Bake For Me Bakery & Cafe

5 stars is a rarity for me, but in this case Bake For Me – the S. Halsted location deserves every star. Professional, courteous, knowledgeable staff confirmed my order and had it ready for pick up on time. The chocolate butter cream, animal theme cake was delicious and perfect for my 1 year old’s birthday party. The cupcakes were delicious as well! I highly recommend giving Bake For Me a try for your upcoming events, Cheers!
Ok so this one closed but the one by Halsted is open and the review above can be applied to that one.

This place was great! Awesome customer service! They were patient and beyond helpful. I ordered a cake via the phone from Los Angeles, CA for my Mother’s 60^th birthday in Chicago, IL. The associate patiently walked me through my options and guided through the relevant web pages on their site. The cake was delivered on time to my mother office and she loooooooved it. She said the red velvet tasted so good that a co-​worker came by her house after work to pick up another piece! I appreciate Bake For Me for making my Mother’s birthday special!

I love the cake they made, the price is reasonable, and they delivered my cake on time.
I wish they set the cake up at the hall but I think they just didn’t know where to put it (through my own fault). Nonetheless, after my wedding coordinator set the cake up, people went up to that table, oohed and aahed over the cake! Trillions of flashes from camera. Before the night end, all the cupcakes and pieces of cake were GONE! People are still commenting about it to this day.
This was one of the best thing about my wedding. The cake. It beat everything else in memory. :)

Based on customer service, one star «Eek! Methinks not» is correct. The lack of acknowledgment of two customers is unacceptable. With money in hand to purchase bakery goods, we were totally ignored. Standing there in bewilderment, we left in hopes that it was just our running clothes and disheveled appearance that caused the unacceptable treatment. It was nothing else, or was it???

A great little place to pick up a quick breakfast in the morning if I’m running late. They have cookies and other baked goods for sale and after 3pm, all breakfast baked goods are BOGO.
Good lunch items as well. Their soups and Chili are made daily and delicious. plus, they have Chicken Pot Pie on Thursdays, but they go quick and I usually am unable to get one in time.
There’s sometimes I wait a while to get my nosh, even if I’m the only one in the place but I brush it off. Most of the people are in the back filling orders for delivery and baking future orders.
A nice fresh bagel, yogurt and coffee make up for it.

We went inside to see what this place had to offer & we bought cookies. They were just ok, slightly expensive.

I wish i had 2 more hands to give them 4 thumbs DOWN!!!
First of all, let me say that if I had my way, I would have ordered my Cake from Roeser’s Bakery on North Avenue since they havent let me or my family down in years. But the hotel I was getting married at advised that their cakes were good and it came with my package. So after a hellacious day of getting married, then came the part of the reception.
My wedding coordinator came up to me (after My vows were read) and told me my cake was not there, and that I would have to pantomime cutting a piece of cardboard for my photographs and guests. It wasn’t until later I discovered what actually happened.
When I cam in for my cake tasting, some 2 or 3 months earlier (an appointment that was made) I had to fight for the attention of person given a tasting to 3 or 4 other couples (why did I have to make an appointment?) Apparently, after I made my cake choice, My order was stuck in the back of a file, never to see the light of day.
After I returned from my honeymoon, I was told I had to pursue the bakery (not the hotel who had a agreement with this bakery) for a refund. I was given an apology and the promise of a cake for my 1^st anniversary, for our trouble (after all, all you did was make us cut a piece a cardboard and have my guests eat cake from Jewel — Osco).
Now here we are 1 year later and we have been calling this bakery for weeks, being told that only the manager (who is never there) can arrange this type of thing. We never received a call back for weeks of calling and today is my anniversary. All I can say is STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE. I am so angry about this, I even built a facebook page about this place. Save yourself a headache and just go to Roeser’s (i dont work for Roeser’s, I just believe in their quality and service)

I ordered a custom cake from this place last week. Aside from not cropping the picture correctly and not putting the flower on the cake like requested, they spelled the birthday person’s name wrong.
What makes this more frustrating is that this was an email request, that was followed by a phone confirmation in which I went over what I wanted as well as pointed out that the spelling of the name was slightly different than normal. When I picked up the cake, they had everything written on the order form, but not on the cake.
It took two phone calls and an email before the manager returned my call. I will say he was courteous when I spoke with him and offered a partial refund, but for the trouble and the cost I would recommend going elsewhere.

I’ve gotten cakes here for co-​workers b-​days. They do a pretty good job. They usually have something on hand in a pinch too if needed.

