Mother’s Bake Shop

I’ve been looking for great rugelach so I came to Mother’s. The chocolate rugelach was good, although I’ve had better when working in the diamond district; clients would bring rugelach from Brooklyn and it was ro die for. I also bought a black and white cookie. It was excellent. I personally loved the lemon
the cookie. Service was very friendly. I will be back.

I am from California and when I visit my family in the Bronx I always stop in here. I have been visiting mothers since I was young. These are my favorite black and whites I have ever had. The last time I was in they were the best ever. I wish I bought more. They aren’t too sweet and I’m sensitive to overly sweet. They are amazing.
The cupcakes are to die for as well. They have the same black and white icing on moist cake. I haven’t found a better cupcake in Manhattan or California. I will be back to mothers soon, keep up the amazing baking :)

Love the black and white cookie for its fluffiness, thick icing, and sweet lemon-​vanilla flavor. They have a ton of great looking desserts, and I’m looking forward to trying more soon!

Very good cookies and cakes. The continental cake is delicious. Their challah is fresh.

Went with a $ 2.75 Black&white, a pretty solid product from an amusing lady who was all jokes. They were open surprisingly late and products all seemed to be from that day.

$ 1.50 to write on a cake? Never encountered this in my life. Besides that, the rainbow cookies were ok (very sugary) and the strawberry shortcake was ok too. No fresh strawberries inside, only strawberry preserve

Delicious pumpernickel bread and fabulous sugarless apple pie, along with excellent customer service!

I stopped by this morning to grab a Black & White cookie. I’m challenging myself to find and try the best B&Ws this City has to offer, and this was the first stop being that it’s close to home :-)
Based on a previous review that stated that the citrus flavor is strong, I was expecting that to overpower the cookie. However, I was pleasantly surprised. While I am biased because I like the citrus flavor, I will admit that the flavor isn’t subtle. If you prefer the sweetness of the frosting and cookie to the citrus, you probably wouldn’t like this cookie much.
Despite that fact, the cookie was delicious. It was dense and moist and quite large. I ate the whole thing, but could easily have saved half for later :-) I thought it was a little too sweet, but that’s probably only because they are very generous with the frosting.
I did notice that the display cases seemed very bare when I went in, but maybe they were just restocking. The other baked goods looked lovely, and I’m sure I will be back.

REVIEW FOR THE B&W COOKIES:
I was nearby and decided to stop in to get a few B&Ws because I’ve been addicted to these scrumptious cookies lately! Having read the rave reviews, I left quite disappointed. To say the citrus flavor is SUBTLE is a blatant LIE! It is in no way subtle. You can definitely taste it and I think it overpowers the whole cookie. It just tastes like sweet lemon! Eating a few bites induced that weird feeling you get on your tongue when eating lots of fresh pineapple! I don’t know what an authentic B&W cookie should taste like, but I definitely know what is good and what isn’t. This was just not for me. Meh. I’m sticking to my local bakeries or making my own next time!

So many delicious baked goods and so much of it pareve. Both the breads and desserts are delicious. Good hours and friendly service. Nothing exactly like this in Manhattan!

Whenever I pass through Riverdale, I make time for this wonderful Jewish Bakery. They nail the Black and White’s. Husband always demands I bring home their chocolate cigars.

The chocolate babka cake is oh so good. Honestly, this is a review for just the babka. I have not bought anything else from this place, nor would I need to.

I thought my search for the city’s best B&W cookie was over but a coworker insisted that I travel up to the Riverdale area of the Bronx to try Mother’s. It’s a typical Jewish bakery along a cute stretch of stores in a residential neighborhood. They’re cash only and the prices are about average. I wanted an iced coffee and saw they served coffee but they didn’t have ice so I’m guessing this is really just more of just a bakery than a café despite the tables available to stay and eat.
They had a lot of options that looked amazing but I stuck to the B&W as well as a couple rainbow cookies. The B&W was fantastic. The ratio of cake to frosting was perfect. The cake was a little too porous but was moist and fresh. The white icing wasn’t too sweet and had the most subtle hint of citrus while the chocolate part was properly chocolaty. It’s definitely in the top 5 of the ones I’ve tried.
The rainbow cookies were also fantastic. They had a thick layer of chocolate surrounding ultra moist cake with not too much berry between the layers. The price was a little too high (think it was nearly a buck a piece) but it was still one of the best I’ve had.
If I lived closer I’d definitely be making more return trips to try some of the other desserts.

The best bakery in South Riverdale, easily.

Yum. I came here because one of my favorite YouTube comedians often references this place.
. Anywho, I had a black and white, a couple of rainbow cookies (surprised because this is an Italian tradition, but they’re my favorite so I couldn’t help myself) and some rugelach. It was all pretty good, the ladies were polite enough for me, the rainbow cookies were eh, OK. I’m sure the challah and breads are wonderful. I’ll stick to things that don’t need butter or dairy next time. As for someone complaining about the service, no it wasn’t Michelin star service, but it was good enough. I go to get my favorite Cannoli and Ravioli on Arthur ave and the nasty counter girls are just a part of the experience.

I grew up in the area, and this was a go-​to for fresh rye bread, and pumpernickel rye swirl. The cookies and cakes are amazing. Now when I am in the area, we stop for the chocolate babka and rum cake (mindblowing babka).
Why 4 stars instead of 5? The sweet people behind the counter have been replaced by surly women. Such a shame, I hope they look for people with some experience treating people with patience and decency.

This place is great! their russian coffee cake, hamantash, and just about every thing else is amazing. The staff is friendly and the place is clean. Only complaint is that it’s so expensive, but it is riverdale.

The chocolate babka is extraordinary. The challah is pretty great too. Most other cakes and pastries are good enough. But since almost everything is parve — there’s no milk, butter or cream in most of Mother’s products — baked goods that must have dairy ingredients will not be as good. (Turning glatt several years ago hasn’t changed much.)
Just get the babka, challah and nut cake for yourself and black and whites for the kids.
PS – Here’s some Washington Heights trivia: In the old days, when you wanted a BW cookie, you asked for an «Amerikaner.» Can you guess why?

Great bakery… love the pastries! I have bought many cakes here over the years, always fresh!

Located in a lovely part of the Bronx (yes, Manhattanites, don’t look so shocked), Mother’s Bakery seems to have every conceivable pastry known to mankind. Try the chocolate rugelach and rainbow cookies. I would go here for sweets every day but I would also have to run five miles each day to balance the books. I think their assorted sweets are $ 12 a pound, which is not cheap, but their shop looks clean and their goods are worth the price. I understand they also do a good bread business. Tell Ivan I sent you.
Oh and minus half a star for NOT accepting cards, what are we, in 1850? Get with it, people!