Best of the Gold Coast 2017: Top 10 bakeries

HOW good are bakeries?! Here are 10 of the best on the Gold Coast as voted by you and *not clickbait*, you really won’t believe who won.

Bam Bam’s cream filled croissants are the perfect example of why they’re on this list.

WHETHER you’ve got a sweet tooth or fancy a savoury flavour, bakeries are a wonderland.

Last year, Burleigh Baker took out the crown. Can they do it again?

We asked and you voted, here are the top 10!

10. Paddock Bakery

LOCATION: 20 Hibiscus Haven, Miami

Ursula and Ben Watts struck gold with this game-changing bakery, which all of a sudden made pastry and baking not only delicious, but super trendy too.

Maybe it was because of the glass niche that showed the bakers out the back working tirelessly around a woodfire oven.

Maybe it was because they made it cool to actually eat carbs again.

Or maybe because everything they produced was, and still is, downright delicious.

These guys could make a batch of flaky, perfectly golden croissants in their sleep, set off a chain reaction food fad without even trying (cruffins, anyone?) and still have time in the day to create something totally original, such as this ooey gooey Nutella bomb cookie.

The Nutella bomb cookie from Paddock Bakery, Miami

9. Breads, The Standard Market Company

LOCATION: Ferry Road Markets, 107 Ferry Rd, Southport

Standard Market Company owner Darren Frame says Breads is much more than just bread, but it is a big part of it.

“Our focus is artisan sourdoughs and quality pastries produced fresh daily. Our spelt bread range, which contains 100 per cent spelt flour, has become our most popular bread — spelt has many amazing health benefits.

“The raspberry coconut loaf is always a favourite, it’s exclusive to our store, and our almond croissants also sell out daily.

“The standard of the product is always our main objective.

We make all our products the traditional way with hand moulded breads and hand crafted pastries.”

A custom made mixed fruit custard tart from Breads at The Standard Market Company

8. Foster’s Bakery

LOCATION: 1/2227 Gold Coast Hwy, Nobby Beach

Every coastal town has that one bakery that’s always full of sandy beachgoers who emerge from the surf absolutely famished, seeking out the perfect post-beach feed.

Pies, sausage rolls, cream buns, custard tarts — they’re all perfect for a casual, still-wet-from-the-ocean bite to eat and Foster’s knows their clientele.

Still in the family, Foster’s is currently run by Stuart Foster, who took over the baking reigns from his father.

They’ve been the classic, go-to beach bakery on the Gold Coast and has been for over 30 years, thanks to its tried and tested classic recipes that are consistent to a tee.

Foster’s rosemary and lamb pie is the stuff of legends. Picture Mike Batterham

7. Gumnut Bakery

LOCATION: 25 Swan Lane, Mudgeeraba

Just like the locals, Leonie Newey loved Gumnut Bakery so much she decided to buy it.

“We all worked for the previous owners and when they were ready to move on they offered it to us to buy. So three of the bakers and myself said yes and eight years later we’re still here.”

Everything is a favourite at Gumnut, because it’s all fresh and made with consistency by bakers who really care.

“The pies are a hit. Everything is made here on premises,” Leonie says.

“The people know because it’s coming from us, it’s fresh. It’s got a real country feel this shopping centre, the atmosphere of the shop, the product we sell and the girls serving it all joins together and makes a great business.”

Gumnut Bakery’s cream filled doughnuts almost look too good to eat. Photo: Steve Holland

6. Burleigh Baker

LOCATION: 13/50 James St, Burleigh Heads

While Geoff Dance wasn’t happy to be knocked from the top spot (he won last year’s poll), he’s still got plenty to be proud of: “We live and work in Burleigh Heads and the Village is the heart and soul of the GC. We have been open three and half years now, and employ 15 equivalent full time people, including two apprentices and one who just graduated.

“We use local suppliers where possible, such as Brian from First Class Sheet Metal who makes all our stainless steel surfaces.

“Each year our business has grown 30 per cent or more and we do a lot of fermentation.

Fermentation is the best path to wellbeing for digestibility, nutritional values and flavour.”

Geoff Dance with his sourdough pride and glory. Photo: Jerad Williams

5. 5B2F Bakehouse

LOCATION: 55 Brooke Ave, Chirn Park

Since opening in November, Moonsun Yoo has focused on finding his perfect niche in bustling foodie-hub Chirn Park.

“In Chirn Park Daark Espresso is No. 1 for coffee and my neighbour Meraki is healthy — and we are not healthy — so my focus was to be a strong, small bakery for locals.

“So this is amazing, I’m really happy. We do natural woodfire sourdough every second day and lots of cakes and slices — I’m a traditional French pastry chef. People don’t expect lots of artistic cakes but I like to use a lot of technique.”

