Helen Bernhard Bakery

It has been a few years since I ordered a birthday cake from Helen Bernhard Bakery. I know their cakes are the best, but I couldn’t remember what other kinds of goodies they have. These days, I like to get small individual pastries to munch on, so I was hoping that Helen Bernhard would have things like that. I went there in the late afternoon when it was starting to get dark outside and I felt somehow «beckoned» by the warm glow of their lights through their front windows. That «welcoming warmth» continued after I stepped inside and saw the kinds of small individual goodies that I was hoping for in their glass cases. I especially like that they have «small» sized versions of many of their regular sized items.. .for instance, you can get a small Danish if you didn’t want to get a regular sized one. For 99 cents each, I got four small Danishes with four different fruit fillings.. .I prefer this as a way of getting a variety rather than just getting one regular sized pastry. Also, I got a small chocolate éclair and a blueberry scone.
Excellent! Although it had been years since I had gone to Helen Bernhard, I’m glad to rediscover them.

This is hands down my favorite bakery in the State of Oregon. Everything is so good and the prices are so cheap. The Bismarks are the best and I eat at least 1 a week. Stopped in today and they even gave me an extra one on the house. Great people, great treats!

Helen Bernhard’s butter cream frosting should be a condiment required in everyone’s home for all things sweet. Hands down the best frosting!
I was always the child (and adult) scraping the frosting off cakes until one day in 2012 I was handed a piece of birthday cake made by the superb bakers of HB. My gosh I didn’t think cake could taste so good. Every layer of that cake, including the filling, was phenomenal. This has been the case with all the cakes our family has purchased from Helen’s for the last three years. Of all the bakeries in Portland I recommend Helen Bernhard Bakery for cakes.
Cakes aren’t the only thing Helen has up her sleeve though. Her display cases are stuffed daily with fresh baked doughnuts, cookies, pies, and pastries. They also have a bunch of varieties of homemade breads and buns for dogs and burgers. I spend at least a few minutes just figuring out what to purchase because there’s so much too choose from.
The staff for the most part is pleasant but every once in awhile we’ll encounter a crabby one. We eventually turn her frown upside down though. Anyway, enough reading. Helen Bernhard is waiting for you to come in. Now get going.

My boss sometimes brings in doughnuts from here. They appear kind of old, but always tastes fresh out of the oven. So what’s the deal with the icing? They’re awesome otherwise.

Cake taste like a piece of heaven. Very nice whipped cream frosting, not too overly sweet! Fillings has a punch of flavors. You will dig!

Came back again for another helping. Again, this is unlike VooDoo or Blue Star in that they serve more «traditional» donuts/​pastries. Bought a bunch and split them with some friends, here are some quick thoughts. I think it’s all about finding what suits your tastes, the items I picked I enjoyed (Blueberry Danish and Raspberry Jelly), while my friends’ picks were lackluster (in my eyes)
Blueberry Danish (⁴⁄₅) — Yum! Not too sweet, but it is on the sweet side.
Rasberry Jelly Donut (⁴⁄₅) — Second time! Just as good as the first, but on the sweet side.
Apple Fritter (³⁄₅) — It’s OK, not bad but was a bit too soft for my liking. The style of the Blue Star version appeals to me more (a tough/​crunchy exterior with a soft interior for the texture contrast, also I think more apple in this one, but on the sweet side.)
Cheese Pocket (³⁄₅) — Picked this up because the recommendation of the gal behind the counter, heard that it was very highly sought after. I think it was just a miss for me because of my personal tastes. I’ll leave this at a ³⁄₅ since I think it’s probably middle ground.
Cherry Danish (?/​5) — Honestly, I can’t remember. I think this was just OK, but won’t leave a rating on it b/​c I can’t clearly remember.

This was my second time here. My first visit was on a weekday and everything was fresh, the cases were all full, so many choices of everything.
But my second visit (today) is Sunday and the cases were almost empty, slim pickens, which was very disappointing. It was just the week’s leftovers.
The doughnuts looked dry from spending too much time in the case. I was craving a maple bar, but they seriously looked dry and stale, so I opted for a pastry instead.
If I come here again, it will definitely only be a weekday.

