Helen Bernhard Bakery

We love Helen Bernhard bakery! I called to order a birthday cake for my mom and received the best customer service over the phone! I learned there are additional options when you call to order (such as buttercream frosting) vs. ordering online. I mentioned my mom loves daisies and was thrilled to see the artistry on the cake when I went to pick it up. This was a 7” standard chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream filling and chocolate buttercream frosting on top. There was enough cake for 7 adults with some leftovers.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Birthday Cake

Doughnuts are some of the best in town, but multiple times I've asked for a sour cream doughnut, had the request verbally confirmed a second time, and received a cinnamon roll. They look nothing alike, so there's a staff unfamiliarity with their products or a lack of knowledge of shapes.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 3

Delicious!!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Birthday Cake, Pastry, Specialty

Needs no introduction.

Food: 5

Service: 5

Everything looks delicious and was , it is spendy so be ready for that

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Best Divinity, Mexican wedding, and sugar cookies ive ever had!! Staff was kind. Bakery was nice and clean.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Is there better Rye bread with caraway seed in PDX? I think not. They will slice it on their slicer. Next fave: bear claw with nice rich filling. Yum!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I have been going for over 20 years. Not as much recently as I live in Seattle, but I will be back soon.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I really liked the apple sauce donut and the chocolate chip muffin!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

This is where we got our wedding cake. We have been getting cakes etc ever since 1997.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I got an adorable heart shaped birthday cake from this place and it was absolutely delicious! The cookies, donuts and macarons were so amazing and fresh!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

My special order birthday cake was extremely dry. It tasted as if it had been cooked days ago. It was burnt and the banana filling was super thin and flavorless. No effort to design just name in gold edible glitter. Super disappointing.

Incompetent to say the least and mostly just a scam to take your money for the least amount of work. Wasn’t what I specifically ordered, it was sloppy and disgusting. It wasn’t ready or even started when I arrived and it was dry!
I emailed this company asking if they could make a Buttercream knife palate painted cake and sent 2 pictures (attached) I got a call from them and spoke to a woman who said they absolutely could and it was no problem. We discussed all the details of the cake and I felt confident about my decision of choosing this bakery with 100 years of experience. I arrived this past Friday Feb 21, 2025 at 12:15pm for my agreed time 12:30pm pick it up time. I was told it would be 10 minutes. I happened to look to my left and saw a man just starting what looked to be the cake colors I ordered. 45 minutes later the cake was brought to me unfinished. I was very confused bc it looked nothing like the pictures I sent. It was messy and sloppy. 25 minutes later they said it was done, it was awful and nothing like what I ordered. I asked them to fix it 3 times and every time I was met with rudeness and unprofessionalism.
This isn’t a design you just whip out of a plastic icing bag in 10 minutes as the buttercream is to be painted on with a knife and refrigerated. The cake is more taller than wide. The bakery lied to me, was unprofessional, rude, and completely incompetent. When you say you can recreate a cake and charge $95.00 for it, I expect you to make it as close to possible as promised. I was over a hour and a half late as it was, due to them not even starting until after i got there and was on the way to the party and had to purchase this cake to not show up empty handed. The cake was tasteless and dry and beyond a disappointment.This bakery is a scam and I wouldn’t waste your time or money here. We would have been better off getting a cake at the dollar tree.

Food: 1

Service: 1

Been shopping at Helen’s for years. Decided to stop in today spontaneously. Picked up a counter cake for a friends birthday and grabbed a couple treats. My Mom loves loves loves Helen’s eclairs but today they were the worst. the pastry was way overcooked and the frosting tasted like bitter plastic. so disappointing. then tried the strawberry shortcake special. was mushy, had no flavor and the berries tasted old. I will say the counter cake was fresh and good but I wish someone had been there that could have written Happy Birthday on it. For spending $100 and most of it went in the trash except the cake is pretty disappointing. Not what we expected from Helen Bernhardts.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 2

Service: 4

Ordered a 8" Black Forest cake for my wifes birthday, everyone enjoyed it.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: My Birthday Cake