Best Bakery in Berkeley?

[KelMH]

Hi Everyone.

I am looking for the best bakery is Berkeley--I need to take a dessert over to my family's (in the Central Valley) for an Easter Sunday get-together, and seeing as I've only lived in Berkeley since the fall (and during that time my head's been stuck in books), I am not exactly sure where to go. I've heard great things about Crixa Cakes and La Farine, but that's it.

So... any special place where I can pick up the dessert on Saturday (has to be able to keep for at least a bit), travel for about a hour or so and taste delicious?

Thanks so much!

Kelli

[Katie Meadow]

Crixa and la Farine are both very good. I've always been partial to the fruit tarts at La Farine--my family always preferred fruit tarts to cake for birthdays--and can't really remember what their cakes are like. Right now I am into their Irish Soda Bread toasted for breakfast!

You might also look into Masse's Pastries, which is in that strip along Shattuck near Saul's, over at the Walnut/Vine area. I haven't had their cakes for a while, but they make a dynamite traditional cake (and by that I mean it actually has flour in it!) with walnuts and a chocolate layer and I can't remember what else, and people swooned whenever that cake was served.

[djyee100]

Crixa has been my favorite bakery for a long time. I like Masse's also.

Both Crixa and Masse's have many fragile cream-based cakes that should be kept chilled. I'm not sure they would travel well. Crixa does have some homestyle cakes (like its ginger cake, based on the Chez P recipe) that don't have to be chilled and would travel fine. I once ordered a couple chocolate rum cakes from Crixa for a party. The cakes got a little frosting knocked off the sides in transit, but they tasted so delicious, nobody cared.

Another possibility is the bakery in the Rockridge Market Hall. http://rockridgemarkethall.com/index.php?o...=107&Itemid=223

Given that it's a holiday, maybe you should order something ahead of time?