Peters' Bakery: Indulge in San Jose's Sweetest Treats

While I do enjoy the burnt almond cake, just like a lot people who grew up in San Jose, my preference is actually the Shirley special! A chocolate sponge cake filled with raspberry jam, frosted with white or raspberry buttercream and topped with chocolate shavings. I ordered it for the first time many years ago as a surprise for my mom (she LOVES anything raspberry) and it was a huge hit. I've since ordered it for other occasions and they also do a cupcake version with chocolate cake and raspberry buttercream. Recently, I've started ordering pies from Peters and they are so delicious! The crust is tender and flaky and the filling is fresh and not all fake and goopy like canned pie filling. I recently ordered 2 pies online and there was a mishap with my order, one of my pies never got put aside and they were completely out of that type when I arrived. The person helping me, I *think* it was Kathy, worked to help make it right, offering different types of pies or baked goods. I ended up getting one of the pies I ordered and just got refunded for the other. She did throw in a delicious turnover for the mistake, which was delicious and very nice of her. Peters is a staple in San Jose and we love it!

Peters is the spot for burnt almond cakes, cupcakes and more! You must try if you haven't already. There may be a line, but goes quickly. Don't be scared if there's a line out the door during holiday seasons. Everyone's so nice! Small shop but has a lot. Street parking is available.

It's the best. What else can I say that others haven't. Get your dessert on... No hesitation.

I've not had burnt almond cake before but it's oddly enough very similar to Chinese cakes I had growing up that had shaved almond garnish, whipped cream, and sponge cake. Didn't experience the service or ambience as this was a take out order that was eaten later that evening but the flavor of the burnt almond cake was great! If you like sponge cake you will love this!

The burnt almond cake is everything you need to know about this place lol - it's SO good! I've been dying to try Peters' Bakery but the occasion to never quite came up. I was able to try the cupcake version for the first time and it was life changing. The cupcakes had the perfect amount of fluff and cream, and it wasn't that sweet either which was perfect for my taste! I'm not a big almond person, but the cupcakes really impressed me. Great for any large gatherings or parties!

Stopped in to pick up dessert for Mother's Day. The request was for a pie. Hmmm...not much of a selection for me at such a late time in the day (4:45pm on Saturday). Yep, most things were gone. My choices were berry and apple only. I went with apple. I noticed they had a Monopoly board game with a San Jose Edition. That is soooo cool!

My niece ordered some cakes and Mexican wedding cookies at Peter's Bakery and asked my sister to pick them up. I was there to help her. Initially, we had to double park in front of the bakery. Then, I found a spot opened up. Yeah, a long line was created because they only allow 3 parties at the store at any given time. That also gives employees undivided attention to every customer. I like how they do business. I asked an employee if they have been at the same location since 1936. "Yup" she said. Wow. I'm so glad that I visited a sense of accomplishment of the history. The store has a logical layout. Plenty of merchandise in the display cases. They're very showy and appealing to customers of all ages. My eyes couldn't stop staring at the burnt almond cupcakes. My tummy was screaming "feed me". So, I asked to get one. She actually packed 2 in a cute box and didn't charge me for them. I'm so excited to try the cookies (shhhh, I took 2 cookies out from the order) and cupcake while riding home. They were not as sweet as other bakeries. I could have gotten more pastries. But not with long wait. I'll settle to return on my next trip to San Jose Bay Area.

Bookmarked this SJ institution having seen the reviews for Burnt Almond Cake. As we were driving back to San Jose coming in from the Peninsula last Saturday before Easter, we decided to swing by. Belinda, a fellow Sactown Elite, might have given us ideas and peaked our curious taste buds during a chanced encounter at Palo Alto during lunch. Called ahead but nobody answered. I told my wife to just take the posted online times as correct and risk the 10 minute detour as we didn't have plans for the rest of the afternoon anyway. We were able to park proximal to the bakeshop as we got lucky somebody was pulling out from their street parking. They were allowing limited people inside the facility and customers were allowed to enter as an equal number exited. Not much to say about the ambiance of this historic bakeshop aside from it's antique cash register. It's functional and it sells baked goods. Our counter server was nice and patient while we decided what to order aside from the BAC. They were out of slices for the chocolate variant of the BAC so we settled for a square of the Choc Choc. Probably our expectations were too high but we found the BAC a high 3/5. Not too sweet but the crumbly chiffon just didn't hack it. The Choc Choc was a 4/5 but definitely not the best double chocolate dessert we've ever had. It's good that we can finally tick off Peter's Bakery from our Yelp Collection.