Swiss Haus Bakery

Found a strand of hair in my pastry. Took it back to the guy on the counter. No word of apology from anyone. Still in disgust I asked for a glass Of water to wash my mouth. They asked me to buy a bottle!!!

Bought a pizza for my friends birthday — despite being a walk-​in, it was ready in a flash. Delicious!

On every trip to Philly, I make sure to stop by the Swiss Haus Bakery. The hazelnut cake is a must, even if you just get a slice. Cinnamon Apple Cronut – pretty unreal. I will definitely be back for more cronuts in the future. Service is always great – fast, friendly, and helpful.

My husband and I used to be big fans, but some portion sizes have decreased (the prices have stayed the same or gone up). That wouldn’t matter so much if the staff were nicer. Twice in person and now just last week over the phone we’ve received some of the rudest treatment we’ve ever had in food service, just for calling in with questions about buying a hazelnut dessert for someone with an allergy. The woman who answered the phone should lose her job immediately — disgusting behavior. It’s also obvious that not all the staff are clear about what is and isn’t gluten/​allergen free. We let her know she’d lost Swiss Haus two long term customers and we will not be back.

We stopped in as we were being «tourists» in Philly. I’m a pastry snob, so at $ 5.75+tax, I expect a devils food chocolate mousse to be complex. While from the outside it appeared well crafted, it was not layered cake but just a hunk of dry cake with tasty mousse on top covered in a good ganache. There are much better cupcakes in the world at better prices, in comparison. Maybe get pastries from High Street on Market instead or try a different item?

Hazelnut cake with Chocolate shavings is 1 of the best cakes I’ve ever eaten. It is more expensive than most bakeries but it is worth it.

This place is a true Philadelphia institution. While searching for a good place to order a graduation cake, somebody recommended Swiss Haus Bakery. I tried their hazelnut cake and mocha cake; both were delicious, but for me, the mocha cake was the winner.
Their cakes, comprised of sponge cake layers sandwiched between airy swaths of swiss buttercream, are light yet full of flavor. It’s all too tempting to take bite after bite… after bite. (And before I knew it, a quarter of a 10-​inch cake was gone!) The mocha cake in particular had a great potent coffee flavor, and the crushed cashews on the side provided excellent contrast in texture.
After sampling the Swiss Haus Bakery cake (and another French bakery’s cake), I chose Swiss Haus. It was totally the right decision — even after a massive multi-​course graduation dinner, our guests still devoured the cake with glee. Almost everyone asked us where we had ordered the cake from.
Ordering and pick-​up were very easy. We called after placing the order to make a last-​minute change to the decorations, and they were able to accommodate us, no problem. Swiss Haus also did a very nice job decorating the cake — it was simple, but had a nice little paper diploma on top (see picture) that we had not requested but made the cake feel very personalized. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful graduation party.

As a child, Friday’s were my favorite day of the week. Why? The end of then work week my mother would stop at the then named Swiss Pastry Shop and pickup delectable treats for the whole family. This ritual greatly contributed to a happy childhood. I have loved the hazelnut sacher cake for too many years to count and am so happy that it taste just as good to me now as it did then. I have introduced many people to the now Swiss Haus with nary a one ever being disappointed. I recently had one of their gluten free almond joy tarts and it was delicious. I so look forward to summer when they make key lime tarts… wonderful! Thank you to the owners and bakers who through this shop’s transitions have kept faith with old world recipes and traditions.

This place hasn’t disappointed me yet. I’ve been to both locations in center city and love the goods and appreciate the friendliness of the staff. I usually get either a croissant or carrot cake — I love sweet cream cheese toppings. The croissant is always buttery and fluffy; I only eat it when it’s warm.
This place is pricey — croissant $ 2.50 and the slice of carrot cake is $ 3.99. I rarely buy both at the same time only one. But I plan to buy both and even the $ 5 red velvet cup cake on my birthday in June. I’m saving my pennies!

