Over 40 years of delicious cakes made the old fashioned way...from scratch
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 10/5/2005
Rating: 9
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We spotted Aki Bakery on our way to Race Street Seafood Kitchen today and decided to hit it on our way back. There's no parking in the front but there should be parking on the side or back. Astro turf for the front yard?
You enter through the sliding door and notice the small row of seats lined up by the window and ticketing system. Its roughly 12:40'ish and half the items are gone from the trays. My senses are telling me this place is going to be pretty good. I came in to buy some sweets for my team at work. I got a pre-packed box of cookies and noticed some cupcakes in the backroom. They didnt have any on display and I havent eaten cupcakes in ages. I asked her if they were for sale and said yup.
10 minutes later and we in the car on the way back to work with a dozen assortment of cupcakes. The 1st cupcake I had was yellow cake with white frosting. The cake was slightly chilled and cake was spongy, almost air-like. These cupcakes should have floated away. Icing was sweet with a dash of rainbow sugar dots on top. Simply the best....I wont lie, something this good, you have to eat another one, I went with chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Ssssuuuuuppper gooood.
Aki Bakery makes my favorite cupcakes....enough said. As for the cookies, Im opening those up tomorrow. I doubt they will live up to the cupcake ecstasy. If their cupcakes taste this good, who knows how much better the real cakes are. Although we were only there for 10 minutes, there was constant foot traffic, phone was ringing, and an impressive display of custom cakes. Aki Bakery appears to doing well, their cakes are awesome, heck, they've been in business for over 40 years, they must be doing something right.
Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 187
Reviewed: 11/16/2005
Rating: 8.5
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Havent written any reviews in the past few weeks, but I promise a good one today.
Its a friends birthday on Wed so I stopped by Akis Bakery to order her a cake. Since she loves chocolate I ordered a Chocolate Decadence for her. I decided to try out some of their baked goods since I was here anyways. I wasnt sure if this place was cash only but seeing the Akis sign outside with three smaller signs (Visa, MasterCard, and Discover) assured me I could sample anything they had.
Initially when I Google Mapped this place, the map said to exist at Meridian, but there is a north and south Meridian. You exit North Meridian and its only a short drive away. When I got there the parking lot was packed. Ive never seen a bakery with a packed parking lot. There was a long line of people waiting. You actually have to take a number and they call out a number when they are ready to take your order. The place was crawling with people ordering cakes, picking up cakes or just ordering their pastries.
When my number was called I asked to order a desert cake but wanted to know the difference between the types of chocolate cake they had. The guy who took my order explained in details. I ordered the cake and total was 19.99. He asked which date and time I would come to pick up the cake as I think they try to have it ready and as fresh as possible before its picked up.
I saw cupcakes being made in the back and asked him if they had any cup cakes available and they did. I asked for three chocolate and three white with chocolate frosting on the chocolate ones and vanilla frosting on the white ones. I also ordered an apple Danish, custard Danish, and cream puff. Total came out to be 25.75 with the cake, so it seemed like a fairly good deal with all the baked goods I ordered.
After reading Jasons review on the cup cakes I couldnt wait to try the cup cakes. As soon as I got a chance I tried the white cupcake with vanilla frosting. OMG this is the best cup cake Ive ever had. The frosting is defiantly home made and tasted very fresh. The frosting is creamy and the cup cake, as Jason described it, is very airy and light. Its as light as angle cake but taste light, moist and very good. The cup cake is not very large but thats OK as I have purchased six. I enjoyed the white with vanilla frosting very much and prefer it over the chocolate ones.
Cream Puff: This thing is heavy! Its filled with custard in every bite, so much custard that its overflowing (this may not be appealing for everyone as theres so much custard here). The pastry is very light and goes well with the custard. The custard is not overly sweet. Im actually glad its filled with custard rather than cream as its very good. I was planning to give this a 9/10 but when I went to pick up my cake on Wed, I ordered 4 more cream puffs for my friends at work and the one I got tasted a little old. The pastry was a bit stale, not at all like the one I had over the weekend. The custard also tasted a little processed this time like there are minor hints of chemical flavoring to it. (8/10)
Chocolate Decadence: Cake is very good. I managed to have a regular slice without requiring any drink. The dark chocolate frosting is perfect, not too sweet and not bitter sweet. The chocolate cake is not airy like their cupcakes; rather its moist and goes every well with the icing. I barely noticed the chocolate cream as it blended very well with the cake. I think the cake and the icing overpowered the cream as it was very light. Chocolate is not really my first choice in cakes as Id rather gone with the Mango Delight but since it wasnt my birthday I went with what was requested. (8.5/10)
Apple Danish: The apple goes well with the Danish as the apple is a bit sour where as the Danish is sweet with lemon frosting. Goes every well together. Plenty of apple filling as well. Akis is not afraid to fill up the pocket with fillings. (8/10)
Custard Danish: Akis is not afraid to load up the custard. There is so much custard it weighs down the Danish when holding it up. Custard is very good, same custard as in their cream puff. The Danish is nice as well, but theres a bit too much lemony flavor in their frosting on their Danish, it does not go very well with the custard. (8/10)
Even when it wasnt the crowded, the service was slow. On the weekdays there is only two people out front working the counters. When I got there around 12:10pm to pick up my cake I didnt walk out with the cake until 12:30pm. There was one lady helping someone order her cake and another taking phone orders. I cant tell if they are just so popular with everyone wanting their cake or if they are just slow helping their customers, giving them their full attention. I think its a little of both. Sure when I was being helped I didnt mind the attention but when I was waiting it took a while, even though only one person was in line ahead of me.
Its best to call in your order, which I plan to do next time, and then go on a weekday to pick up your order or go early in the morning. Parking is packed on the weekend. I highly recommend you dont park too deep into the corner as you can get trapped with cars parking in spaces near where you park.
Actually had their guava cake at a few event prior including my birthday ironically. I just never knew.
Had some time and felt like cake, made an effort and travelled down here with a friend. Very un-pretentious; had an great 'family' and 'small business' feel about it. I wish I caught them before the new owners, but they seem to be doing a fine job.
A friend recommended the mango over the guava last week so we ended up ordering a slice of both. Both were light, airy, and fluffy yet hit the spot. Although they're not the prettiest things they were nearly flawless in taste. Not much more to add, except I also liked the mango over the guava. However, if you'd brought me either I'd be thankful.
I'm just holding out that 10 as they didn't completely blow me away (although now I know where my birthday cake last year came from). If they were closer to me (yes I'm selfish) I'd frequent them more. However I'm fortunate to be within walking distance of that infamouse cupertino bakery. Not to be confused as they're apples and oranges in my opinion. Two completely different baking styles and offerings. Both excellent in their own right.
“This cake is tropical and light! I always order from Aki's whenever we have a party at work.”
1/14/2008 12:39:32 PM
tanya ate...
Guava cake
“this cake blew my mind. It was light, and fluffy not super sweet. The guava taste is natural and not artifical omg I want more!”
3/21/2007 6:57:10 PM
satyaprakash ate...
White Cake
“Amazing. One of the Best bakery's around. Bought a cake for a colleagues Baby Shower and the Taste, quality and finish of the cake was excellent. Reasonable Price”
1/2/2007 1:26:28 PM
hippo ate...
Guava cake
“Exceedingly light, hot pink coated, nice light flavor. It felt healthy :-)”
