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Baking Institute

3.8 (127 reviews)
Closed • 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Updated 3 months ago

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Cate B.

The cake was delicious and delivered on time and looked beautiful. The communication was always extremely prompt, They were very easy to work with. I am very happy.

Marble, lemon, tiramisu and chocolate cake tasting!
Sandy N.

Igor was very detailed and helpful during our tasting. Initially we picked 3 flavors but he added a 4th one. Definitely worth a spot to check out. We have 100 guest @4.50/pp plus $400 design and cake total was around $970 with delivery. Pretty reasonable and they have many designs!

Wedding Cake from the Baking Institute
Jennifer R.

We can't say enough good things about the Baking Institute! They made the most beautiful cake for our wedding that fit nicely with the decor. They also had a great variety of flavors to choose from. We went with the Lemon Zest and Chocolate Raspberry Heaven and couldn't get enough of both of these flavors. The tasting experience and choosing our cake design was also wonderful. I was able to bring my parents with us for the tasting, so it was a really memorable experience for all of us. They were very detailed with all of the cake design options. They even asked for a picture of my wedding dress and they helped pick out a cake that fit the wedding dress/vibe of the wedding. It was very personal and custom! I would highly recommend working with the Baking Institute for your wedding cake!

Me and my Fiancé are getting married June 2,2024 and we went yesterday to our cake tasting and we were so excited and the lady we were with, her name was Ciera and she was so spaced out and awkward. First issue was that they served the cake on a paper plate with clear plastic utensils like c'mon couples come to take photos, at least make it look presentable. Second issue was Ciera herself, she didn't introduce herself or anything and didn't even give us descriptions of the cake flavors ( yes we chose the flavors but that was a month ago and it was all thrown on 1 plate so we couldn't tell what was what) and everything was extremely rushed and she didn't try to make it special at all for us and we were in and out of there in 10 minutes. Honestly if we weren't spending so much already on our wedding I would have gotten up and left and chose another place to make our wedding cake.

Photo sent to the business
T. A.

Myself and my family have been ordering cakes from here for the past 10 years. Baby showers, birthdays, graduations, holloween, Easter, etc. All of which adds up to thousands upon thousands of dollars of business. Today, I received the delivery of a cake, I paid $620. The cake was to celebrate one of the most meaningful promotions of my career, and I couldn't have been more disappointed. The cake looks like someone without experience took 5 minutes to throw it together. Posted are the photos of what we requested along with what we received. If there was any doubt about what was ordered, a follow-up phone call should have taken place to us 2 weeks ago when the order was placed. Or a 1 minute Google search would have yielded the proper details if the photos and original request were unclear. OR call us for clarification if there were doubts. Today, after multiple calls, emails, and photos were sent, we were told we would receive a full refund. However, it was not the initial response we had received, AND it doesn't change that the moment is ruined. The detailed fondant work " IS " what draws us to this bakery. If I just wanted a cake without the special decor, I would have bought one from Costco. By the way, Costco cakes taste delicious and moist for a mere $30 dollars. This is the business, this is their specialty, you only get one chance to get it right for the moment.

The inspiration photo for our cake
Crystal M.

Horrible service! I provided an inspiration photo for what I wanted my wedding cake to look like and they did a horrible job executing what I asked for. I also paid extra to have the cake look this way - when I called to ask for my money back since the cake looked horrible I was told by the general manager Igor that in his opinion it was beautiful. I was very unhappy with the cake and the service of this place and would not recommend.

We chose Baking Institute to bake and design our wedding cake. We worked with Igor, who was very helpful in making the right choices for the design and flavors. We went with a 4-tier cake with one layer being marble cake with raspberry mousse and the other two layers with marble cake and white chocolate mousse. Both combinations were outstanding and loved by our guests. There was a small upcharge to choose mousse filling, but it was definitely worth the cost. We loved Baking Institute so much that we decided to order another cake for our baby shower. We highly recommend Baking Institute for anyone who is looking for a delicious cake for your wedding or any other special occasion.

