Saturday was my birthday (yay!) and when Shane asked what I wanted to do to celebrate, I decided it might be fun to head up to Boston and visit Flour Bakery! I’d received the Flour cookbook for Christmas, and it’s quickly become one of my favorites. It only seemed fitting to head to the bakery itself, especially since Boston is only about an hour away. Flour has three locations – we visited the Central Square location in Cambridge. We arrived around 9 am on Saturday morning – ready to consume lots of pastry 🙂
Inside, the bakery was busy but not so crowded we couldn’t find somewhere to sit. The vibe was warm and the service was fast.
I thought this quote was cute!
We resisted the urge to ask for one of each of the items from the case, but it was tempting…
We wound up choosing three items to share initially. I stayed away from anything with nuts (neither of us are fans) and limited myself to just one item with fruit since I knew Shane wouldn’t help with that one.
First up was the brioche au sucre (top left), which was basically just a brioche roll with a crackly sugar coating on top. For something so simple, it was great – really tender and rich. The second item was pain aux raisins (top right), a brioche pastry filled with pastry cream and golden raisins. It was my favorite of the three. Lastly, we tried the chocolate brioche, which was another hit. I could tell they’d chosen a really high quality chocolate to fill the brioche, it was dark and worked well with the rich pastry.
We’d definitely established that we loved the brioche dough, but still wanted to try a few more things. We were too full to eat anything else though so picked several additional items to bring home with us.
Craqueline – brioche (apparently we didn’t get enough) filled with chopped candied oranges and finished with a crackly almond topping. I loved the visual appeal of this one, but the oranges in the filling were too bitter for me.
Lemon-Ginger Scone (right) – my other favorite item, alongside the pain aux raisins. It had the perfect balance of lemon and ginger flavor.
Oatmeal-Maple Scone (left) – I forgot to write down what this one was, but I think it was the oatmeal-maple scone. It wasn’t a favorite but I can’t put my finger on exactly what I didn’t like about it.
Banana Bread – it’s called “Flour’s Famous Banana Bread” in the cookbook so I pretty much had to try it, right? I had to pick around the nuts (and there were quite a few) but I could still tell it was great banana bread – super moist and full of banana flavor.
One thing we didn’t try? The sticky buns that Flour Bakery is so well known for (they were featured on an episode of Bobby Flay’s Throwdown and won). They looked amazing, but there were just too many nuts to make it worthwhile for us to buy. That said, the beauty of owning the cookbook is that I can make my own nut-free version! 🙂
As if all that sugar and pastry wasn’t enough, I decided to make Flour’s vanilla cream-filled doughnuts over the weekend as well 🙂 They were one of the first recipes I flagged in the book and unfortunately, they’re only sold at the bakery on Sunday so we didn’t get to try them.
I’ve made doughnuts a few times in the past, but this was definitely the most successful of any of my attempts. The dough comes together quickly in your stand mixer, rests overnight, and couldn’t be easier to work with when it comes time to roll/cut the doughnuts. Once they’re cut, the doughnuts proof for a few hours, and turn into fluffy and soft little rounds.
The frying is always the scariest part for me. I’ve had trouble cooking other doughnuts – often the outside is crisp and golden but I bite in to discover the inside is still raw. No such issues with this recipe, though. The doughnuts are fried for just 2-3 minutes per side then rolled in sugar, which forms a crisp coating on the outside once the doughnuts cool.
Before filling them with cream, I decided to try one plain, and was blown away. These doughnuts are phenomenal! The crispy outside gives way to a light, tender interior – for a minute I almost forgot I was eating something that was fried. Because I loved them so much plain I only wound up filling two, and those were good as well, but if you want to save yourself the extra effort you can definitely skip the filling. The doughnuts were made on the Martha Stewart show recently and you can find the recipe (along with a video that you may find useful) here. My doughnuts didn’t puff quite as nicely as the ones they made on the show but I didn’t mind one bit.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t share with you the special birthday cake that Shane baked for me. In previous years I’ve often made my own cake, but Shane volunteered this year and I was all too happy to let him take on the task! Ignore the mess in our kitchen and apologies for the pictures, it was well after dark on Friday before the baking began.
