When it comes to bakeries, I try to avoid them to limit my sweets intake but every now and then, it’s a wonderful and special treat. Whether you’re talking about Guglhupf, La Farm Bakery or lucettegrace, I’m always tempted to order the entire counter! And a new bakery that’s been around forever has arrived on the scene for sweets: Annelore’s German Bakery! The name probably sounds familiar to you if you’ve been to local farmers markets. I remember running into Annelore’s at the NC State Farmer’s market many times over the years. They always had a stand next to Bee Blessed Honey and the flower vendors at the front of the farmer’s market. So I was really happy to get an invite to their local media event (Kaffee & Kuchen – Coffee and Cake) to check out Annelore’s new retail space in Cary!
Head on over Chatham Street in Cary and you’ll find Annelore’s German Bakery in a new, stand-alone building a couple of blocks down from La Farm Bakery, very cool! Inside I meet up with Annelore’s media contact, Tiffani and bump into some of the other local bloggers and news people attending the event. Even though I haven’t had a chance to visit Germany yet, I can say that Annelore’s interior design is clean and European with a large, curved display area full of bright colors and tempting sweets. There’s also a small cafe area to the side if you’d like to enjoy your coffee and sweets onsite.
For the media preview, we’ve got a beautiful display of Annelore’s baked goodies which spans a wide variety of categories, from sweet cookies and cakes to savory pretzels, breads and a lot more. I sample some of the goodies, love the classic Bee Sting cake layered with cream, honey, almonds and pastry, I remember this treat from the old NC State Farmers Market days! Some jam-filled cookies and Black Forest cake are also excellent, showing high quality ingredients without the overly sweet nature that some pastries might have. I’d describe Annelore’s pastries as your more classic European sweets without being overly complicated. Annelore’s bakes up a mean, butter spritz cookie along with a classic marzipan crescent dipped in chocolate and made of almond flour, chewy perfection!
But Annelore’s German Bakery is not a one-trick pony only serving up sweets. Their large Bavarian pretzels are beautifully baked and show off a wonderfully, shiny sheen and the cheese-covered pretzels are as amazing as they sound. A row of bread loaves show off additional baking skills around multi-grain bread, purple wheat bread and more. These bread varieties are certainly different from what you usually see in the area. Ryes, purple wheat loaves and much more! I’m sure if you’re more familiar with German breads then I am, you’ll appreciate the variety turned out at Annelore’s.
During the media event, owners Annelore and Norbert address the crowd and we learn more about the history of their bakery and construction of the new facility. Tours are given of the industrial kitchen which is super clean and well-organized. It’s also built super eco-friendly with an eye towards minimizing waste and energy usage. While everything inside is super-modern, it’s that old-school talent and human hands on the staff that makes their cakes and pastries so awesome. Annelore’s Bakery is definitely in a position to really increase their production volume and get their baked goods out to a wider audience beyond farmers markets, good for them!
And at the end of the event, we’re all given goodie bags filled with tasty cookies, pastries, bread and more. It’s really great to see Annelore’s Bakery all growed up! While other businesses may have had more splashy entrances, Annelore’s has been slowly building up their reputation for high quality baked goods with a German flair, customer by customer, year by year. So congratulations, Annelore’s! If you’re in the Cary area it’s certainly worth a visit for their artisanal pastries and breads from Germany. I’m sure that for many, it will be a taste of home…
Annelore’s German Bakery
919.267.6846