This has had to be one of the worse experiences I have ever had. Wrote the owner what I am putting below. Had a response but I was so pissed off I couldn’t get over it and decided never to go there again. I would give it one, but since the cake tasted just a tiny bit better than Dominick’s cake I gave it two.
Here’s what I wrote the owner:
Today is my husband’s birthday and I called at 4:30PM asking about the pre-​made cakes that I could pick up. They told me what the had available and to come before 5:30PM if I wanted someone to write on the cake. I came in at 5:05PM and the person working was very rude. I was asking about the cakes on display. Finally I picked one out and asked them to write Happy Birthday Dad. So they took the cake in the back and came back five minutes later to tell me that cake decorator had already left. I was a little irritated as I tried to make it there as fast as I could. They asked me to pick out a cheap looking plastic «Happy Birthday» sign to put on the cake. I told them I didn’t want anything on the cake as I figured I am a relatively artistic person and I was going to go to the store and buy the icing so I could write it myself. So when the lady was ringing me up, again, I reiterated that I was told that the cake decorator leaves at 5:30PM and I had rushed over there to make sure I arrived in time. The lady TOTALLY ignored me. Thinking that I was taking home a blank cake, I went to the store and bought the icing to write on the cake myself. When I got home and opened up the box it had the plastic Happy Birthday on there with «DAD» scribbled on there. It looks absolutely TERRIBLE, my kid could have wrote it on nicer than the person who did it. MOST OF ALL I was in disbelief that they completely ignored the fact that I didn’t want anything on there and did it without me knowing. The lady taped the box up and didn’t show me the cake-​no wonder she hung her head down and ignored my comments as she was ringing me up.
Absolutely terrible, don’t go there unless you want rude service and people who don’t want to follow instructions.

Ordered a batch of cupcakes for my daughters birthday so that she could celebrate in her classroom with her fellow classmates. These cupcakes were like little bricks, hard and old. Good thing we had purchased additional cupcakes from a local grocer and had enough to go around. Disappointed in Bake For Me, this is the 2^nd time they have let me down. The first time Bake For Me was subbed out by another company and I had a birthday cake delivered and the cake was not tasty at all, for $ 100.00 dollars! The store on Roosevelt Road has employees with awful attitudes and you can tell they were not trained in any facet of Customer Service 101. Verdict: Consider an alternative, even a box of Duncan Hines would be a better choice than this place.

We ordered from B4M to celebrate a co-worker’s impending nuptials. And to be fair — all I’ve sampled from this place were plain vanilla and chocolate cupcakes.
But…and it pains me to say this… they weren’t any good.
It pains me to say it because the ladies at B4M were suuuuper helpful. We wanted a picture put on the cupcakes and they were totally accommodating. They even deliver! The service is 100% awesome, top-​notch.
What sucks, is that the cupcakes just aren’t any good. They were small (but the cake was moist, which is a plus), and pretty much tasted like boxed cake mix. The icing was bland… and while the cupcakes were completely adorable to look at — they did not make my mouth happy.
Maybe my expectations were too high because I usually get cupcakes from places like Sugar Bliss and Sweet Mandy B’s. But even the cupcake I had from Southport Bakery a few weeks ago was superior to these.
If convenience is more important than taste, then B4M is the only place to go — they lead the pack in making your life easy. But since I’d rather have a delicious cupcake… I’ll probably go elsewhere. =[

Got our wedding cake for our April 2009 wedding from Bake For Me on the recommendation of our reception venue, Pazzo’s at the 311. Unbelievably great customer service, Shawn Lewis was always prompt to return my calls and covered all bases including coordinating with my florist. Our cake was delicious, we had 3 different cakes in one! I only wish that I had gone with fondant instead of buttercream. In the complimentary consultation/​tasting with Shawn we were able to sample 4 different cakes 4 different frostings/​fillings. They can work fast with you so even if your wedding is a month away, they’re more than capable of accomodating. Also really reasonable prices (only $ 10.65 delivery charge within downtown!)

So my coworkers decided to get me a ridiculous cake (see Matt P’s review below) and they overheard me telling people I loved Casada cakes. I mean what else would you get being half Italian and loving every minute of it, all while ignoring the fact that you’re also half polish… anyways I digress… the cake was really good, albeit they put a freaking tiara and princess wand on it. I guess I deserved this return prank, but joking aside the cake was really good. We use this place a lot for work functions as it’s close to the offices in the loop and do deliver. I’m looking forward to coming up with an equally devious cake surprise for my coworkers when their bday comes around again.