He was very serious about his mise en place – all of the ingredients were out and ready to go before he got started.
I’ll be in big trouble if I don’t tell you about the two eggs he cracked simultaneously – each with just one hand. No worries – the cake was egg shell free!
The instructions said to beat for 3 minutes, so he pulled his iPhone out, set the timer and did exactly as instructed. And then, when the beating was done he savored the best part of the process – licking the beaters 🙂
Had to catch those drips off the side of the bowl after filling the cake pans too!
I was rushing to tidy the house the next day since we were having family over for a party and I didn’t get any pictures of the frosting process. I do know it was pretty stressful for Shane – he kept telling me the cake wasn’t living up to his vision. In the end once he had the whole cake frosted, and the decorations piped, I think he was pleased. I know I was impressed! Not only did the cake look great, it was delicious!
It was a decadent weekend, but if you can’t splurge on your birthday, when can you? 🙂
Yay! So glad you had a fun time at Flour… And, you absolutely must make the nut-free version of the sticky buns at home. I just have one recommendation… The recipe says to shape them into 8 buns, and they are HUGE when they bake up. Next time I will probably do 12 – 14 instead.
Oh, and the doughnuts look amazing. I haven’t tried that recipe yet. 🙂
Glad you had a good birthday!
Oh happy belated birthdat Tracey! I wish you many many many more. What a fun way to spend the day too 🙂
What a great birthday weekend! I live just a few miles from that flour but I hardly ever go because it is so easy to overindulge! Well that and there are always a million sweets in my house. That said, when I do go it is always so inspiring and I want to go home and make brioche right away.
The brioche was definitely my favorite while Jack’s was the lemon and ginger scone.Shane gets the nomination for “Husband of the Year” for that cake. He did a great job and it tasted as good as it looks!
I’m glad you enjoyed your cake and had a real fun birthday weekend! Happy Birthday +2!
Happy Birthday again! What a great way to celebrate. I’m so jealous about your trip, and I find Shane’s birthday cake making soooo cute! Enjoy your birthday all year long! – mary
You have the most adorable hubby! So cute that he baked your cake this year! I love it.
And after your rave review on the doughnuts, I may have to try making them myself!
Happy birthday!
Happy belated birthday – looks like you celebrated in high style! Everything from Flour looks so good – especially the doughnuts. You are giving me courage to try fried doughnuts – I’m really nervous about it for some reason. And go Shane – I can tell he took the birthday cake project very seriously!
I love how he made you the cake. That is too cute, and he did a really good job! Happy Belated Birthday!
Yum, Tracey (and happy birthday!!)
So were they filled with like a pudding cream or a whipped cream type filling? They look incredible, for sure!
@Kristen – The filling is actually a vanilla pastry cream that is lightened just slightly by folding in whipped cream. Delicious stuff, but not necessary to make the doughnuts awesome 🙂 None of the cream-filled ones made it into the pictures either for some reason…
Your husband is adorable and I love his cake making skills. I can’t wait to visit Flour Bakery myself….everything looks so great. I will have to make the donuts soon…wow. I have the sticky buns on my list too. Happy Happy Birthday!
That is SO cute! And him pulling out his iphone timer totally sounds like something my hubby would do! Happy belated birthday, Tracey! So glad you had a wonderful day!
ahh I just checked out Flour from the library and the first thing I plan to make are the ginger lemon scones!
I actually visited Flour last September–AMAZING! I’d love to go back!
Happy Birthday 🙂
Thanks for the review of Flour. That trip looked fun and delicious! How cute is your husband and his cake!?
Happy belated birthday! I have to get my hands on the Flour cookbook, it looks lovely.
