Sarah Jane’s Bakery

This place used to be a favorite of mine, but recently went under new ownership and now it absolutely sucks.
The bakery is still open until 6:00, yet I have stopped in several times In between 3:00 — 4:00 and they have nothing left. Nothing, with with the exception of breads, maybe ¹⁄₃ pan of bars, and a caramel roll.
I am done pulling over on my way home from work.
I just feel so bad for the soft spoken girl who blushes every time a customer walks in the door. Poor girl.

The first time I stopped in a few months ago, I just happened to be walking by and had to stop in to check it out since there are so few REAL bakeries left. That time I had picked up some cinnamon bread which was great! I stopped by yesterday after getting breakfast with my mom and we picked up a few pastries. I had been craving an éclair so naturally I got 2, one to shove in my face and one to carefully evaluate later. Haha. They were perfect! The dough was the right amount of crunchy and the filling was ideally flavored. I personally could have used more chocolate on top because it’s so flawlessly fudge-​y. We also got a «Chocolate Dream» which I just tried and they are everything you could hope for in something called a chocolate dream. Mom got some danishes which I heard were delicious as well.
I have zero complaints other than I don’t live closer! (but that’s probably best for my wallet and my health)

First time in, I’ll be back when I’m craving junk food for breakfast. Their donuts and cinnamon rolls are very good, somewhat unique flavor, which means they use their own recipes. You’ll want to go very early, since they appeared to be running low on some items at 7:15 am on a Saturday morning, and were busy. Way better than stale, generic gas station pastries.

This is a review of Sarah Jane’s donuts. They are really good, I recommend them. I went on a Saturday morning arriving around 8am. The parking was easy. There were several people inside, but it didn’t take long to order. The women working there seemed really nice. I bought about a dozen donuts plus 3 donut holes. It came to about $ 20, which I thought was fairly expensive.
I think my favorite was the chocolate buttercream filled one with chocolate on top. That sounds like a too sweet donut, but somehow it wasn’t. I really liked their custard filled, but it seemed like it needed more filling. I must have picked out about 6 or 7 different kinds, and they were all good. The woman helping us said one of their most popular was a crumb crunchy type one and it was good. If I went back to have one donut, I would choose that chocolate buttercream.

I have been a customer for 16 yrs. We have many many favorites. A month ago for my birthday, I swung by on my lunchbreak & grabbed a cake. I get one every year for my birthday cuz they are (normally) awesome. Much to my dismay… the cake was dry & the frosting differant (their frosting was my fav). My hubby & me chalked it up to maybe a new baker just learning. I proceeded to custom order another cake thinking the 1^st one was a fluke. It wasn’t. 2^nd one… dry as well & frosting diff. I also got a box of mixed doughnuts, turnovers, flips… all dry & tasted diff & the paczkis were raw in middle! I never called to complain… just once again thot it was maybe a new employee. Today I gave it ANOTHER chance & once again… everything dry, taste diff & paczkis were raw in middle… again! The diff with today is I found out the reason. New Ownership. My heart sank. This hands down was our very favorite bakery but we prob won’t be back. If your going t buy a business & keep the name… keep it the same. Otherwise change name (so people know it’s diff) & throw your name up & stand behind your work. Don’t get me wrong… it’s not horrible (except the raw, uncooked ones)…it’s just not out beloved Sarah Janes

I have been coming here for 10 years and tonight after work, I thought I would stop for a treat. Upon entering, I noticed the shelves were not stocked as usual, and I immediately inquired if there was new ownership, and the girl that helped me confirmed that yes, the bakery has changed ownership. I read another review that mentioned the cakes and frosting being different, and I couldn’t agree more, they looked different. I came for my favorite, an almond bar, and I was informed they are looking at redeveloping the recipe to make it more natural?! Interesting.
The girl suggested their signature cookie which had coconut, oatmeal, and crisp cereal and that it is buttery and melt in your mouth. So, I tried one. Sorry to say, it had a strong flavor of either baking soda or cream of tartar, or both. I never picked up the buttery flavor, but ate the whole cookie being hopeful.
I bought a bag of day old donuts and gave them to my friend, I’m curious to hear his review.
This has always been a gem of a bakery in NE, loved by so many. Now that I know to look for change, I can expect it and am prepared.

This place is absolutely fantastic! Great variety of fresh and delicious donuts. Nice service and affordable price. So delicious! Also the donut holes are huge and kids love them. I adore this place.