Bake for me is a nice place to grab a custom cake for a co-​workers birthday. We got this goof ball princess cake for one of our male co-​workers… Pretty funny.
Anyways… the lady that was working at the register was a complete wack job. Here is just a taste of our conversation
Crazy Cashier Lady: Hello
Me: I have a take for pick up, under Andrea. The cake should say «happy birthday Stev“e.
Crazy Cashier Lady: Is the NAME under ANDREA or STEVE!
Me: It should be under Andrea…
Crazy Cashier Lady: (brings the cake out)
Me: Do you happen to know where an ATM is?
Crazy Cashier Lady: ummm… yes, I mean no. No I have no idea
Me: How about a gas station do you know where that is located?
Crazy Cashier Lady: No I don’t think there are any around here (we found out later one was .5 blocks away, along with a restaurant that said «ATM inside» on a huge banner)
Me: How about the train station, do you know where that is?
Crazy Cashier Lady: No Idea
Me: ummm… Ok
Co-​worker 1: This box is not closed correctly
Crazy Cashier Lady: NOOOOO. DID YOU SMASH THE BOX CLOSED! You will smash the tiara in to the cake (yes we got our male co-​worker a cake with a tiara and a wand)
Co-​worker 1: no… I was just looking at
Crazy Cashier Lady: I can put it in a bag. (Proceeds to rip the bag as she is putting it around the box, causing the bag to be completely useless)
Crazy Cashier Lady: I can also give you a serving knife. (now she takes the serving knife from under the table and wipes it with her dirty ass hands and puts it in a weird little baggy)
Me: okkkkkk. Thanks…
Now that I read this convo it does not due any justice to how wacko this lady really was.

Wanted: a tasty cake for a colleague’s anniversary that will impress and please the masses.
I’ll admit that I picked Bake For Me out of convenience; they’re less than 10 blocks from my office and they deliver; what more could I ask for? I wasn’t expecting the delicious treat we received, nor was I prepared for outstanding customer service I received. I called the day before our celebration, and expected them to tell me they needed 48 hours to fill an order.wrong. They were happy to take my order. Next, I needed a smaller cake as our celebratory group consisted of only 7 people and we didn’t want to be eating cake for the next month. They recommend the perfect size so that we had enough for all to enjoy with a little bit left over. I placed the order, asked for a special message, and the woman on the phone said she’d add chocolate feathers. I don’t know exactly what that is, but they make for a pretty cake.
Forward to the day of celebration and cake: I am sick and unable to be at work to enjoy the festivities. I call Bake For Me to let them know that I’m not at work, and to give them a backup name. It has to be said that my jaded nature immediately assumed this would be completed f-​ed up and the cake would wind up somewhere in Midlothian. so not the case. I gave them a replacement cake recipient, confirmed the delivery time, verified that payment had been collected via my credit card, and hoped for the best. Not only did the cake arrive on time and to the right person, the feathers were in tact and the «Happy Anniversary, Harriet!» was without flaw.
The cake was moist, tasty, and not too sweet. It received rave reviews and promises to order future cakes from them. Why, not 5 stars, you ask? Because they charged $ 11 for a 6 – 7 block delivery.ouch.

I assumed this was an overly-​commercial bakeshop, but in truth it was friendly, inexpensive [coffee was no more than $ 2 for a large] and the pastries were surprisingly unique and tasty. I’ll certainly return.
$ 5 min on credit cards.

I love me some Bake for me. They did my wedding cupcakes and a top square tier for around $ 200 and it was more than enough for 100 people. Our top tier was carrot cake and I must say we just cut into it after our first year and it was as moist and delicious as it was 1 year ago! Yay! I will be calling them more often. Our cake was delivered on time with no problem. Not to mention when we went for our tasting they hooked us up with extra yummies that they knew we weren’t even interested in having for our wedding. Great customer service and prices…

This is a very cute little bakery and café. Their cakes are by far the best thing they carry. Order one of the individual sized cakes and you can enjoy it at one of their little window seats that give a great view of River North!

Super-​moist cakes layered with yummy frosting galore at this River North bakery. They have everything from small birthday cakes to huge wedding cakes, all for a reasonable price. They cater for receptions, and will even set up a sweets table with your order. Monthly cake display and tasting sessions make life easier for brides-​to-​be, but the huge variety can make the decision even harder.