It was a rough start with the baking institute in Northbrook but they came through with flying colors on our wedding day. First of all, don't expect a big fancy bakery. Totally disappointing! They are located in a dingy, remote industrial park. The inside of their office is dark, dank, and unassuming. There are several old fake cake examples to look at while waiting for the most disagreeable sales person ever! Brought pictures, told the guy what we wanted and he proceeded to minimize all our requests. Even saying that we don't need to put frosting flowers around the whole cake...so weird...especially if it's in the middle of the dance floor and not against a wall. The cake samples they brought out didn't have frosting and I feel that is really peculiar. We left dumbfounded and confused. After talking to our coordinator at the banquet place and she called over with our concerns, things got better. The cake ended up being beautiful and delicious.

Our finished wedding cake from the baking institute. Thank you Igor!
Nina H.

This review is nearly four months overdue but I wanted to give credit and thanks to the wonderful staff and Igor (Head baker) @ the baking institute. The baking institute was one of our vendors for our wedding this past year and they did a great job with our cake selection. At first when My husband and I arrived for our first appointment and cake tasting, we weren't sure what type/flavor or design of cake we wanted. After looking at several Pinterest photos, the task of choosing seemed daunting. There's just so many things to consider when choosing "The Cake" but Igor helped smooth that whole process over by simply asking some basic questions like: What's our color scheme? What does my dress look like? What cake flavors do we like/don't like? What are the flowers we've chosen? And from all that info, he was able to design a cake that was to both my husband's and my liking! Overall, everyone enjoyed the look and most importantly the taste of the cake. I would highly recommend this place to anyone considering a purchase from the baking institute. They are by appointment only so please call ahead.

Our gorgeous cake! (Flowers from Kimberose)
Catherine P.

Our reception hall, The Cotillion, uses the Baking Institute for their wedding cakes as part of their reception packages. Originally, they double booked our appointment and had to reschedule for another day. When we finally went in, we expected to meet with a designer or baker, but we met with an office person. She provided zero creative advice and more or less just took our order. We tasted 3 different cakes with a variety of frostings and ended up ordering an almond cake with a hazelnut frosting. We wanted something different than your standard wedding cake and achieved just that. Overall, we were happy with our cake, but would have liked some sort of guidance from an expert and did not receive that at all After all, I have never ordered a wedding cake before and had no idea what I was doing. I provided them my own sketch of my cake and they used this to make our cake. It came our beautifully and tasted delicious, but we basically ordered from their "menu" of options. We skipped the fake flowers and let our florist, Kimberose, decorate the cake with real roses and I'm so happy we decided against the edible flowers. Real roses were the way to go! Would I use them again? Possibly.

Does this look right to you? Looked ready to fall over and wasn't supposed to be like this. Tasted so bad little kids wouldn't even eat it
Miss T.

Worst cake ever! Not only was it not what the bride ordered, it was leaning so badly that the reception hall was afraid to put her topper on it for fear it would tip over! My first thoughts as matron of honor when I saw that cake were WTF?!? My sister was introduced and immediately almost started crying when she saw it. And how could she not, when it was right in front of her. The cake tasted so nasty my 4 year old wouldn't even eat it. She should have used Berkots or Fleckensteins because if the cake looked jacked up, at least it would've tasted good!

a three tiered wedding cake
Stephanie C.

We had a great experience with the baking institute. Our wedding cake was absolutely beautiful and looked exactly like how we wanted it too. It tasted delicious too!!

Our cake with the RIGHT colored ribbon

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12 years ago

Our venue used the baking institute as their baker for wedding cakes, and our cake turned out beautiful and delicious!

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Graeter's Ice Cream

Graeter's Ice Cream

4.3(225 reviews)
1.1 mi
•$$$
Casual dining
Kid friendly

Graeter's in downtown Northbrook is one of our family favorites. We come here all the time, and I…read morehonestly can't remember a single time there wasn't a line out the door, which should tell you everything you need!! They do such a good job keeping the line moving quickly, sometimes almost too fast. So many good options, always tasty and worth the wait. My only request: Please give us gummy bears or Oreos as topping choices. That's all.

