Sweet Production Bakery

Like most wholesale bakeries, Sweet Production Bakery may not be a name you know, but, you may have enjoyed their goodies, unknowingly, if you are in the San Francisco Bay Area.

"Sweet Production provides both traditional and innovative bakery products. While our team has perfected such favorites as croissants, apple danishes, chocolate chip cookies, and carrot cake, we also love developing new recipes using fresh ingredients and local produce available in Northern California. We draw inspiration from a variety of cultural and culinary traditions. Our team at Sweet Production also works closely with customers to create custom or specialized offerings."

The bakery is located in San Carlos, and distributed throughout the region.  They offer a large lineup of baked goods, ranging from morning pastries to pies and tarts to elaborate wedding cakes.  

Morning Pastries

"Start your day with a hot cup of coffee and one of our flaky, buttery pastries.  We offer a wide variety of breakfast treats ranging from sweet cheese danishes to warm apple turnovers."

When Sweet Productions says they offer a "wide variety" of morning pastries they really mean it.  For morning pastries, we had our choice of 10 kinds of bagels, 10 kinds of breakfast loaf, 3 kinds of brioche, 12 kinds of bundt cake, 15 kinds of coffee cake (!), 8 kinds of croissants (both sweet and savory), 10 kinds of danishes (with fresh fruit or jellies), danish sticks, danish strips, danish wreaths ... 7 kinds of muffins, 7 kinds of scone (again, both sweet and savory), several types of sticky bun, cinnamon rolls, strudel strips, turnovers ... the list just goes on and on.   I was impressed by not only the large variety of types of pastry, but the flavors of each available.  It was extremely hard to narrow my choices down for my first order.

Coffee Cake

In the coffee cake department, there were not only a whopping 15 flavors to pick from, but also a variety of formats: 9" round, or several sizes of sheet cake.  The lineup:

• Almond
• Apple Cinnamon
• Banana Nut
• Blueberry
• Chocolate
• Cinnamon Swirl
• Date
• Honey Apple
• Marble
• Orange Brandy
• Pumpkin Cranberry
• Raspberry Swirl
• Strawberry Swirl
• Streusel

I mean, really.  So much choice.

Pumpkin Cranberry Coffee Cake. 9" Round. $18.70.

My first coffee cake order was in November, right before Thanksgiving, so I went for a very seasonally appropriate selection: pumpkin cranberry.

It looked a little messy, but it was tasty.

The cake was extremely moist, good pumpkin flavor, light spicing.  It tasted ... well, festive?  The cranberries added to that feeling, delivering a chewy pop of tartness whenever you got one.  The crumble topping was actually a pretty thin layer, so easily lost, and rather messy.

I know this description doesn't sound that great, but really, the moisture level and spicing of the cake really pleased me, and I found it worked equally well as a morning pastry alongside my coffee, or as a dessert once I added whipped cream.

***+.

Donuts

Oh, donuts.  A key part of office culture.  At least for me.   I was excited when we returned to our office after many months of Covid induced working from home, and I was able to order donuts for my team, particularly once I heard our catering team had switched vendors.  I wasn't ever a huge fan of the California Smart Foods donuts they had before, besides the fritter.  I adore that fritter.

Sweet Production makes all the standard donuts: raised, cake, old fashioned, filled, specialty.  No fancy flavors, but basically all the classics.

Assorted Donuts:
Boston cream, maple old fashioned, sugar coated raised,
chocolate coated raised, raised crumb.

I ordered an assortment our first time, to cover all bases, and see what Sweet Productions did (or didn't do) well.

Most were very average - they weren't below average, they were perfectly fine versions of the donuts, but they weren't anything to go out of your way for.  Solid, reliable, slightly boring.

Assorted Donuts: Boston cream bar with chocolate glaze,
raspberry jelly filled, chocolate old fashioned, apple fritter.

I do need to give a shout out to the filled donuts though, as they were filled remarkably well.  If they were on the Great British Bake Off, the judges would be pleased with the filling going all the way through.  All the donuts with coating or glaze were very well coated.

Execution wise, these donuts were all well done.

Raised. $1.30 each.

Sweet Productions makes a variety of raised donuts.  Our assortment contained 3 kinds, although I was bit surprised not to see any classic glazed.  I assume they make them, just, not selected for our batch.

The raised donuts are $1.30 each, which seems a tad high for wholesale prices.  All were fairly average quality - lofty, fluffy, fresh tasting, but otherwise unremarkable.

Sugar.

I started with the most simple donut we had, the raised, sugar coated donut.

