Erin McKenna's Bakery in New York!

It all started with a search for a birthday cake, and then I came across a picture of a very fancy cake in the Instagram feed of a functional doctor.
I confess, if it wasn't for the recommendation - I would have hardly gone to the pastry shop's page... and I would have lost a lot!

Thus began my introduction to a vegan, gluten-free bakery that has been around since 2005!
Finding Erin McKenna's Pastry Shop isn't hard, although if I hadn't looked up how the place looked beforehand - I probably ran right past it)
It's a very small cafe bakery, where people mostly come to take something to go, or, for example, to pick up a cake they ordered in advance. However, during the spring and summer season, there is a small gazebo with a couple of tables in front of the cafe so you can enjoy a cupcake, donut, mini brownie, or cinnamon bun right there!

Look out for the horizontal sign so you can't miss the bakery!

Entrance.

For those of you who like to ask and clarify (that's me!), there is a sign in the window that is supposed to put you at ease so that you can finally get down to choosing your dessert for tea! And seriously, it really can be hard for people with Celiac Disease to let go of the idea that buying a baked good might give them a completely unwanted trace "dose" of gluten. So the nice bakery staff will most likely calmly and affably confirm that the entire assortment is gluten, dairy, and egg free.

"YES! Everything is Gluten Free, Vegan And Kosher!"

Basically - that's the whole place! Most of it is in the assortment window.

Now about what we were able to taste..

The cake is wonderful! But for me it is much more interesting to take a lot of different desserts and try a little bit of each) In general, the tasting format is a win-win!

Cinnamon roll. Third on my list from the tasting set.
Reminded me of the taste of Easter kulich, only with an unusual filling that I couldn't help but capture separately. The dough is dense but juicy, and the cinnamon flavor reminded me of some very good childhood stories about my grandmother baking cinnamon rolls...

By the way, the ingredients for each item can be found on the bakery's website, and you can also buy a book of gluten-free vegan baking recipes at the cafe..

Lemon biscuit! And this is the most lemon muffin I've ever tasted in my life. It's one of the tops in the pastry range for a reason. The pink frosting with a nice sourness perfectly complements the juicy lemon biscuit.
And it is, by the way, "number two" on my list from my tasting set.

The cupcakes are a great way to try the mini version of the cake. The one on the right is carrot cake! Without further ado, it's a tasting winner. The dough is airy, so generously filled with spices that you find new notes with each bite...and it's a real taste adventure. The cream, moderately sweet, complements the spiciness of the cupcake well. The bakery offers a whole carrot cake or cupcake set for your celebration.

I'll finish my review by saying a couple more things about the tasting report. The mini birthday cake is such an airy sponge that so far for me it's one big question mark: how, without eggs, did the confectioners achieve such a result! This is real craftsmanship, I'm sure you'll understand my delight if you've ever tried gluten-free baking without using eggs and dairy products.

I also managed to try a chocolate cherry biscuit, but it was so chocolatey that it probably would have been ideal to top it off with a glass of nut milk))

As for the plain cookie (however, judging by the size, I have a hard time associating such a "bun" with a cookie), it turned out to be quite heavy. Maybe it's just that I still don't understand a lot about American baking)

So, there is a place in New York, where you can easily order a gluten-free vegan cake or stop by for a cup of tea with a little cupcake!

By the way, it's a chain of bakeries that are in several cities, so you might be somewhere near it:)