Image via Oakmont Bakery Instagram
One sweet street. That’s the street address of the one and only Oakmont bakery, and how fitting that address is. For those of you who may not know, Oakmont bakery has been a fixture in the Oakmont community for many decades. From donuts to pies to cookies to custom ordered wedding cakes and let’s not forget their signature cake the Oakmonter, Oakmont bakery offers sweets suitable for anyone’s taste buds.
Image via The412Franimal
Originally located in a much smaller space, Oakmont bakery has quickly grown into one of Pittsburgh’s most beloved bakeries and therefore required a much larger space. You can find Oakmont bakery located right across the Hulton bridge past Riverview high school, in its new location as of 2019. This bakery is quite literally the full package. They offer baked goods, sweets, and even have their café for breakfast and lunch. While each person has their favorite from Oakmont Bakery, one thing that customers go crazy for every year is the return of the paczkis.
Now, what exactly is a paczki (pronounced puhnch·kee) you ask? This special treat is kinda like an overfilled donut. Paczkis come in all sorts of fun flavors at Oakmont. They have your basic fruit-flavored fillings including apple, blueberry, cherry, peach, and our personal favorite, raspberry! Not a fruit person? Not a problem! Other paczkis are filled with cream and custard. Examples are cookies n’ cream, peanut butter cream, and classic custard paczkis. These traditionally Polish desserts are available from now until Easter so hurry up and place an order or stop by and pick some up ASAP. With Pittsburgh’s large Polish community, these babies go fast! Even the workers know how crazy customers go for paczki season. We spoke with Tucker Guido, a long time baker at Oakmont, and he said the following:
“This time of year is always crazy. With the holidays and now paczki season, it’s all hands on deck! From the bakers to fryers to the fillers, so much goes into one order. There are so many different flavors to choose from it’s almost impossible to not find one you like.”
Image via Made in PGH
All the hype about paczki season aside, when Easter arrives, that doesn’t mean the craze for Oakmont Bakery stops. As we mentioned before, there is a lengthy list of delicious treats perfect for any occasion! A cool feature of Oakmont Bakery is that several cake flavors come in the size of a cupcake, a dolce, and a full-sized cake. Say maybe your sister and mom like chocolate cake, you and your grandma like fruity cakes, and your dad likes carrot cake. You can order dolces of each to split for the perfect slice! Our favorites are the raspberry (same filling as the raspberry paczkis), oakmonter, and peanut butter fudge.
Image via Oakmont Bakery Instagram
As we mentioned, they do take orders for custom wedding cakes, but what really makes a Pittsburgh wedding a Pittsburgh wedding? COOKIE TABLE! Oakmont has a HUGE assortment of cookies from the classics like sugar cookies and thumbprints to unique cookies like s’mores and macaroon chocolate dipped cookies! You can stop in and grab an assortment tray to make things easy or hand select the cookies you’d like to try.
Image via @liv_off_cake Instagram Image via @liv_off_cake Instagram
If you want to elevate your cookie selection, they also have available mini pastries!!! These are truly the crème de la crème. Cannoli, cream puffs, mini cheesecakes, lady locks, and eclairs all made perfectly. Order a Mini Pastry Tray or Gourmet Dessert Tray to really impress your guests at any gathering. The Gourmet Dessert Tray even includes cupcakes and some items from their “chocolate-dipped section.” That’s right, the chocolate-dipped section! This section includes marshmallows, cashew clusters, Buckeyes, various truffles, AND MORE! The choices truly never end!
Speaking of choices, if you’re looking for a nice assortment of breakfast pastries, especially for a meeting or brunch, look no further than Oakmont Bakery’s pastry and donut choices. Baked cinnamon rolls, bearclaws, scones, assorted danishes, muffins, filled croissants, and just about any donut you can dream up can be ordered ahead or picked up on the go! This is the perfect way to satisfy all those different sweets cravings. Want something more savory? Check out their bagel selection! They even have an assorted savory bagels option to order. If you’d like to hand-select, you can choose from 25+ bagels, with some of the savory ones being onion, everything, garlic, pizza, hot pepper, and bacon and cheese. They also sell regular cream cheese tubs as well!
If breakfast isn’t your jam, you can still head to Oakmont Bakery for some lunchtime goodies. They sell appetizer breads like pepperoni rolls, dipping breads, baguettes, and even bread rings to make your own sandwich ring. If DIYing isn’t something in your arsenal of skills, you can purchase an already made sandwich ring or slider platter. There is a number to choose from based on bread. If you don’t need lunch for a group and just want to stop by to treat yourself, order from the cafe! Lunchtime options are soups, salads, and sandwiches. Personally, we’ve had the Veg Out and Jacked-Up Turkey and they are incredible! Add a biscotti and coffee for something sweet (PS: they have 6 different types of biscotti). Breakfast items can also be found at their cafe like a BYO breakfast sandwich on one of their delicious bagels.
We don’t know about you, but we’re starting to get hungry just talking about all of this. Hopefully, after reading you’ve decided that Oakmont Bakery is worth a stop no matter the time of day. Remember, if you’re planning a visit the address is 1 Sweet Street!
This content was provided by a local, independent contributor to Made in PGH, a lifestyle blog.