It was fine.  Fluffy, well coated in sugar, fresh enough tasting.  I usually pick glazed over sugar coated, so this was a bit of a change for me, and mostly made me wish it had jelly filling ... in my head, sugar coating is for jelly donuts.

Anyway, a solid simple donut.  ***.

Crumb.

I skipped the crumb coated donut, as they tend to let me down (the crumb coating texture is always just odd to me), and we had many I wanted to try more than it.  One guest was very excited to see these though.

Chocolate.

The most popular donut of the platter was the chocolate glazed raised ring donut.  I would have expected the filled ones, or fritters, but, nope, my co-workers all really just wanted chocolate glazed ring donuts.

I tried part of one, and it was exactly as I expected: same decent enough fluffy raised base, plenty of chocolate coating, which, even though I love chocolate, isn't really what I want on a donut.  I was happy to leave these for the others.

***.

Raised Filled $2.20 each.

Things get more exciting in the filled category, with standard cream and jelly fillings, in both bar and round form.  These were quite pricey at $2.20 each, but, were above average in their quality, particularly just how generously stuffed they were.

Custard Filled Chocolate Glazed Bar.

Ah, the custard filled chocolate glazed bar.  Known to some as a Boston Cream, to others as an eclair.  Amusingly, most of my co-workers didn't expect this one to have filling, and were sad when it did.  Again, they just really wanted their chocolate glaze simplicity!

I thought it was ok.  Again, fairly standard raised donut, decently creamy pudding filling, plenty of chocolate glaze.  Not what I go for usually, but a decent version of a classic.   It was less well filled than its circle counterpart.

***.

Custard Filled Chocolate Glazed.

Here we have the Boston Cream donut (if you are from the east coast at least).  They just called it a custard filled chocolate glazed.

It was the same as the bar version - decent raised base, well coated in chocolate glaze, and creamy but fairly fake custard filling.  It had TONS of filling though, so if you wanted some custard pudding, this one delivered.  It was messy to eat.

***.

Raspberry Jelly Filled.

I'm a sucker for a jelly donut.  It doesn't need to be high quality.  It doesn't need to have homemade, berry forward filling.  It just needs to be generously filled.  Which, is exactly what this was.  SOOO much jelly in this.

Standard, raised fluffy donut, coated in a little glaze, and loaded with fruity raspberry jelly.  The filling was super sweet, and was definitely kinda fake tasting goo, but, that kind of filling has its place, and inside a jelly donut is one of them.  The extra glaze on the outside was totally unnecessary given how sweet it was, but, I'm not really complaining about that either.

Overall, great execution on a classic low-brow jelly donut.  My favorite of all the donuts I tried.

****.  The only other jelly donut in the area I like more is the one from Bob's, which is still my favorite of their donuts.

Old Fashioned. $1.30 each.

Old fashioned donuts come in several forms, glazed or not.  We didn't get any plain, or simple glazed, but got to try some flavored glazes.  These are the same price as regular raised or cake donuts, $1.30 each.

I found them fairly unremarkable, but it takes lot for an old fashioned to impress me (usually needs a good buttermilk tang!).  The best old fashioned in the area are still certainly from Johnny Doughnut.  Seriously, best old fashioneds ever.

Maple.

I went for a maple glazed old fashioned, even though I'd actually prefer a simple glazed or plain.  The maple glaze was very generously applied, sweet, and slightly maple flavored.  The base donut was pretty standard - crispy bits, denser cake style - and tasted fresh enough, but didn't have any real flavor to it.  I really like an old fashioned with a bit of tang in the base.

So again, another decent execution of a donut.  ***.

Chocolate.

I didn't try the chocolate glazed version, as I've mentioned, chocolate on donuts isn't my thing, and in particular, I find it clashes with old fashioned.

Other

Sweet Productions offers a few other speciality donuts as well.  I made sure we ordered "the king of donuts", the apple fritter.

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Apple Fritter. $2.55.

I'm sorry to sound so broken record at this point, but, the fritter was yet another example of a decent execution of a classic donut.

They were huge, double the size of the regular donuts.   Fried, oily, crispy, totally covered in sweet glaze, with little bits of gooey apple.  Horrible for you, but tasty when you are in the mood for such a heavy donut.  Which I often am.

***+ because I love fritters, but it wasn't particularly more interesting than any other fritter.

Pies / Tarts

"Our Pies are made with shortcrust dough in 9" angled pans and filled with flavorful fruits, nuts, custard, or lucious cream."

The pie lineup is fairly extensive, with both double crust or crumb topped fruit pies (apple, cherry, blueberry, peach), cream pies (banana, chocolate, coconut), custard pies (key lime, lemon meringue, pumpkin, sweet potato), and nut pie (only pecan).  They also make a large line of tarts with pate sucree crust as an "upscale alternative to traditional pies".