A classic old-​school bakery with local delicacies (see: maple bars), unsmiling staff (Hey, what do you want? They open at 5!), and unbelievably low prices.
Taste-​wise, their danish-​style treats are the way to go, but they also sell bread. We brought a Sarah Jane coffee cake to a friend’s house and were extremely popular for the rest of our visit.

What a nice local bakery — plus it is one of the few bakeries that are open on a Monday at 5:30am, I would recommend their glazed vs cake donuts — we brought them into work and everyone loved them — it was a great treat —

My fiancé and I are having a Cookie bar at our wedding instead of cake because, well, we love Cookies! We were thinking about ordering from Sarah Janes bakery so we went in one morning for a little taste test. We grabbed coffee across the street (which was great by the way!) and ordered 5 cookies and 2 donuts. Unfortunately and bluntly– The cookies were bad. They were hard as a rock, and flavorless. A true disappointment. However, the donuts were delish– I had a glazed pumpkin donut and the boy had a bacon Apple number that was super yummy. Service: just fine! Donuts: delicious! Cookies: absolutely, don’t try, bad… bummer for us on our search for CHEAP, classic cookies.

Cute little shop right next to Hazel’s. I visited with a friend while we waited for our table. Cause spoiling your brunch appetite with a donut is the best way to do it!
There was a pretty classic selection of donuts with the addition of some different bars and cookies.
We got the lemon filled bizmark and the cinnamon sugar ‘donut hole’.
The bizmark was overall good, a little oily dough, the oil must’ve been a little too hot, but the filling was the right ratio. Donut hole tasted like it should, and was quite large, almost tennis ball sized. I’m more used to raised donut holes, this was a cake donut.
I’ll be back if I’m in the area, the GIANT cream puff caught my eye.
Inexpensive and definitely fills the niche for fried dough in NE.

Surprisingly, this place had the most fantastic gluten free dessert I have ever had! And I mean ever. They have a chocolate pie/​mousse kind of thing that is their gluten free offering. Holy yikes! It is the most flavorful, chocolatey, delicious gf dessert ever. It has a creamy texture that is heavenly unique.
Keep in mind I’m not celiac, just gluten intolerant. I have no idea if they make this gf dessert in a gf free kitchen or anything. You’d have to ask them. But for my purposes, this dessert is the best ever, so much so that I have dreams about it… and I’m usually not obsessed with desserty things.
I got my daughter who is ok with gluten filled items, a doughnut & a canoli, and she said they were both superior for sure! This is a super high quality place!

Yup! I love this freakin place.
Tip: plan a head. If you’re in front of me staying, «give me a sec…» I’m going to kick you in the privates. Otherwise, get one of everything, cuz it’s worth it!

Oh! Doughnuts in NE! Let me at ‘em!
I stopped in after a meal at Hazel’s. What a lovely block this is. So small-​towny. So welcoming in a dusty, old-​fashioned kind of way.
The shelves are filled with pastries, cookies, rolls and loaves. Not so many loaves at the time of our arrival (mid-​afternoon). One of the ladies behind the counter even excused the empty shelves given the time of day. No matter, I want doughnuts!
They filled a box with a variety of half dozen doughnuts. Some cream filled, some cake, some with icing. ALL WERE AMAZING. Soft, sweet and perfectly filling yet still wanting more.
I was a bit turned off by the customer service, that being it was lacking. The two women behind the counter weren’t able to answer some questions about the baked goods. One of them even responded with, «Why? Do you want one?» Alas, I am able to bypass the slightly awkward atmosphere when deliciousness is such a major reward.

Hello old friend.
Many years and many jobs ago, a coworker of mine brought in donuts. I’m a sucker for a Bavarian cream donut and immediately grabbed what at first glance was to be that.
Oh no. This is a different kind of animal.
This. This is the buttercream square.
It’s a square donut. Topped with chocolate frosting. Cut in half like a burger and filled with chocolate buttercream.
Really, really good would be a start and the adjectives don’t stop from there.
Since then, the buttercream square has been a go to and is a top 5 donut in the Twin Cities. Sarah Jane’s does other donuts, pastries & breads well, mostly the classic varieties. It’s a nice little neighborhood shop with old school charm and fair prices.