This is located in downtown Northbrook. There's parking around & easy with a tiny bit of walking on…read morea weekend. I got to try the signature raspberry chocolate chip, cherry chocolate chip & coconut. Coconut was my least favorite & the raspberry chocolate chip & cherry chocolate chip were incredible. I got a double scoop in a waffle cone & it's highly substantial, making up like half meal so go a bit hungry, not after a full dinner. The double scoop is something like $1.50 more vs a single scoop ($6) & a waffle cone is only $1 add on. Service was good but lines are behind (5-10 min wait) so don't try too many flavors & keep others waiting. Ambiance is a cute little shop & lots of people order it to go & walk around the cute downtown Northbrook instead of dinning in. Protip: They offer self serve free water at the end of checkout, so you canwash down your palette instead of ordering a drink & loading up on more calories. Also, there is an app offering an initial free ice cream, single scoop & you can do an upgrade for the price difference. Great addition to the area! I want yo try the cakes next time.

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Graeter's Ice Cream
Graeter's Ice Cream
Graeter's Ice Cream

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Scoops and Cookies - Smores, chocolate chocolate, and chocolate chip cookies

Scoops and Cookies

4.7(70 reviews)
3.8 mi
•$$

On those late days of spring -- when Chicago and the suburbs finally thaw out after months of…read morefrigid temperatures and biting precipitation -- residents emerge from their homes in search of one thing. Ice cream. After spending the day outside and then grilling out, we (obviously) needed ice cream to complete our Saturday. We popped into Scoops and Cookies because it's not far from our house and because Homer's Ice Cream is always an enticing offer. They have a *ton* of flavors. The screens above the counter showcase everything, while you can see some of the flavors in the case. We sampled a few before deciding on a scoop of cappuccino chip in a sugar cone (mine) and two scoops of butter pecan and cookie dough in a dish (his). We were helped by who we assumed to be the owner, who was friendly and also keeping things moving as groups (understandably) hemmed and hawed over their flavor choices. While we weren't here for cookies this time, they piqued our interest and we'll explore that more on our next visit. There are quite a few tables inside with lots of seating, and everything was clean. Did this just become our new favorite ice cream place? Maybe!

I'm so glad I took a wrong turn and happened to find this place! The cookies were served warm and…read morefresh and were exactly what I was looking for this cold evening. The chocolate chip cookie was my favorite out of the three with the chocolate/chocolate being a close second! The staff were really friendly too, the cashier let me try a 'burnt' cookie on the house which tbh was pretty good too! I wished there was a salted chocolate chip cookie on the menu though Definitely adding this place to my guides and will try to stop by every time I'm in town

Photos
Scoops and Cookies - Combo

Combo

Scoops and Cookies
Scoops and Cookies - Poster in the shop

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Poster in the shop

Alice & Friends at The Glen - Joyful bliss (fried shrimp)

Alice & Friends at The Glen

4.7(85 reviews)
1.4 mi
•$$

finally got around to visiting alice & friends! it was always so far out of my way, but i was in…read morethe area and had dinner here with a friend. right away, the restaurant was very warm and homey. we were quickly sat and got to ordering. our waiter was very helpful when it came to different menu options and recommendations, so we were able to order pretty quickly! for an appetizer, we got the steamed dumplings, and for entrees, we got the chow mein and spammi sandwich. the portions were great, and the food was all delicious! i really liked the slaw that came with the spammi sandwich. overall a great experience! i would definitely recommend this restaurant.

I have a confession - I may have developed an addiction to their Kung Pao! I have not stopped…read morethinking of it for a whole entire week and it was one of those meals that left such good memories that I can still "taste" it - y'know? I hadn't been since their renovation and made it there last Thursday. It was really cute ambiance - I loved the interior designer's work. The place has options of seating - inside and outside, ranging from metal chairs to comfortable upholstered benches. We got the tom kha to begin with, which my husband, who's not vegetarian, devoured. It was truly delicious! We then got the Kung Pao with mushrooms and it was incredible - the flavors, the choice of vegetables, the sauce - all of it! We also got a chow mein but with rice noodles - this was the one dish that could take some improvement. Granted, the original recipe calls for wheat noodles, and that might be really good, though our rice noodles version of it was came out soggy. Our server had clearly had a long day - she was tired and forgetful (didn't bring us rice and we had a hard time flagging her down to request it). She also just brought us the check after dinner, without asking if we wanted any dessert. All in all, highly recommend this place for delicious plant-based food.