For Pi Day in March 2024, I was able to order and try a number of these pies.  Sadly,  I wouldn't order any again.  They were underwhelmingly average.

Apple Crumble.

"Apple cinnamon compote baked in a flaky shell and topped with buttered crumbs."

We've usually gotten the double crust fruit pies from Sweet Productions in the past, but they make a handful of them with crumb tops too, such as this apple crumble.

It was a very blonde pie, I give them credit for not burning the top in any way, but a bit more color would have made it look a bit more homemade.

Besides the look, this was very basic, but not bad.  Reasonably spiced apple hunks, not too mushy.  Some light goo inside, not the style that oozes tons of filling.  Light crumble top that was nicely sweet.  ***.

This is the kind of pie that does double duty equally well, chilled with a little sweetened yogurt for breakfast, warm with ice cream or whipped cream for dessert.

Pumpkin.

"A Thanksgiving tradition, our pumpkin pie is made from pumpkin puree and spices."

Somewhere along the way I kinda stopped liking pumpkin pie.  It is a pie I grew up with, and always enjoyed it ever year at Christmas and Thanksgiving, but over the last 15 years or so, I've found myself just not really caring for it.  At first I thought it was just my mom's version (classic Libby's in a Pillsbury crust), kinda thinking I had become a snob for her version, and then I thought I just had a thing against what I call "aggressive" pumpkin spicing, e.g. too much nutmeg, but I've come to think I just have moved on from liking pumpkin pie.

And so with that, I didn't really care for this.  

The crust was not a flaky buttery traditional pie crust, but rather a pale shortcrust style.  It was fairly thick.  I did like the crust, and that style of crust in particular is great with cream pies, but it was a bit boring here.  

Decent consistency filling, although slightly graining.  Although not over the top, the spicing still wasn't really my style.  There was nothing wrong with it really, but it basically tasted like generic grocery store pumpkin pie, and I wasn't into it.  **+.

Chocolate Cream.

"Silky chocolate mousse fills this pie shell centered with chocolate shavings and garnished with fluffy whipped cream rosettes."

The description didn't quite match what we got, but I didn't mind having a full whipped cream top rather than just rosettes.

The crust here was a pale style as well, but I don't mind that style for cream pies.  It didn't taste particularly fresh though.  I was surprised to find the shell lined with dark chocolate, as previous versions we have had did not have that element.  I see this as only an improvement though, as it prevents the crust from getting soggy and ups the chocolate factor even more.

The chocolate filling was fine, a thick style mousse (not a pudding), milk chocolate.  It went well with the whipped cream, although that was a bit grainy.

Overall, nothing mind blowing here, but a nicely made standard chocolate cream pie.  ***.

Chocolate Cream.

"Silky chocolate mousse fills this pie shell centered with chocolate shavings and garnished with fluffy whipped cream rosettes."

A week later I hosted another event with cream pies.  Interestingly, they came decorated differently.  This time, the chocolate cream came with COPIOUS amounts of chocolate shavings on top.

Otherwise, it was exactly the same.  Pale crust that wasn't actually that great (but was lined with thick chocolate), fine but not special chocolate mousse, average and rather grainy whipped cream.  Yay for all the chocolate garnish.  ***.

Banana Cream.

"A flaky pie shell is filled with ripe banana custard and decorated with swirls of fresh whipped cream and chopped walnuts."

The banana cream interestingly came topped with chopped walnuts, which I haven't seen done often, and was a great move.  Bananas and walnuts are a great combo (hello, Ben & Jerry Chunky Monkey!), and I loved the crunch they added.  Kudos to them for this addition.

The whipped cream was again pretty average.

Banana Cream: Cross section.

The crust was exactly the same as the chocolate cream pie, which meant, it too had a chocolate lining.  Another slightly interesting twist on standard banana cream, but I still don't really recommend this crust.

The filling was fine - thick banana custard, not too sweet but sweet enough, with a layer of fresh banana (that was lightly brown) on top.  I felt the ratio was a bit off, I wanted more whipped cream to balance it.

Overall, I'd call this a "fine" banana cream pie.  Not memorable in any way, not something I'd order again, but I didn't mind finishing it.  ***.

Strawberry Rhubarb.

This was a pretty mediocre pie.  My first time trying their double crust fruit pies.

The crust is really where the downfall was.  It isn't a flaky fresh pie crust style, but rather more like a short crust.  Which can be fine, but it just wasn't very flavorful at all.  Crumbly, dry, not buttery nor flaky, not even really sweet ... just not very good crust, and since it was on bottom, on the back, AND on top, it really dominated.

