Cakes in Newton/Wellesley/Natick area?

[BostonMAC]

Looking for a good, reasonable place to have a cake made for a christening to feed ~60 people. I already have pricing from Quebrada (love their cakes, but a bit more than I want to spend), Rosie's (super expensive) and Roche Brother's...any other places I ought to look into? I don't want the standard sheet cake with (IMO ugly) cross on the front...want something a bit more custom. Thanks in advance.

[Gour875mand]

I have not tried them, but the cakes at Vicky Lee's in Belmont (Cushing Square) look really good in the case and I think they are homemade. They do catering as well.

[Isolda]

Our church in Natick gets a lot of cakes from Roche Bros (Natick location). They are better than other supermarket cakes, but are still sickly sweet, mainly because the frosting is standard issue sugar and shortening. The one exception to the nasty frosting rule is Stop and Shop, if you can get one of their whipped cream cakes. They're still full of chemicals, as you'd expect a supermarket cake to be, but are lighter and not as sweet.

Of course, Whole Foods has all natural cakes, but I find them overly sweet and they are definitely expensive! BJ's in Natick gets some cakes from Montilio's, but I've never had one, and their labels list a lot of chemicals, too, so I can't imagine they'd be any better than other cakes of that type.

[teezeetoo]

Antoines does lovely Italian-style cream cakes for reasonable prices. While Cambridge may be out of your range, Royale does the same. In truth, I love Russos but do not love their bakeshop nor do I see much difference other than price between Roche Brothers and Whole Foods (both are far too sweet and taste chemical to me). I like Country Desserts but don't know if they do christening cakes. Party Favors is not cheap but does do gorgeous looking cakes that are reasonably tasty.

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Party Favors
1356 Beacon St, Brookline, MA

Country Desserts
60 Lexington St, Newton, MA

[Chris in Newton]

Country Desserts on the Newton/Waltham line--old time bakery worth checking out.

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Country Desserts
60 Lexington St, Newton, MA

[MissJeanLouise]

Oooh, I forgot about that place. Truly wonderful cakes.

[random amblings]

Donna's Cakes is in West Roxbury, on Spring street just off Route 1. The cakes are both reasonable and very attractive, and have great flavor. A little off the path, but worth it. Each cake is custom. Call them and see what you think.

[MissJeanLouise]

Is Needham acceptable? Acorns bakery on Great Plain Ave does cakes. If you were willing to go as far as Norwood, I would suggest Guarino's.

[chicken pot pie]

My friend just got married and got the wedding cake from a small bakery in West Roxbury called Donna's cakes. It was one of the best pieces of cake I have ever had! They only do cakes and cupcakes and they have very reasonable prices. Excellent frosting.
http://www.donnas-cakes.com/index.htm

[sallyt]

Love Donna's cakes - always fantastic.

[lipoff]

I would suggest Antoine's Pastry Shop on Watertown St in Newton. Being in a very Italian/Catholic area, I am sure that they have made christening cakes often. I recently had a birthday cake from them that was pretty good --- very moist and freshly baked. More than cakes, my favorite item at Antoine's are the various almond paste macaroons.

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Antoine's Pastry Shop
317 Watertown St, Newton, MA 02458

[chowho]

Icing on the Cake in Newton. I think you need to order the cake 7 days in advance.

[gramercyfoodie]

We just did one from Party Favors in Brookline. They are definitely more expensive than the places you mentioned but will customize anything you ask for.

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Party Favors
1356 Beacon St, Brookline, MA

[PatrickZ]

Party Favors is crazy expensive when you start getting into designs.

As well as their preordered cakes are hit or miss

We've gotten at least 8 cakes from them... and I can honestly say I think we're done. 4 of them were on the stale side.

I think they're just too busy for their own good so they cook your cake way ahead of time and therefore it's not as fresh as the stuff in the coolers.

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Party Favors
1356 Beacon St, Brookline, MA

[catspercapita]

Was very happy with cakes from Whole foods. I was buying a few cakes so they had me sample different cakes. Very nice people working at the bakery (Washington st. store). Prices were equal to the other bake shops.

[Science Chick]

I have not had the same experience as catspercapta re:WF cakes. I find them lacking in depth of flavor and overlly sweet. I wonder if the different locations vary at all.....I've only had cakes from the Newton stores.

[Science Chick]

Well you've hit up all my go-to places. Roche Bros. should be pretty reasonable, and I always found their chocolate cake a cut above most supermarket ones. I notice from their website that they've added several specialty flavors.....might be good! Antoine's in Nonantum does a wonderful Italian fruit/whipped cream cake.

[nsenada]

Russo's has great cakes, very reasonably priced. Not sure if they do custom baking. Bread and Chocolate in Newton is good as well, but more expensive (and I'm not sure if they do custom orders either).