Sugar & Spice Bake Shoppe

This was our first visit to get a cake for our daughter’s 18^th birthday. YUM! We got the most delicious chocolate caramel cake and had a great time talking with the baker. We’ll be back again!

If you need something special, and not from the grocery store this is the place to go. The Italian pastries are delicious. The cakes are decadent. Kind of a hidden jewel.

This place deserves 1 star because I have had ONE good experience there. ONE. And really, If half stars were a thing, i would give it that. But hey, better than nothing.
So, the first time I went in, the service was horrible! A very angry man behind the counter asking if I knew what I wanted over and over. Just making me feel like an inconvenience. However, I got a phenomenal cannoli out of it.
The second time I went in, I had ordered a cake. A young girl greeted us, very sweet, and eager to help. I told her I had a pick up for Alyse and the angry man yelled this is Alyssa’s and threw the cake to the counter. The girl looked showed me the cake and of course… it said wasn’t my cake. I’m sorry I said, this is a cake for someone else. Turns out, they lost my order. And to top it off, the guy flipped out on the girl in front of me and immediately blamed her! I ended up going to market basket for my cake instead.
Lastly, I went in today after nearly a year, looking for cheesecake. The cheesecake I received was OLD! CURDLED! And this was after my aunt politely asked if she could have her tiramisu from the back of front, and he barked no, and said it would be too much work. She asked what would be too much work? He said to move around the others? It didn’t make ANY sense.
Anyway, there are plenty of other great bakeries, skip this one.

Hands down the best lobster tail pastry I’ve ever found. Better than the famous guys in Boston’s North End, or the bakeries just over the Mass line. The pastry was buttery and crispy, the cream was light and sweet without any grit or greasy film. I wish I hadn’t driven by so many times without stopping in to try out the amazing offerings. My daughter’s freshly filled cannoli received the same review, crisp, sweet, perfect.
I can’t wait to try more of the delicious looking items in their case!

Walking in, I was lured in with what looked like amazing baked goods, but they would have left a sour taste in my mouth and made me sick from the encounter I had with the scary owner behind the counter. He was obsencnly rude, so much to the degree that it left me shaking with terror — I will never be able to steer in the direction of his bakery ever again without a flash of fear or a middle finger. He does not give a flying care about his costumers or in creating a family friendly atmosphere for his bakery. I’m so disappointed in this small town-​bakery, and such a horrific experience that eternally seared my memories. On my way out with my younger brother, he had the audacity to curse us with the most evil words that have ever been spewed upon a child. I wish him many blessings and prayers.

Everything I have ever bought from this bakery has been first quality and delicious! They also do a remarkable job with decorating cakes. Their cookies are A-​1!

I stop in every so often for slices. I even get all birthday cakes from here. I must say these cakes are the most amazing I’ve had. It even over topped my wedding cake.

I placed an order for 75 assorted danishes, muffins, and cannoli for an office event I was hosting for a client in Boston. I called the day before the event to have everything ready by 9 am the following day. When I arrived at 9, everything was nicely boxed, labeled and ready to go. I have to say, driving from Salem to Boston with that wonderful aroma in the car made it difficult not to sneak a pastry out and eat it on the way. Throughout the 4 hour event, all I could hear from my clients was praise for how great these pastries were. Everybody kept asking me where I got everything. I managed to get my hands on one of the cannoli before they were gone, and WOW, I’d place that cannoli in the top 2 that I’ve ever had (yes, I’ve had more than 2… my wife is Italian and my stepmother was Italian… trust me, I’ve had enough cannoli that I should probably weigh a couple hundred pounds more than I do). I will absolutely be using this bakery for my future morning events.

Light. Creamy. Decadent. Heavenly. Best bakery in the area. Don’t fall for the fake cakes from the departmental stores. This is the real deal. As long as we were in that area this is the only place we trusted for pastries. Tiramisu is the best.

I moved to Salem, NH 3 years ago. Having a large family and many birthday celebrations I was looking for a new bakery to replace the one I used for over 35 years from the old neighborhood. I was fortunate enough to find Sugar and Spice after trying a few other places and the supermarkets in the area. My family is very picky when it comes to Birthday Cakes. Since trying our 1^st cake 3 years ago we haven’t visited another bakery! The owner is very passionate and committed to the best quality ingredients and you can taste it in everything he makes. He is also very accommodating and easy to work with when placing special orders. I have 7 children and each has their own taste and style in birthday cakes and he has surpassed every expectation every time I have ordered. Try Sugar and Spice you will be very pleased that you had and the icing on the cake is the prices are very reasonable and cheaper than your average bakery!

Working as a professional chef and caterer in Boston, I come across a ton of wedding cakes from bakeries all over the area. We recently ordered a cake from Sugar & Spice for our daughter’s baptism, and I cannot say enough about how delicious and beautiful the cake turned out. The owner took the time to help me design the cake exactly how we wanted, and the cake and filling were to die for! Sugar & Spice is definitely at the top of my list and I recommend it to anyone in the area.

