Bywater Bakery — Restaurant in New Orleans

As a baker myself, it took trying five other local spots for my wedding cake before I discovered the excellence that is Bywater Bakery. Chaya, the pastry chef and owner, is a bit of a baking legend. If you've ever had the Berry Chantilly Cake at Whole Foods, you have Chaya to thank. And of course, her in-house recipe is still even better than the one licensed out!

I knew I wanted a Victorian, lambeth-style cake full of color for our wedding day. Chaya and team absolutely delivered. After a fun and fruitful cake tasting, we landed on a chocolate cake with praline filling and buttercream frosting for our display/tiered cake. We then served a lemon berry chantilly sheet cake as well because, well, how could we not?!

Needless to say we ordered double the cake for our guest count… and almost all of it was gone by the end of the night. So many guests took 2-3 slices because it was the best wedding cake they ever had. One of my bridesmaids, a food scientist who runs a professional vegan baking company, was also blown away by the flavors. So much so, she's planning on driving from Atlanta to New Orleans next year just to buy a cake!

Our cakes were as beautiful as they were delicious. No fondant here! Even though I live a six hour drive away, I would happily order from Bywater Bakery for all my special events. The cakes are...

Bywater Bakery is so good, I'm moving to New Orleans. I'm serious. I was in town for work a few weeks ago and decided I wanted a different kind of stay than just a downtown hotel. So I grabbed a spot right near Bywater Bakery. I walked here everyday to grab a beautifully roasted coffee and a ridiculously delicious, masterful pastry to start my day.

Now it's not just that I am now so addicted to Bywater Bakery's pastries I need to move to be closer to them (like what do you mean strawberry mascarpone rolls???). It was the overall atmosphere, the super friendly (and hilarious btw) staff, and the community vibes. It felt just like when I was a kid and I'd go to the neighbor Italian bakery Carmen's with my Nona. The anticipation and excitement waiting in line, the drama of picking just one (HOW?!), and then the sweet reward of taking the biggest most indulgent bite of a dreamy pastry.

It even became a thing with my friends and family, where they excitedly waited to see pictures of what pastry I picked that morning from Bywater Bakery. Everyone's so excited to try it!

Grabbing a pastry here every morning for those two short weeks reminded me of how the good life can be and I needed that reminder.

Thanks to the awesome folks here, your pastries are insane, and I cannot wait...

First off, I want to say that it was an amazing experience despite some hiccups. This business and bakery is a jewel in the crown of NO. The way they accommodated my 1-year-old, who has an egg allergy, was beyond amazing. I live almost an hour away and needed the specialty vegan cake within a week's notice due to recently finding out my baby had an egg allergy. It was hard to find a bakery that could accommodate me locally, but we wanted a nice-looking soccer-themed cake for him to smash on his first birthday. First of all, the price was EXTREMELY reasonable for the quality of the cake and it would be hard to find somewhere as competitive. The employees were polite and helpful. Unfortunately, there was a mixup on the date I wanted to pick it up and when I arrived it hadn’t been decorated. However, one of the bakers came in from her home to finish and then the owner personally delivered it to our home in time for our son's party. To say I’m satisfied is an understatement. Also, as someone who has never had a vegan anything, this cake tastes FANTASTIC! If you need a cake, get it from this wonderful place. We will definitely be using this place for all my son's...