I am SO impressed by people that can crack two eggs at the same time and not get shell everywhere. I can tell you that they don’t teach you this at culinary school (or if they do then I must have been sick that day), I’m sure it’s an inherited talent 🙂
You had me at “Vanilla Cream-Filled Doughnuts” – Wow, just the sound of it is mouthwatering! What a wonderful adventure and yummy photos. You have a beautiful blog and I’m so glad to have found it. I’m looking forward to exploring your recipes and seeing more! 🙂 – Georgia
Oh, how sweet! My hubby is the same way with recipes…follows them to a T. He did a fabulous job…and your doughnuts look wonderful. Belated birthday wishes, Tracey!
Those brioche rolls looks so scrumptious. I have recently learned how to make a brioche loaf. Brioche is so difficult to find in the U.S.! Next, I want to make those little brioche balls. They are so sweet and have such wonderful flavor.
Those donuts look fun. I’m going to check out that link!
The banana bread you sent home with us from Flour was a huge hit. So incredibly moist and flavorful. The scones were another hit. By the way, Rick says that the egg cracking skills were definitely inherited. We had a fun day!
Happy Birthday! Flour opened their Central Square location and it is only a couple blocks from where I work at MIT. It is SOOOO hard not stopping there all the time. I tried to make their banana bread this weekend and failed. I just can’t make cake loaves without burning the outside and having a raw inside. I attempted to wrap the outside in foil for part of the cooking process, but that didn’t help. Any suggestions?
Happy birthday, Tracey! A visit to Flour (plus some homemade treats) looks like a fabulous way to celebrate it. My brother lives in Boston and when I visited him a couple years ago we went to Flour, so I was thrilled when the book came out since I live 3,000 miles away. I currently have both brioche dough and lemon ginger scones in my freezer.
Shane did a fantastic job decorating your birthday cake!
Glad you had such a great birthday!
@Allison – How dangerous to work at MIT so near to Flour! I’d be stopping all the time 🙂
I actually haven’t tried the banana bread from the book yet so I’m not sure how much help I can be. Are you baking in a dark pan? If so you might want to lower the oven temperature 25 degrees or so. Otherwise, just keep an eye on the bread in the oven. When the outside is brown, tent the top with foil to stop the browning and just keep baking until the inside is cooked. To tell when it’s done: the instruction in the book about wanting the top to spring back when you touch it is a good one. Also, you could try sticking a wood skewer or a thin knife in the center. If it comes out moist or streaky I’d keep baking.
One more thing – it might be worth checking your oven to see if the temperature is accurate. Maybe it runs hot?
Happy Birthday Tracey! Sounds like you had the perfect birthday. What more could a girl ask for? All the pastries she can eat and a hubby who makes her a cake! Pretty cool.
Happy birthday! How lucky you are to have been able to visit Flour Bakery. Everything looks so good. I received this book for Christmas too and I just love it. I really looking forward to making these doughnuts.
Happy Belated Birthday! So glad to hear it was a great on for you, sounds like the day was filled with a “sweet time” haha! Couldn’t help it, sorry!
I think this is the sweetest birthday cake that I have ever seen…such a nice thing for Shane to do and he looks so cute doing it…all his things in place, that iPhone timer, and licking the beaters…very fun to see him in something other than exercise togs…gives him a whole new dimension! Four tour was fun, thanks for posting so I could live vicariously! A great birthday all around!
Shane totally rocked that cake! He did a phenomenal job. Hope it was a wonderful birthday.
Happy belated birthday! Going to a bakery, doing some baking, and having someone bake for you sounds like the perfect way to celebrate!
first of all, happy happy birthday tracey! it certainly looks like a gastronomic day! as for shane – ya always gotta like the beaters!!! awesome cake
Happy birthday! Sounds like you had a fantastic time at Flour. I’m up for baking more recipes with you whenever we can find time to get together. Love the cake–Shane did a great job.
Belated Happy Birthday Tracey!! What a perfect place to celebrate. Those doughnuts look awesome.. off to see the video.
It’s so sweet of Shane to make you that cake, it’s a beautiful one!