Bachmann’s Patisserie

Cakes made by a master! No added preservatives or artificial flavors — pure and good. Well, maybe not for my hips ;o)) try the fresh strawberry cake, sharing can be sooooo hard.

While I was living in Surbiton, I used to make a weekly pilgrimage to Bachmann’s Patisserie in the nearby village of Thames Ditton. If you ever find yourself in this part of the country, make sure to visit this little shop. Chances are, you will walk out with a large box filled with sweet delicacies of all kinds.
Bachmann’s is a family run patisserie, with all the products baked at the premises. The front of the bakery is the actual shop. It is situated on the main road going through the village, so there’s no problem in finding the place.
The shop itself is small, but filled with so many exquisite creations. There are cakes, cheesecakes, tarts, biscuits, chocolates and many other sweet confections on offer. I can vouch all of them are delicious, as I’ve tried to sample as many varieties as I could. The ingredients are of high quality and the end products pleasing both to the eye and the taste buds.
I’d say the style is more continental, so the flavours are very rich and complex.
The staff obviously take a great pride in their shop. At the weekends there is usually a queue of people waiting outside the shop, always a good sign. :)
I miss this shop very much, and I wish they’d start doing business online too, so I could continue enjoying the cakes, now that I no longer live in the area.

Strudels and stritsels and pastries, oh my!
When I walk into Bachmans Patisserie, I always revert back to being 5, when being given a sweet treat was a pleasure unrivaled by anything. Bachmans is quietly nestled in a row of shops which are situated along a busy road — you might not give it a second thought when you wizz past, but if I told you that this unassuming little place was voted Best Patisserie in the UK (2007) — would you stop the car then?
This is not your bog standard bakery, there are 5 full time pastry chefs on the premises working on sweet concoctions. Being half Austrian, this is the only place that I buy Stritsel (it’s a sweet brioche bread stuffed with raisins and currents). The owners are Swiss so they know how to make it properly. The cakes and pastries are almost too beautiful to eat, but don’t let that stop you from tucking in.
They also make bespoke cakes for weddings and parties — although if I were to get married and got the cake from here, I would be thinking less «I do», and more «When do I get to eat the cake?»