Stopped by for some ice coffee on a hot day. The staff were sooo friendly! I made the mistake of ordering two ice coffees separately/​one at a time. So the employee had to go back twice and do double the work (if you read this sorry!!) but she still kept a smile. The place isnt fancy or anything but the coffees were good!

not a big sweets person in the mornings but a coworker is. so on our way to work, occasionally we’ll stop in here. everytime we do, i feel like i should get something as a midday treat… everything is so pretty.
anyways, all i’ve tried here is the apple turnover. it is really delicious. they sell single serving cakes that also look pretty appetizing. prices are decent and employees are always nice and friendly.

Love everything about this place. I was craving something sweet on my «cheat» day and was not disappointed. I joyfully destroyed the almond joy. My hubby shared his éclair. Everything was so good but I couldn’t finish it all. I promised to go home and work on my earring skills so I won’t waste my future «cheat» day. In addition they were super sweet to everyone who walked in the door.

Everything I’ve gotten here has been fantastic. My favorites have been the peanut butter candy cake and some strawberry shortcake I had awhile back. A lot of their baked goods are not overly sugary, but place more emphasis on the heavy cream/​flavor like I prefer. They also have a large assortment of small cookies, which I like because you can get more variety without feeling the pressure of buying huge desserts.

Nice to have a local old fashioned experience. Connsistently delicious. They have made for many happy occassions

THIS PLACE IS SO GOOD! The staff is super friendly as well.
This place has the most picture perfect, most mouth watering croissants and pastries. I usually eat butter with my croissants but I don’t need to for the ones here — they are amazing on their own. I think I’m going to make this my go-​to bakery.
Suggestion: Blueberry strudel

Was in need of a Cheese Cake last weekend. I stopped by 3 other bakeries and they all told me to check out Swiss Haus Bakery. I made my to the bakery, asked the associate if they had cheese cakes? He said they needed to be orders but they do have cheese cake squares. I was in a rush and decided to go ahead and take 10 of them. Got to the party, opened the box and served them. Everyone at the party was blown away with how delicious they were. A few of them came back looking for crumbs at the bottom of the box.

In connection with a social gathering at our home, we recently had a butter cookie taste test and Swiss Haus Bakery came in second place. The competition included butter cookies from Rilling’s, Feasterville Family Bakery, Leonardo’s, and Desserts by Design. Chosen as for the test was the flower-​shaped butter cookie with the chocolate center, which all of the bakeries offer.
First place honors went to Rillings for its cookie’s relatively soft crumb and clear butter flavor. Our quibble was that the center dollop of chocolate was a bit sweet and hard, but overall it was a good cookie. The other first place winner was Feasterville, whose cookie is very delicate and nearly disintegrates on the tongue (like any great shortbread). One has to carefully transport Feasterville’s cookies because they easily crumble in transit. Again, the chocolate center was a bit sweet and hard. Both Rilling’s and Feasterville could elevate these cookies to epic status by replacing the chocolate frosting with a bittersweet ganache.
Second place went to Swiss Haus Bakery, whose butter cookies are a perennial household favorite. The Swiss Haus version is much firmer than either than Rilling’s or Feasterville’s and it is less sweet. To its credit, the Swiss Haus cookie’s chocolate center is neither as sweet nor as hard as the first place bakeries’ versions. Swiss Haus’s cookies are sufficiently hearty to transport with little breakage.
Desserts by Design had a credible entry, which earned them third place. The cookie had a delicate crumb but lacked any butter flavor. Where these cookies failed was an unattractive milk-​chocolate-​looking center that was not a consistent color throughout and was irregularly shaped. It also was far too sweet and hard.
Much to our chagrin, Leonardo’s version ended up in fourth place. While Leonardo’s makes exquisite rustic breads and phenomenal cannoli, its butter cookies are just too hard and lack any butter flavor.

I really wanted to try a Cronut but I didn’t see any. Got the hazelnut cream cake and a cherry cheesecake. Truthfully, the hazelnut cake was good but it wasn’t amazing. Lots of cream and loved the chocolate slivers but it wasn’t very substantial. Mostly just airy cream. The cherry cheesecake on the other hand was delightful.