Chirn Park’s 5B2F Bakehouse might surprise you with its delicate French pastries. Picture Mike Batterham

4. Horner’s of Sorrento

LOCATION: Sorrento Shopping Village, 20 Bundall Rd, Bundall

Second generation Robert Horner takes great pride in their Sorrento bakery, with his son Samuel in line to continue the legacy.

“We’re probably one of the longest established bakeries on the Gold Coast, we’ve been a family run business since 1977,” Robert says.

“We have award-winning pies and we’re very well known for our birthday cakes. We do hotel standard cakes competitively priced. Our cakes have to jump out and bite you, we like them to have that kapow factor.

“We’ve done a lot of cakes over the years — I’m sure you can imagine — but taste-wise I’m a great fan of our red velvet cheesecake gateau.”

Robert Horner, second generation owner of Horner's Bakery with his son Samuel Horner. Picture by Scott Fletcher

3. Bam Bam Bakehouse

LOCATION: 2519 Gold Coast Hwy, Mermaid Beach

No best bakery on the GC list would be complete without Bam Bam Bakehouse, Mermaid Beach’s hub of pretty pastries that has the Coast in a spin every time each new creation hits Instagram.

From Gold Coast hospitality royalty Ursula and Ben Watts, find various wondrous creations in the cabinets, from balls of choux pastry oozing caramelised white choc crème and gooey ganache, traditional Bretons piled high with vanilla bean mousseline and fresh strawberries and poached pear Danishes with burnt honey custard.

There are constant guest stars added to the mix, so the best thing you’ll ever do on your socials is swing these guys a follow to assure you’re always in the know.

Ursula Watts at Bam Bam Bakehouse in Mermaid Beach. Pic Tim Marsden

2. The Flying Pie Man

LOCATION: 1162 Pimpama Jacobs Well Rd, Jacobs Well

There’s much more going on here than just pies, and the trick is to keep it simple.

“We still do all the old school stuff — vanilla slice, apple turnover, beestings, doughnuts — all how they’ve always been done,” owner Kellie Cook says.

“It’s not fancy, just fresh and classic. We had Baking Australia do an article on us in April, and she said ‘Oh my god, nobody has a bakery like this anymore. Oh my god, your sponges taste like they did 100 years ago.’

“We’ve got some old, old customers who are in their 90s and they say our sponge with fresh cream tastes like what they had when they were kids. People just want basic and good quality.”

The Flying Pieman Pies at Jacob's Well do more than just pies, but the pies are awesome too.

1. Flour of Life Bakery

LOCATION: 20 Siganto Dr, Helensvale

Who’d have thought a bakery that doesn’t use butter, eggs or milk would win best bakery — well, owner Steve O’Brien had a fair idea.

“We’re a plant based bakery — meat free, dairy free — which means we’re cruelty free and vegan. People come from far and wide — Northern Rivers, Sunny Coast, Brisbane — it’s been amazing, but I’d be nothing without the team — Alyssa, Janine, Stephanie and Andrew, they make it all happen.

“Because of what we’re trying to achieve, we’ve had to look outside the square, we’re making traditional treats that would normally otherwise be lavished with dairy and egg.”

BEST VEGETARIAN AND VEGAN SPOTS ON GOLD COAST

Everything is vegan at Flour of Life Bakery at Helensvale. Photo: Steve Holland

Starting out, Steve had his own doubts about the extent of vegan replication, but on many occasions has been pleasantly surprised.

“The most amazing one for me would be the pavlova, I thought that’d be off the table because it’s traditionally made with eggwhites and cream. There was no alternative until a remarkable lady one day opened a can of chickpeas and instead of emptying water down the sink, tipped it into a mixer and it fluffed up like egg white.”

Great, a watery chickpea flavoured pavlova, surely not even vegans would enjoy that ...

“You would not think that would work, and even if it did you’d be thinking it’d taste like chickpeas,” Steve says.

Steve O'Brien is the brains behind Flour of Life Bakery.

“But it doesn’t! We add coconut cream and then lavish it with beautiful seasonal fruits. I only make them to order because they’re quite fiddly.

“There’s a whole Facebook page called ‘Vegan meringue hits and misses’ and there's over 70,000 members. It’s not always easy.”

But the plant-based alternatives don’t stop there.

Flour of Life carry everything your average bakery would — custard tarts, jam doughnuts, lamingtons, chocolate fudge, apple pies, fruit flans — even nine different types of pies and sausage rolls, because as Steve says “Nothing has to die to go in your pie.”

Can you believe this is vegan?! Photo: Steve Holland