You cannot go wrong with this bakery. I think I gained 10 lbs just by walking in! The pastries, cookies and cakes are delicious. I have not met a sweet there I did not like. Of course I have quite a few sweet tooth to satiate. ;-)

Wow, the folks at Helen Bernhard really did an awesome job! Called last minute Friday afternoon and got an Edible Image cake for a birthday and it was ready the next morning! Everyone raved about how yummy it was, got chocolate/​caramel cream w Art Deco frosting!

This place is within walking distance of my house, which is good, because I need the extra exercise for how often I go here. The staff is really friendly and the baked good are some of the best in the city.
My boyfriend has a particular love for a type of doughnut that he used to get when he was a kid in Ohio. We have not been able to locate here in Portland, so I was able to describe the doughnut at the bakery and they were able to do a special order for our 2 year anniversary. He was very happy and so was I. Thanks bakers!

Holy mother of all cakes sent straight from heaven. Thank you Jeebus for those Angels that are capable of creating the champagne cake I had last night at an anniversary party.
The cake was a lovely sheet cake and the pink champagne cake itself was as light and fluffy as bubbles. Normally I’m not a fan of raspberry filling but the raspberry French cream was divine.
The icing on the cake: well it was butter cream and it was dreamy.
2015 — Review # 60

Nice people– patient & helpful. Yummy baked goods and the shop is super cute and seems very clean.
Thank you for the goodness Helens!

Like a small town bakery, but in Portland there’s just too much competition. Some solid breads, but there are better alternatives. On the plus side, it’s very cheap.

I’ve been coming to Helen Berhard’s for over 25 years. I love their cakes and their baked goods and their donuts are pure yum. I have a friend visiting from Italy and on July 4^th she turned 18. She wanted a special cake to celebrate and my first thought was to take her to Helen’s and have them create a yummy sensational birthday cake for her. There are differences between Italian cakes and American cakes so I wanted them to work with us so that my friend could understand what she was ordering and be happy with the end result. When we got there they had one customer in the bakery, so I felt confident that we could get some much needed assistance. Well that ended up not being the case.
I don’t know the ladies name, but she’s older and been there for awhile. She was so rude I was shocked. There was a young girl helping us and I was trying to get someone to help my friend with ordering the cake and also understanding what she was ordering. I explained the situation and asked if they could do a taste test or some sort of conversation where she would understand her choices. They were not only unwilling to assist they were hurrying us to just place the order and be on our way.
The final straw for me was when we had to decide on a design. My friend wanted something to signify the US and the 4^th of July. We asked if they’d help us and the older lady didn’t give us any help or suggestions, she said go with the fire works. That was it, no one was willing to help us understand what design ideas there were and when the young gal went for the book with pictures the older lady told her there were none in there.
When we arrived on Friday to pick up the cake the case had several gorgeous 4^th of July cakes with all sorts of wonderful designs. I was furious, I’m still very upset. My friend was so disappointed because she saw two that she would have loved for her cake, they were both red white and blue flag cakes.
Her cake was nice and tasted great but the service was so horrible I do not know if I’ll be back. I am really embarrassed. I told my friend that the staff would be more than happy to help her figure all of this out and then when they were so rude I was appalled and disappointed. I really couldn’t believe that they’d not want to be their best, especially for such an occasion.

Helen Bernhard’s Bakery has the BEST DONUTS IN PORTLAND.
Besides all their other seriously delicious baked goods, breads, pastries, cookies, AND the best hot dog and hamburger buns, Helen Bernhard has incredible donuts.
They are all delicious, but my overall favorite is the orange cake. So simple and tasty. These are available on a fairly regular rotational basis here.
The cost for one of these? Seventy five cents.
Less than that in a Baker’s Dozen box.
And with this realization, I can say now GOODBYE to the other hyped up, cult-​of-​the-​new donut shop.
I’ve prepared for the others a form letter:
Dear Hyped-​Up PDX Donut Shops–
I’m breaking up with you. It’s been kinda fun at times, but ultimately disappointing. So very disappointing.
It’s not you, it’s me.
No, scratch that. It IS actually you.
You can keep your hyped-​up «Cock N’Balls» donuts, your horrendous lines and totally rude, hipster doofus «customer service» people AND your incredibly jacked up prices.
$ 30+ for a dozen donuts? Are you f**king kidding me?!?
I’ve found someone now that I can commit to on the regular. She’s an older, more sophisticated lady. Been around since 1924, in fact. And she treats me real nice.
While she may not be featured on the latest «Hot Places» WIllamette Week and Mercury articles and the national TV shows, I think she is going to do just fine in the long haul.