Photos
Alice & Friends at The Glen - Interior

Interior

Alice & Friends at The Glen - Not Dog and side salad

Not Dog and side salad

Alice & Friends at The Glen - Crab rangoon

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Crab rangoon

Straw & Bubbles Tea Bar - Croffels

Straw & Bubbles Tea Bar

4.5(57 reviews)
3.0 mi

About a 2-2.5: Straw & Bubbles Tea Bar is an intimate space that offers various…read moremilk/fruit/matcha/blended teas and drinks, croffles, and even instant ramen options. We stopped by after having lunch in the area, and we ordered: +the Strawberry Cream Cheese croffle - topped with strawberry-flavored cream cheese and freeze-dried strawberries (the description actually state they were fresh strawberry slices, so this would need to be updated) +a Strawberry Matcha Latte +Orange Jasmine Yakult +and, a Pineapple Creamy The croffle itself was okay; it was slightly chewy and may have been stale; wished it would have been served hot. The drinks could have been steeped longer and prepared better, as they were watered down. The place is cute, and there's limited seating inside. There seems to be consistent to-go/pick-up orders. Limited street parking is available. +watered down drinks +slightly stale croffles +instant ramen options +limited seating

We went to Straw and Bubbles Tea Bar for the second time and we liked it. I will admit it is a tad…read morepricy for boba but for convenience it is worth it for us. We got: Ramen: 9/10 I got to try a new ramen that I normally do not get. I added an egg and radish ($1 each for toppings) the ramen I picked is the Jin seafood version. The noodles are nice and chewy with a good amount of spicy. It also has dried crab bits added! Boba: 10/10 we got some strawberry boba and it was delicious. The tapioca here is always perfectly cooked with good chew to it. The owner/shop worker is very nice! She gave us two waffles on the house. The ambiance is a really cute shop perfect for dates or boba chats. We would for sure be stopping by again for late night boba cravings.

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Straw & Bubbles Tea Bar - Make your own ramen

Make your own ramen

Straw & Bubbles Tea Bar - Strawberry Cream Cheese Donut

Strawberry Cream Cheese Donut

Straw & Bubbles Tea Bar - Thai milk tea

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Thai milk tea

Basu - sunny side beef

Basu

4.6(240 reviews)
1.1 mi
•$$

Love the wings and sandwiches The bowls are good but not…read morehuge servings Will absolutely eat there again

When we went to Vietnam for a 5-day side trip back in March, 2025, we were fortunate to have tasted…read moresome very good Vietnamese food, including a Michelin-starred dinner and a Michelin Gourmand lunch. Some of my very memorable foods include every bowl of beef pho that was offered to us. The beef was tender and flavorful, the pho (rice noodles) was thin and smooth. Tonight, we were having takeout from one of our favorite eateries, Basu, again. Since the first bowl of beef pho that did not totally meet our expectations, we had been ordering chicken pho from them. Their grilled chicken has always been smooth and cooked nicely. Their sweet soy glazed chicken wings are finger-licking good. We like their ground pork egg rolls with crunchy skin as well. This time I wanted to give their beef pho another chance, and see how it would compare to those that I had in Vietnam, and hope that they have made some improvement over two and a half years. Well, it is still the same. The beef was not tender, although not too chewy, it was kind of rough. The pho was not as smooth as I would like it to be. The broth still tasted good and not too salty, though. The chicken pho and egg roll were still good. (We remove the side bag of raw bean sprouts, lime, and basil from the order, as we don't eat them). It is a still a solid 4-star. Next time I will switch back to chicken pho again. I am still glad that we have this Vietnamese eatery close by!

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Basu - Dining area (1 occupied table not pictured).

Dining area (1 occupied table not pictured).

Basu - Belly classic

Belly classic

Basu - Sunnyside beef and veggiecado

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Sunnyside beef and veggiecado

Baking Institute - bakeries - Updated May 2026

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