The Village Bakery of Lawrenceville, NJ

The Village Bakery is a full-service bakery that offers artisan breads, pastries, cookies, petit fours, specialty desserts, and cakes for all occasions. Pastry Chef/Owner Karen Child oversees a talented staff of bakers and pastry cooks who make our baked goods in-house from the finest ingredients in the old world tradition of quality and freshness. Artisan breads, breakfast catering, gourmet cookie platters, petit fours platters, and celebration cakes are our main specialties.  

We are pleased to serve Small World Coffee produced by Small World Roasters of Rocky Hill, NJ. Our café seating is perfect for taking a break to savor a cup of coffee or tea while treating yourself to one of our delicious pastries.

We carry a number of locally-produced food products on our retail shelves, including natural fruit butters made by Muirhead Foods of Ringoes, NJ. We are also working with our friends at Lawrenceville's Cherry Grove Farm to incorporate some of their fine products into our menu as well as olive oil from Hopewell Valley Vineyards.

Fresh Baked vs. Made Fresh 

Sadly, many of today's bakeries – including those found in many supermarkets -- opt to cut corners by purchasing pre-made frozen baked goods from large commercial baking product distributers. They then bake off the frozen baked goods after which they market the pre-made baked goods as "fresh baked." At the Village bakery, we make our products from scratch using the finest ingredients available, thus ensuring that our customers are purchasing products made fresh in our bakery kitchen. 

"Fresh-baked" versus "made-fresh"
come and taste the made-fresh difference at the Village Bakery!

What's Baking?

Artisan Breads

Our Head Baker, Luis Uroza, is "the man no one ever sees."  That's because he starts mixing dough and baking after midnight and works through the wee hours of the morning so that our customers have made-fresh breads and breakfast pastries available for purchase every day. 

Four basic ingredients comprise our artisan breads:  water, yeast, salt, and flour.  The Village Bakery uses flours that are not bleached or bromated and that are milled specifically for artisan bakers.  There are no preservatives in our artisan breads! 

Some of the breads we produce include baguettes; savory breads such as bacon, black olive, blue cheese-walnut, garlic, onion, and parmesan/provolone; and grain breads such as multigrain, rye with caraway, cranberry-raisin-walnut, and seven-grain.  We also make a variety of artisan dinner rolls.  Every week we bake our breads on a rotating schedule, so please call ahead for each day's offerings.

Breakfast Pastries

Every morning we fill our cases with homemade pastry; fruit brioche - golden raisin and plain; croissants - almond, chocolate, fruit, and plain; an assortment of muffins, Danish, sticky buns, and old fashioned "meltaways."

Cookies, Bars & Petit Fours

We offer a variety of American and European cookies and bars to satisfy any sweet tooth, such as Swedish Almond Crisps, Hazelnut Crisps, Mini Palmiers, Shortbread, Russian Tea Cakes, Spritz, Chocolate Chip, Coconut,  and Oatmeal-Raisin.  Need a cookie tray?  No problem – give us a call 2-3 days ahead of time and we'll have it ready for you.

Our selection of bars includes fudge brownies, mocha nut brownies, caramel brownies, peanut butter-chocolate chip bars, and lemon bars. 

Petit fours are a made-to-order item in our shop; that is, you won't find them sitting in our display for days at a time.  When you need to make a big splash with sweets, we can prepare small, medium or large trays of assorted petit fours, examples of which include Almond Macaroon Sandwiches w/ Raspberry Filling, Caramel Bites, Carrot Cake Sandwiches w/ Cream Cheese filling, Cheesecake Tartlettes, Chocolate Macaroon Sandwiches w/ Ganache Filling, Chocolate Truffles, Cream Puffs (Vanilla or Hazelnut), Frangipane Fruit Bites, Fudge Bites, Lemon Bites, Mini Linzer Tarts, and Mousse Cups.

Cakes

The Village Bakery is owned an operated by Pastry Chef Karen Child. She can design and execute custom cakes for all occasions, including weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, baptisms, first communions, and holidays. Delivery is available.

Because we are an artisan shop, we usually do not carry ready-to-go cakes.  Most of our cakes are made to order so that our customers are guaranteed the freshest cakes possible.  If you need to order a cake, please call us at least 4 days ahead of time so we can fit your order into our busy cake production schedule!

Getting married and need a wedding cake?  Call us and schedule a free consultation with Chef Karen.  She will meet with you and help design the perfect wedding cake to fit both your special day and your budget.  Please specify if you would like a tasting to be included as part of your consultation.

Frequent Asked Questions

Q: Do you sell any of your baked goods at local farmer's markets?
A: Yes. During the 2009 farmer's market season (May thru October) we sold our artisan breads at five farmers markets; in 2010 we hope to add a sixth market to our roster. Check out the "Friends & Links" section below for more information on the farmer's markets in which we participate.

Q: Every time I come into your shop, you seem to be out of the things that I want.
A: Everything is handmade on a daily basis, and because we're a small shop, we can only produce so much on any given day. We suggest that our customers either come in early in the day OR place an order a day or two in advance in order to guarantee that we'll have what you want and/or need.

Q: Do you make gluten-free products?
A: Unfortunately, no. In order to make truly gluten-free products we would need a separate kitchen in which to make and bake gluten-free products. Our good friends at Olsson's Fine Foods in the Trenton Farmer's Market carry a line of gluten-free breads that taste pretty darn good! Tell them we sent you!

Q: I need to order a wedding cake; what do I need to do?
A: Call us and schedule a free consultation with Pastry Chef/Owner Karen Child. She will meet with you and help design the perfect wedding cake to fit both your special day and your budget. Please specify if you would like a tasting to be included as part of your consultation.

Q: Do you use organic flours for your breads?
A: Unfortunately, no.  Typically, organic flour costs almost twice the price of non-organic flour. In order to keep our costs under control and to provide our customers with the next best thing to organic, we use flours that are not bleached or bromated and that are milled specifically for artisan bakers. If anyone can get us a decent price on organic flour, please let us know!

Q: Do you wholesale your baked goods to other businesses?
A: Yes. We provide our artisan breads to a number of small, local restaurants, and we serve as the on-call pastry shop for a number of local caterers, dining clubs, and banquet facilities that need special-occasion breads, cakes, petit fours, and specialty desserts.

Q: Are there any limits on the amount of baked goods that walk-in customers can purchase? If so, why?
A: Yes, for cookies and breakfast pastries. We only bake once a day; thus, we have a limited supply of products available for purchase every day. Please place an order the day before if you need a dozen or more pastries or more than 1 pound of cookies.