Secret Garden Bakery

Great baked goods and nice store. We have bought several item for the home here and always save room for freshly baked goodies. Thanks

You can’t go wrong with their turtle cheesecake bar or buckeye brownie! Everything tastes fresh and delicious. They also have amazing coffee and a great coffee bar where you can choose how you want to flavor your coffee!

Such an eclectic mix of sweet shop bakery and gift store, their baked goods are the BEST in the tri-​county area ! I’ve tried every brownie variety she has and her cookies are a favorite among my children because they are as large as their heads ;-) … Super friendly great prices check this bakery out, you won’t be disappointed!

We stumbled on this little gem while wandering around the Historic District on Valentine’s Day. I took one look at the case, and one whiff of real butter in the air, and I was hooked. We came away with a lovely box with a piece of Mississippi Mud cake, a blondie, and two sugar cookies. After lunch, we wandered some more, and I sampled the sugar cookie. It was simply one of the best I have ever had. This cookie was light and moist, but melted in your mouth. You could clearly taste the butter and real vanilla. Delicious. The Boy got only one bite. I ate both. Later that night, after dinner, I tried the Miss Mud. This mud cake had marshmallows, which was a twist to what I was used to. Who cares? It was marvelous. The cake base was moist and chocolate-​y without being overly sweet. The mud topping was fudgy, with a great fudge flavor. The nuts and marshmallows rounded it out. I did not share this either.
The next day, we tried the blondie. I was not as thrilled with their interpretation of a blondie. It had white chocolate chips and minimal nuts. I had trouble discerning the butter and brown sugar flavors I would expect in a good blondie. Also missing were chocolate chips. My taste buds prefer the blend of butter, brown sugar, chocolate chips with a small amount of white chocolate to balance it out. So I can pass on that confection.
The prices were very reasonable for these goodies, they had a wonderful flavor and you cannot beat home-​made taste. This is definitely a place to revisit when we come back through.

Drool…
Sorry, rich dessert overload.
I went here with my wife last weekend. We got a few things to go and ended up getting in a sharing dispute. We filed for divorce…
I got a key lime cheesecake bar. I wish it was a little more tarty, kinda thinking it was more of a key lime bar. My expectations were my mistake as I was clearly told it was cheesecake. I gave the selfish one a taste… she wasn’t expecting the key lime… hehe The cheesecake was rich, slightly tart and limey, not artificially green, smooth consistency and the right density for cheesecake. I don’t recall the crust.
She got a chocolate chip cookie. I heard her mumbling with a mouthful…“best cookie…(mumbling)… grandma… (mumbling)”. I never got a chance to try it.
We got a slice of cheesecake to split. Hey, we had to meet the minimum $ 5 credit card charge. I don’t recall what it was called, but involved a mixture of chocolate within the cheesecake, chocolate crust, and a chocolate ganache (I think that’s what they call it) layer. It was served in what should be a sharing size… I also prefer to call it a slab of cheesecake, not a piece or slice. Again, like the key lime bar, perfect cheesecake density and consistency. Excellent all around and very rich. Unfortunately, she liked it more than I did and I ended up with a black eye and only got about a quarter of the slab.
The bakery itself is a little difficult to find… it is about 1 block south of 441, behind a gift store in a very large house. The shop is fun to look through, but there is also a back entrance to the bakery on the side street. There are plenty of sitting areas in the garden area and there is a small dining area inside the main house/​gift store. We will be going back for a relaxing sit down when the weather gets cooler.

I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious everything is! My favorites are the lemon bars and cookies (any kind). The beautiful garden outside the shop is a bonus. Order a cup of coffee, muffin, and pull up a chair on the porch overlooking the garden. It’s the prefect place to grab a quiet minute or two.

After learning of The Secret Garden Bakery on Unilocal yesterday, I was interested enough in it to drive up from Gainesville and pay them a visit. I am very glad I did: Sharon and her son run a small but first-​rate business here. The bakery itself, as its name suggests, is hidden out in a small but charming garden space behind the antique shop the family also owns. You have to wander through the antique store to get to the bakery, so be aware of this when you come visit: on Main Street, there is a purple and white sign for the «Secret Garden Bakery» but little other indication of where it is exactly, but you’ll see an old Victorian home that’s an antique shop and you can walk right through it to the bakery.
As for the bakery itself, it’s a small building in the middle of the garden but has a comfortable atmosphere and Sharon did a great job renovating it as a bakery. The baked goods on offer the day I visited were a variety of cookies, brownies, a carrot cake and a lime pound-​cake. Sharon explained that the cakes will change week by week, so it’s useful to check their Facebook page and see what cakes they have each week – especially if you’re from out of town. I purchased a piece of the pound-​cake and a blondie brownie. Both were outstanding. Sharon is intent it appears in producing homemade, traditional, American baked goods and certainly in Alachua County there is an ample market for such. I have no complaints whatsoever about this business but have to say it would be nice if it were slightly closer to Gainesville and my house, yet its location is also very inviting and should really add something to High Springs.
Also, I should add in honest emphasis, their pound-​cake was probably the very best I’ve ever had. Ever.