The filling was very generic.  Extremely sweet.  It did have some hunks of fruit, but was mostly a goo style.  I don't mind a goo style, but, the sweetness was cloying, and I didn't really want to cut it with the dry boring crust.  The filling was good warmed up with some ice cream, but overall, just not a very good pie.  About the quality you'd expect from a grocery store.

**.

Fruit Tart (Gluten-Free)

This was kinda odd, but I liked it.

The crust was a gluten-free chewy almond (?) crust.  Nothing like a normal tart shell, but, I liked it, my favorite element of the creation.  ***+.

Above that was a strange pear (?) goo below all the fruit, that I couldn't quite identify, and couldn't quite tell if I thought was good or awful.  It was such a strange jelly like consistency that was also slightly thick.  Not a custard, I don't think it had any dairy, and just really, well, odd.  **+ goo.

The fresh fruit on top was fine.  ***.

Overall, fascinating, better than expected.  ***.

Cookies / Bars

"We offer many irresistable cookies, from chewy-crisp oatmeal raisin and chocolate crackle to crunchy biscotti and delicate shortbread."

In the "traditional favorites" collection, Sweet Production carries 9 flavors, ranging from your basic chocolate chip or double fudge chip, M&M or macadamia, oatmeal raisin or snickerdoodle, peanut butter or almond.  Besides the last one, pretty standard cookie lineup.  The also make more speciality cookies such as biscotti, macaroons, madelines, and regional cookies such as Mexican wedding or Russian tea cakes.

On the bars side, they make a slew of items, ranging from classic brownies/blondies, to cereal bars, granola bars, nut bars, seven layer bars, and fruity bars.  The bars come in 1/4, 1/2, or full sheet pans.

M&M.

These were a soft-ish cookie.  Crispy edges.  Completely uneven in the number and color distribution of M&Ms on each, ranging from 3-5, some with 3 of the same color, etc.  I guess that made them look a bit homemade?  

They tasted kinda average homemade too.  The base was a sugar cookie but without any real flavor nor decadence.  The M&Ms were, well, M&Ms.  At least they didn't taste heavily processed or full of preservatives?  But, yeah, just not a particularly good nor interesting cookie.

**.

Double Fudge Chip.

This cookie was much the same.  Crispy style, but a bit soft.  No real interesting flavor to the base, although it was brown, the chocolate flavor in the base was minimal.  Standard chocolate chips, not even bigger hunks.  It definitely didn't deliver much chocolate, despite being a "double fudge" item.  **.

Chocolate Fudge Brownie.

Brownies don't need to be fancy.  But they do need to be moist.  And this was not.  It was dense, fairly dry, and with a very basic chocolate flavor, akin to a Little Debbie.  No real compelling aspect to this.  The fudge topping was better than the base brownie, but also not particularly great, just sweet and somewhat fudgey.  Meh.  *.

Brownies and bars are available in 1/4, 1/2, or full sheet pans.

Cupcakes

Sweet Productions makes a slew of full size cakes, but I only had their cupcakes.  These are available in standard basic flavors, "gourmet" with more detailed decorations, or cream filled.  All come in three sizes.

Cupcakes.

"An array of flavorful cupcakes topped with  sweet butter cream frosting."

For our event we had two kinds of cupcake, which I'll just call "white" and chocolate, as I don't think the white one was really vanilla.

The also make "groumet" ones with chocolate shaving toppings, or cream filled, and can add a logo for a surcharge, which our hosts did.

White Cupcake.

The white cupcake looked decent, a nice moist cake, relatively good crumb structure, although it was a bit oddly greasy, as if it was made with a lot of oil.  But I really disliked the taste of the cake.  It didn't look like angel food, but it tasted like it, just, a very dense version of it.  I really loathe angel food cake, so for me, this was just not good, and, as I said, it was strangely greasy.

The butter cream was average grocery store quality, the kind that tastes like Crisco more than anything else.  It was very fluffy though.  

For me, *, but perhaps if you like the taste of this cake, it could raise a star.

Chocolate Cupcake.

I wish I could say the chocolate one was better.  It was marginally I guess, but, not meaningfully so.

The cake again somehow tasted like angel food, even though it was more dense.  Very mild chocolate flavor.  I really didn't like it.  The buttercream was again sweet and smooth, but really didn't have any chocolate flavor at all, even though colored as if it did.   This buttercream was slightly better than the plain one, so this gets a *+, but I wouldn't recommend it either, unless you like strange dense angel food.