Awesome pastries! Definitely my highlight of the week when I go into Philly. I like watching them roll out dough through the little window into the kitchen, and even at 4pm the pastries still taste great. Haven’t tried the cakes yet, but they look absolutely gorgeous!

Ordered a cake for a birthday. I chose a 10″ round half n’ half cake which serves has about 20 servings. I ordered it about 5 days in advanced. The cake turned out perfectly and was ready when requested. It was moist, soft, and full of flavor. The buttercream was also well done – not too sweet and just right. The shaved chocolate on the sides was also a nice touch.
They carry the 7″ cakes on hand and some of the 9″ as well so if that’s the size you want, you can pick up right then and there. While I ordered a cake, I couldn’t help but grab a chocolate peanut butter cupcake for the road. It was great. The lip of the cupcake was chewy similarly to the ends of a brownie. So good!
The staff was also personable. They made sure to ask if I needed any help, answered any questions I had, and ensured I got what I wanted.
They also have a counter in the window so if you grab a sweet you can eat it right there. Highly recommended bakery! I will definitely be back.

After the article came out in Cook’s Country magazine about their hazelnut cake, we felt compelled to take a trip into the city and have a taste. And of course once you walk into the bakery shop you can’t resist buying a sampling of all of the other things that this place has to offer.
So while we were there we ordered a sticky bun and an almond croissant and a couple of cups of coffee. The coffee was strong and fresh, the sticky bun was warm and tasty, and the almond croissant was huge with a distinct taste of almond but not almond extract which was great.
So we walked out with a whole hazelnut cake, a Napoleon, a frangipani, a caramel croquant, and a pear peach tart. All of these were very good. The hazelnut flavor in the cake is very subtle.
Very pleasant service and three tables to sit and enjoy.

Okay, here’s a tip for Philadelphians. Whenever someone says «Swiss Haus», you say «Apple Turnover.» That’s easy… right? «Swiss Haus… Apple Turnover.» And the reason is because Swiss Haus Bakery in Center City Philly has the best apple turnovers around. Though there are many other tasty concoctions at this traditional pastry shop in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood (it’s been a fixture in Center City for more than 85 years), make sure you always at least order an apple turnover when you stop in Swiss Haus Bakery. You can add a beverage and eat it at one of their tables or take it with you. Cheers…
btw — the «Almond Horseshoes» are highly recommended as well!

When I moved around the corner, I couldn’t wait to try a bakery that I always had on such a pedestal– my mom got her wedding cake from them 30 years go and I figured they must be amazing if they are still open.
Showed up pretty early during the week and wanted an Almond Croissant but they had just sold out and said there would be maybe a 20 minute wait for the next batch. I was very excited and decided it wasn’t a big deal to go walk around Rittenhouse Square while I waited.
When I got back, I had to wait some more, no big deal… until I saw the cream puffs dipped in chocolate were almost gone, too. So, I decided to buy one along with the croissant. When I get home, it took me ONE bite to realize this was actually a stale, old, $ 4.00 cream puff/​eclaire.
I could not believe I was sold something stale– even after knowing I waited that long for something hot and fresh.

We ordered chocolate cakes for my friend for her birthday from here a couple months ago. Swiss
haus was extremely easy to work with and the cakes were extremely delicious. you can really tell that they put a lot of time and efforts into their product. In addition, the Cronuts are what dreams are made of.

I don’t think a better cake can be made than the one I got from Swiss Haus. With all the fake icing out there, when you taste real butter cream icing, there’s nothing better. The Dobash cake was delicious with moist, spongy, and not too sweet, vanilla cake and melt in your mouth chocolate butter cream icing. Yummmmm
Thank you, Swiss Haus for making me a happy customer.

My biggest weakness in life is probably sweets. Walking down 19^th Street, I spot this bakery and immediately knew I had to at least take a look inside. I bought a few white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, a few chocolate chip cookies with walnuts, a few tiny hazelnut cookies with chocolate in the middle and this amazing cake with chocolate ganache on the outside known as the Clichy.
The hazelnut cookies were nice. Nothing too special. It sort of reminded of the Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies, but softer. The white chocolate chip cookies were nice too. Surprisingly, I didn’t enjoy the chocolate chip cookies. They tasted stale, as if they had been sitting too long.
The best thing I had was the Clichy. It is so good and so rich. The Clichy is a seven layer coffee brushed biscuit, layered with coffee and chocolate buttercream, a hint of raspberry and covered in ganache. I would definitely order it for a special occasion or if I’m in the mood for a really good cake with multiple layers and flavors.