Let me start by saying His cakes are good, not great but good. For Salem NH I’ll give him best cakes but it’s Salem, NH for crying out loud, not Paris so this guy needs to put his ego in check. The issue here is this guy is an absolute piece of you know what A-​hole. Rudest cockiest person to speak to, always has a smug look on his face. His way or no way attitude, and God forbid you have to ask this guy a question. The thing that ticks me off is he thinks his cakes are so amazing that he can have this disrespectful attitude towards customers and it doesn’t matter because he will still sell product. News flash pal, YOU’RE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE! YOU HAVE ZERO COMPETITION AND YOUR CAKES AREN’T THAT AMAZING! He cant bake a fancy style cake if his life depends on it and uses his flavor excuse as the reason why he cant put a fancy presentation together. Chocolate and vanilla aren’t that hard guy, get off your high horse. This guy needs to get smacked around a bit and be taught a lesson or two in customer service. I usually feel for the small business owners but this guy truly does deserve to lose his business. Try supporting other smaller shops, won’t name names but a couple good options in Methuen. This guy sucks and is equivalent to a human waste land. Don’t need to take my word for it, plenty other posts on here backing up what I’m saying.

Went here with a friend to do a special order a few weeks ago. The male at the front was so rude and awful! We ordered the cake because we have no other option at the time and someone referred us to them. The lady that helped our friends was amazing we heard but we were stuck with the male. This guy was AWFUL! he was rude and even the cake was smooched when we got it in the box. Worst experience ever!

The pastries and birthday cake I’ve purchased from sugar and spice have all been fantastic. If you try them out I promise you will not be disappointed.

I downloaded this app just to say how rude the man I spoke with was. Shockingly rude. I got off the phone & had to laugh. Sugar & spice but not very nice. I was looking to have a wedding cake made there but I’ll most definitely be going elsewhere.

I read the reviews about the owner being a ‘jerk’. I found him to be a definite type ‘A’ but not a jerk at all. He was extremely knowledgeable about his buisness. He explained all my options for the purchase of a wedding a cake. (Sizes, layer cake versus sheet cake, flavors, fillings what works and what does not work). Yesterday was my son’s birthday so I bought a cake to celebrate after I placed the order for my wedding cake. I bought a caramel chocolate cake that had two chocolate layers and a yellow cake layer for my son. It had caramel filling and vanilla butter cream filling and was frosted with chocolate butter cream. It was FANTASTIC. I am SO GLAD I ordered my wedding cake from Sugar and Spice Bakery. Sorry Piro’s, but the remarks I read about cakes not being ready when ordered and staff ‘chatting while customers waited for their orders to be taken’ really put me off. I have had cakes from Piro’s and they are outstanding but I require good customer service as well as an excellent product. The guy at Sugar and Spice might be a jerk sometimes (and this can not be proven by how I was treated which was respectfully and kindly) but I feel he takes his work very seriously. Again, the cake I bought was quite possibly the best cake I ever ate.
The wedding cake will be a whole sheet cake with yellow cake, half lemon filling and the other half raspberry filling and frosted with whipped cream frosting and butter cream roses. MMMMMM. I know you wish you were invitied so you could have a piece of what I expect will be extremely yummy wedding cake.
Follow up after the wedding! I am expecting to leave a tasty report.

The desserts here are amazing. By far the best around.
I have read reviews that the owner isn’t the nicest guy ever. Um, so what? Hes not at all, in any way rude. So he’s not as sweet as his cakes; I think he’s just fine. He might not ask about your moms health, or your new car. Whatever. He’s all business, and I respect that. If anything, I think he’s better than most cause he’s real. On one occasion, he actually stayed open late for me. I called to see when he closed, and he said «about 20 minutes ago.» He then said he was there baking anyway, and to come on in even though he was closed. I can’t tell you how much this was appreciated. I was 7 months pregnant and I NEEDED chocolate cake. Hes not bad, trust me. And his bakery items are out of this world. I’ve been there many times and have never experienced any rudeness whatsoever. And even if I did, I would stil come back. The black and white checker cake is heaven.

I was driving past a bakery in MA a few days ago when I got hit with a huge cake craving. So I pulled over and grabbed a few slices for myself and my family. My mom and I each had one bite and we were done, they were horrible! My mom said she would rather eat the cakes I make than eat another bite of that cake.
So first thing I did when I came back was stop by Sugar and Spice and picked up some of my favorites. I’ve been coming to this bakery for some time now but never felt the urge to write a review. I guess there’s nothing like a bad cake experience to make you appreciate your baker.

CUPCAKE ONLY REVIEW: Mr. Brian Costa has a very nice shoppe with all sorts of colorful Italian cookies, pastries and beautifully decorated gourmet cakes. As per usual, I continue my mission for the perfect vanilla/​vanilla cuppy.
I’m at love/​hate on this one. I really WANT to love it… At the very reasonable price of $ 1.50, I received a handsomely sized cupcake with chocolate drizzled on top and edible confetti bits sprinkled about. This cuppy yells «eat me, for I will bring you joy» based upon its looks. With a ⁷⁵⁄₂₅ cake/​frosting ratio and quite a bit of cake exposure when viewing it from the top, I definitely bit into the cake first.
A sad frown crossed my face as I thought that it tasted too close to box mix for comfort. Quite a bit of density. It wasn’t dry, but not moist either. Sorta like, one more day of air exposure and we’re toast. Very very light vanilla flavor here. I thought the frosting wouldn’t be much more of an addition. Interestingly enough, I got the surprise «crystalline» effect — that mouth feel where it has set just enough to be firm on the initial bite, but then dissolves like magical sugar crystals on the tongue. I love that. Only problem was the vanilla product didn’t seem like stellar top notch. So close! However, overall the frosting and cake do work as a whole.
I’d give ‘em a whirl for some of the other tasty looking treats.

I now get «special occasion» cakes often here. They are so good and the best in the area really.
The owner guy can bake no question about that.
I know his people skills are not the best but hell he sure can bake.