Sweet Escape Cake Café and Bakery is a hidden treasure for fine desserts that you will find in the eclectic Bay & Algoma Neighbourhood of an a visit to Thunder Bay.
A few steps off Bay Street on Machar Avenue, this elegant bakery and coffee shop serves up an amazing selection of cakes and other desserts in a quaint atmosphere that is an inventive mix of baking, tea leaf readings, and a display space for local art.
This relatively new local business has quickly garnered a following for their fabulous cakes, with many locals making orders for their wedding cakes. And why not: they have cakes of every kinds from cheesecake to carrot cake, chocolate cake and lots more delicious cakes. I especially like the raspberry dream cake.
With a 30-seat capacity, including a comfortable leather couch and great décor, the warm interior will beckon you in to sit for a while. The smell of cakes baking might waft in through the opening of the adjacent kitchen where you can catch a glimpse of Julie Einarson and her assistant Caroline applying their artistic talents to the surface of a few cakes.
Julie specializes in European Tortes with real whip cream, Belgian chocolates, and French butter creams with fresh fruit. Julie also bakes the cheesecake, cupcakes, cookies, date squares, pies and more. Every so often, she tries out a new baked creation to a welcome audience. Julie has taken up challenging orders for all kinds of cake and cake designs.
Julie began her studies in a commercial baking program in Red River College in Winnipeg, and then studied with a French pastry chef for six years. On the business side, Julie took a course at PARO, a woman’s business center. Julie sold baked goods from her home before finding a location and investing in the renovation of her café. Caroline, Julie’s assistant, is also trained in the culinary arts of desert baking.
The café is open noon to 10 pm, closed on Wednesdays and Sundays. Tea-leaf readings are offered Thursday nights. Original art is shown on her walls from local aspiring artistcs.
Sweet Escape Café and Bakery
Unit 2-271 Bay St.
