Songtan Bakery Cake Country

One day, probably about a month after we arrived in Korea (yes, this is another late Korea post), Kyle and I were walking along the street before the 4-9 market (and the one the grocery store is on) and came across a little bakery called Cake Country. We had probably seen it before but just hadn’t really noticed it. We only realized the name of the place on our last visit.

A Great Local Bakery

I am a big fan of bakeries and things that come from bakeries. After coming across Cake Country we became aware of other nearby bakeries. There was a smaller one that was a little farther from us (around the area under the bridge on the way to the Songtan metro station) and a Paris Baguette not far from Cake Country but we were satisfied with our baked goods there and did not feel the need to venture to the others.

Our first time here we picked up a loaf of bread (French/Italian bread?) and some of these cheese onion bread things. I think the bread is about equivalent to $1.50-$2 and the cheese things were a similar amount, each. We went home and tried everything and it was all good. Since then we have tried their donuts, raisin/nut bread, and cake as well, all of which I will write about:

Cake:

This bakery has a pretty large selection of (cute) cakes. We knew when we first came across it that it was probably where we would get my birthday cake. Previously, we had considered a Paris Baguette, a large chain in Korea which we never got around to trying. There were many cakes to choose from in a couple windowed display cases in the bakery.

I wanted one of the smaller ones because it would only be the two of us sharing the cake (mostly me) and I was not sure how it would taste. I debated my choice for a little while and ultimately chose one that I thought was pretty cute and looked good. They asked if I would like a candle with my cake and I said yes!

We lit the candle and Kyle sang to me when the clock struck midnight and it was my birthday. Interestingly, the candle did not melt wax onto the cake. We are always discovering new ways in which the Koreans are efficient. I don’t know exactly what went into the cake but there was a nutty quality with a good creamy frosting and some jam-like filling between layers. Overall, pretty good.

Nut and raisin bread:

Whenever we got home from the bakery with a bag with my birthday cake in tow, we had discovered that they had added a little loaf of bread in there. I am not sure if this was by accident, but more likely it is the result of the Korean gift culture. We did not ever buy a lot in Korea so only experienced this two other times. Often when you purchase something beyond a small item or couple of small items Koreans will throw something else in there for you. When we purchased a couple souvenirs for ourselves and some gifts for our family we were given 3 small ceramic pigs. When we purchased some film we were given a small yogurt drink bottle each.

Anyway, and either way, the bread was moist and had a good taste. Kyle, of course, did not like it because of the raisins but it was a nice sweet treat for me. We purchased the bread (the equivalent of around $1.75 or so) a few more times. We likely would have never thought about purchasing it had I not first tried it from the bag with my birthday cake.

Donuts:

We tried at least 3 different donuts from this shop. Though we both like donuts, I think I enjoy, or at least desire them more than Kyle.

The Twisty: My favorite was the twisty one which I got a coupe times (~$0.50). This is a plain, long twisted donut, covered in a bit of sugar. It is a little less sweet than the donuts in the US and reminds me more of fried dough. It is quite a filling donut.

Chocolate icing/frosting plus sprinkles donut: We got this a couple times. The donut is a little more dry, a little cakier, and a little less sweet than donuts in the US. While not bad, it is not my preference.

The filled donut: What is inside, though? Red beans of course. I tried to eat around the insides.

Cheese/onion bread things.

This reminds me a little bit of a bread we make at home just not warm and not as loaded up and still has that sweetness all the bread in Asia seems to have (which I do not prefer but is fine). These were still kind of like a treat for us and we got them just a few times.

Bread loaf:

We were not thrilled with the local grocery store bread here. It just does not really taste good and I like pretty much all bread. To me it all tastes old, very processed, etc. I can’t really think of bread to compare it to from the states though but maybe a Walmart brand of a plain white bread that has been sitting out or something and is getting old.

The bakery bread gave us a nice alternative for sandwiches, just having plain bread and butter/garlic bread, etc. I grew up having bread with probably a majority of meals and Kyle really likes bread as well so it is nice to have access to decent bread. (We’re love our gluten!) Of course, you can also find good bread at the bakery sections of Emart and Homeplus but we didn’t want to go walk to the metro station, wait for the train, take it to the store, walk there, go shopping come back every time we wanted some bread.

The bakery has many other goods which sometimes vary by the day but these were the items we got around to trying during our time here. Realizing this bakery was in walking distance was one of our many highlights during our time here.

~B~