Photo by Jenn Ocken

Founded in Port Allen by Abraham Baum in 1934, Baum’s Fine Pastries has been a reliable source of celebratory sweets for 80 years. Jason Landry, the founder’s grandson, says the key to this family business has been to eschew shortcuts. “You can buy anything in a bucket these days,” Landry says. “It’s harder to make things from scratch, which we do.” One of the bakery’s top sellers is its Doberge cake, the multilayer wonder first created in prewar New Orleans that was inspired by the Hungarian Dobos torte. Common flavors include chocolate and lemon, or a half-and-half that fuses both. Baum’s delicate Doberge layers are bound by a pudding-like filling, topped with buttercream and iced with fondant. Once you commit to a flavor, the only remaining question is how to eat it: slide the fork through multiple layers or separate each one?

Baum’s
8046 Florida Boulevard
929-6032
Mon.-Fri., 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sat., 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

10550 Perkins Road
767-4838
Mon.-Fri., 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sat., 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.