Some things never go out of style.
This ain’t Voodoo, Blue Star, Coco’s, Tonalli’s or any of that. No one’s going to draw a frosting body part or totem face on the goodie you buy. Sorry.
This is what I call a traditional A to Z bakery. I did not spot any brioche buns. Other than that; if you want it, they got it.
Cakes, pies, breads, pastries, cookies, rolls, specialty items. My mind reels at all the choices. This place makes me feel like Fred in a room full of dropped tennis balls.
Did I say cakes? Oh, good; wouldn’t want to leave anything out, y’know.
I’m sorry but I was too bedazzled to see if there were vegan or gluten-​free offerings.
In my mind, they seem to use the highest quality of ingredients. I can tell they take a lot of pride in what they do here.
Even the building is cute. It looks like Barbie Central.
Btw, they make Barbie cakes too. I’ve got a birthday coming up (hint).

Haven’t been to this place in years. We used to get all our birthday cakes for our employees here, it was expensive but worth it as they were always amazing.
Fast forward to this afternoon. It’s my 45^th birthday and I wanted a key lime pie. After running out of other options I remembered Helen’s and called them. Do you have any key lime pie? She told me she was looking at one as we spoke and offered to hold it for me. I got in my car and sped on over there.
I was surprised at the price– $ 11.99 for a nice, hefty pie.
I got home with my precious cargo and my family and I dug in. Took that first bite and my initial reaction was «oh, this isn’t tart enough. I like my key lime pie REALLY tart.»
Then the flavor sunk in. Oh, my. The flavor. All thoughts of tartness fled my brain as my mouth went to heaven, and I realized this was truly the most sublime key lime pie I had ever sunk my teeth into.
Thank you for providing the topping to a wonderful birthday, and thank you for your dedication to baked goods. Someone’s gotta do it.

I moved next door to the Helen Bernhard Bakery last summer, which makes me a pretty lucky gal.
HB is what bakeries were like twenty years ago when I was a kid. Everything looks and tastes like your grandmother made it from a recipe in her Joy of Cooking cookbook. This is a far, nostalgic cry from the artisan bakeries and brick & mortar pop-​ups run by tattooed hipsters we see today.
Your vegan or gluten-​free pals might not appreciate it, but HB offers some amazing things. Their marionberry pie is the best I’ve ever had, for example. Also, their commuter boxes of 13 donuts (you buy a dozen, they throw an extra one in) are $ 8.95, which is a steal.
When the owner’s not in, my service has been a little cranky with a «okay, now get out of here» vibe to it; but ya know, that’s just how my grandma was. HB is like a family member who wants you to get out of the kitchen.
If you’re in NE Portland and looking to bring donuts or pastries to an event, the Helen Bernhard Bakery is your best bet, my friends. Also, I can attest to them being a really, really great neighbor.

Each time I visit this bakery I am reminded of the bakeries of my childhood, and that is a plus. Helen’s has a wonderful assortment of cakes, pastries, pies and breads, and all at very reasonable prices. I ordered a large black forest cake recently for a party and it was delicious! The whipped cream frosting was just right, not too sweet and the filling was a nice chocolate ganache. The cake was big enough to feed 14 people with generous slices for only $ 40.00
That’s a great price in foodie Portland. At Christmas time the put together christmas cookie trays of all sizes. Next time you in the mood for a treat, head on over to Helen Bernhard Bakery, they even have a nice big parking lot!

HB is my go to for cakes when we have a birthday at home or the office. They often have a weekly special for like $ 15 that can’t be beat.
The counter staff is always so helpful. Service is quick even though there’s almost always a line. I don’t love their muffins, but they make a damn good butterflake roll and some pretty amazing coconut macaroon and mexican wedding cookies.
For large cakes, they are a bit spendy and the decorating leaves something to be desired. So stick to things in the case. Sundays are ½ price case days. Best way to spend a Sunday morning!
Man… I need a cookie now.