this to be true long before I invited her to my home to demo the technique behind her stunning cookies and cakes. Full disclosure…I had quietly stalked her Instagram account for roughly six months, and you can do the same at @bakerofblackrock. The cookies were tiny edible works of art, seemingly too beautiful to eat, and each displayed a unique personality through accomplished craftsmanship. Her wall of cakes, fruit pies and cupcakes created eye candy that could only make you want to pull up a chair and dig in.

But what did they taste like? I had to find out.


Gruel Britannia Opens in Southport: The British Are Here!

Restaurant British Lunch Breakfast Tea And Coffee Brunch Homepage

Andrew Dominick

Karen Hubrich will openly state that she’s not a classically trained chef. Despite that, she has certainly lived the life of a bonafide foodie. 

She grew up in London, in a household where her parents were avid cooks that often threw dinner parties and they believed in eating “good food.” Her love of cuisine only grew after time spent in Italy, but she credits a restaurant owner on the Greek island of Corfu with her first true kitchen lesson in which they made moussaka. 

There’s a lot more to Hubrich’s culinary origin story by our friend Dan Woog, but her past eventually led to chef gigs at the MetroTech Center in Brooklyn and Williams Club in Midtown. After that she was hired as Michael Bolton’s personal chef and had stints at the Fairfield County Hunt Club, as the executive chef for the New York Times dining room, and back to Connecticut to work at the Pequot Yacht Club. To boot, she even ran a private catering business through most of her chef life.

These days, you’ll find Hubrich doing her own thing in Southport. Chances are you’ve driven past Gruel Britannia on the Post Road and likely eased off the gas pedal as you wondered, “What is this?” 

At Gruel Britannia, Hubrich is going back to her London roots by cooking British food, a cuisine she once described as “diabolical.” Hubrich’s food is more refined. It’s brighter than the bland browns and beiges we picture when we think of old-world English grub.