Did you need Paczkis? Well, look no further — — Sarah Jane’s can help you with that!
You see, last wknd one of my (non-​yelp) friends told me how much she adores Sarah Janes. Uh-​huh… that’s right; I bookmarked it! And today was the day that I could scoop up some items.
Like others have said — — it’s your standard-​vanilla, no-​frills/​no-​fancy, local bakery. Actually it reminds me of the now-​closed bakery in Aitkin, MN. You know that small-​town type… the kind with lots of glass cases w/​the old school plastic trays of deliciousness; all for more than fair prices.
Okay… so back to the Paczki’s. They had 3 varieties: peach, a chocolate frosted w custard, and the traditional w raspberry. (I tried the chocolate w custard — — and it was fantastic!)
Also selected a ½ dozen of the cake donuts to bring to some clients. They looked outstanding! Coconut, nut-​topped, sprinkles (of course!), and some typical glazed.
And then… I chose a maple glazed danish looking thing for me. Later as I drove off… one bite –
.stopped.spinning. Like seriously… wow! I can’t even describe how much PERFECTION was in this one pastry! I did ask the cashier to explain what it was prior… and I don’t think it was a danish, it was on the shelf below the danishes. But seriously… I think I’m gonna have to go back tomorrow. It was pretty much that ridiculous.
There is a small sign — — credit cards are accepted if the total is over $ 5.00. So you may want to bring some cash with you.
They also had a bunch of cookies… all sorts of varieties — think chocolate chip, toffee, sugar, etc. Maybe next client visit I will get some of those.
And the maple-​glazed danish-​looking thing for me. Muu hahaha!

Stopped in with my kiddo because I am a sucker for bakeries and we were in the area. I asked the woman behind the counter about various items and she didn’t seem to know what a lot of things were or the prices of things, which was weird, she had to keep asking the other girl who was working, but maybe she was new.
Anyways, we each ordered some kind of chocolate cake thingy. Mine was heart shaped with strawberry filling and his was triple chocolate. I also got a peanut butter bar and an almond bar to try because those were only 80 cents, and he got a mini cupcake.
The bars were only okay, nothing fantastic. I was disappointed by the pb one actually, since I am a pb fanatic and this was very plain and kind of dry. The chocolate cakes were out of this world awesome though, with a layer of cake, then some kind of buttercream mousse, topped with chocolate ganache. These are great. I won’t come out of my way to make a trip up here, but I’d stop back if I was in the area.

While I’m on my bakery review roll, I thought I’d review another amazing bakery, Sarah Jane’s Bakery in Northeast. Besides Angel Food, this is another one of my favorites. Nestled in between Hazel’s and across from the Coffee Shop NE on Johnson Street, this is a small little shop with all manner of delicious things.
I’d like to talk about their lemon bars. These are no ordinary lemon bars, however. They have lemon and coconut in them, and a struesel like topping that keeps me coming back. My other favorite is their chocolate croissant. It is so rich and decadent, and the pastry is so buttery it almost takes like cheese. So yes, I could eat more than one, and no judging! I have my vices and baked goods are one of them. So the other day, well actually it was back in October 2014, we came here on a Saturday morning and the owner lady gave my daughter an iced Halloween pumpkin cookie for free. She might have been too young to eat it all by herself, so I had to help her. Yeah it was good. Their prices are extremely reasonable, a dozen goodies will run you about $ 11.
Have you tried their almond, lemon or cream cheese danishes? Also excellent choices, pair them with a lovely Earl Grey for maximum impact. A sweet pastry with a bold and rich tea will soothe any sorrow, much like a trip the ice-​cream parlour.

Love this old-​school bakery. We usually stop here for a donut or three before heading out to play ultimate frisbee for a few hours on Saturday mornings. Sarah Jane’s is the perfect pick me up, especially when I feel like sleeping in and not working out.
The rhubarb crisps are my favorite. They look like a flat turnover; the crust is crisp with a crunch of granulated sugar. Then you hit the tart rhubarb jam in the middle. It’s not too heavy, not too sweet.
Other favorites are the apple fritters — with or without bacon — apple turnovers, and the sour cream donuts. Those are super decadent and go great with a coffee. Just be sure to get it across the street. We made the mistake of getting the Sarah Jane coffee and while I’m no snob, it really was more akin to burnt water than coffee.
There are no labels on anything, but the ladies behind the counter will answer any questions you have.

We stopped here after having breakfast next door at Hazel’s. It’s a no frills old school bakery which is my kind of bakery!
Thank goodness I was full from breakfast! If not, I could see myself trying one of many delectable donuts. I wish I had read the Unilocal reviews before leaving however. Next time I most definitely will try some of the favorites.
Being the bargain queen that I am, my eyes immediately veered to the day old rack. I grabbed a loaf of pumpernickel bread and some hamburger buns. Total $ 1.98! Cha-​Ching!!!
The hamburger buns are the best I have ever had. I made sloppy Joe’s using those day old babies and they were a complete hit!
I plan on making it a habit to head over to this Nordeast Bakery to check out the day old rack and to try some goodies!