A cute place to have some really delicious desserts! The portion is pretty big and one piece of item is pretty much enough. I bought the clichy ($ 5.75) and the red velvet cupcake ($ 5). One minor thing was their slow service but it was fine.

Really good iced caramel latte. And the desserts look amazing! Can’t wait to go back and try some.

SubPar Rum Cake
My family have been long time customers to Swiss Pastry, long before the change of ownership. Keeping up with tradition, I have had a birthday cake from this shop for more than 30 years. As the years passed, the quality of the cakes have subsided. We had a traditional rum cake ordered, to be eaten a day later. It was one of the driest rum cakes I have ever encountered. We have given the shop multiple tries after the new owners took place. The cakes never did taste as good as they did in the past. I really do miss the strawberry cakes and rolls, along with a good moist rum cake. I think we are finally moving on to a different bakery! ;(

Very glad I discovered this hidden gem this morning. I came looking for donuts, but ultimately, I found myself…
Anyway, there were no donuts. I did end up getting a peanut butter brownie (fudgy, moist, peanut buttery), a pecan tart (delicious), and an espresso cookie (very high quality chocolate cookie with massive chunks in it). This is one of the many newer Philly bakeries worth a visit. Next time I come, I hope they have donuts!

I had stopped in here previously for a cronut which they ended up not having. This time around we purchased a few things to sample. Hazelnut cake square was disappointingly lacking hazelnut flavor, and predominantly whipped cream. Chocolate peanut butter mousse cake was my favorite, the cake was moist and spongy, the peanut butter filling supple the ganache topping a nice thickness and texture which added to the dessert instead of overwhelm it. The old fashioned cake donut was dense and smothered in a white glaze, no real flavor really stood out. The sweet and salty cookie was very tasty, it kind of reminded me of a snickerdoodle meets pretzel meets shortbread.

I finally dropped by Swiss Haus today to try a cro-​crème and hazelnut cake but couldn’t control myself at the sight of so many pastries and cakes that I got enough to last until at least tomorrow. However, I tried all of them today because I was too impatient to wait, and here’s what I think (0 being inedible and 5 being exceptional):
Raspberry cro-​crème dusted with confectioners’ sugar: ⁵⁄₅
Hazelnut cake square: ⁴⁄₅
Rum cake square: ⁵⁄₅
Pecan diamond: ⁵⁄₅
Almond log: ³⁄₅
Butterscotch bowtie: ²⁄₅
Swiss Haus didn’t have chocolate cro-​cremes today; otherwise that’s what I would get. Anyway I was happy with my raspberry cro-​crème because it wasn’t too sweet. The hazelnut cake was good but not great. I couldn’t taste the hazelnut in the sponge cake, and I’m not a big fan of the excess vanilla buttercream. Rum buttercream, on the other hand, was to my taste. The almond log wasn’t bad, but the flavor just wasn’t my cup of tea. The butterscotch bowtie didn’t taste like butterscotch or pecan as advertised unfortunately. I definitely would get the cro-​crème, rum cake square, and pecan diamond again next time.
And since I checked in on my Unilocal mobile app, I got a small iced coffee for $ 1 :)
As a side note, I really like the fact that Swiss Haus has a seating area for those like me who can’t wait to bite into some of the pastries they just purchased. You can sit there and relax while sipping a cup of coffee and devouring breakfast pastries.

The hazelnut cake is unbelievable! The sacher cake and mocha cake are equally amazing!
We have celebrated many an occasion with a Swiss Haus cake, and have always enjoyed them. The cakes are moist with the perfect amount of buttercream. Chocolate shavings add the extra oomph to a delicate piece of deliciousness.
Pick one up for your next celebration :).