By Virgil Hilts
Some bakeries specialize in bread, others in donuts. Nanak is a unique boutique bakery specializing in gourmet cakes and pastries, handmade to be “the best you can hope to have.” Nanak’s cakes are unlike almost all other commercial cakes. There is no sugary texture to the icing, and the fruit custard cake tastes as if cream cheese frosting commingled with soft-serve ice cream: light, fluffy, sweet but not too sweet and oh-so moist and light. The word exquisite doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Long-time customers drive from as far as Cleveland and Cincinnati to Nanak, which is why the bakery relocated last October from Bethel Road to this Westerville location, with easy access to I-270. Nanak Bakery sells both wholesale (to high-end restaurants) and also uses this location as a restaurant/café, serving both breakfast and lunch.
Breakfast consists of all the usual items you would find on most breakfast menus. The lunch menu has sides, salads and a full line of sandwiches, paninis and even gyros. Wine is sold by the glass or bottle at extremely reasonable prices, and there is a moderate selection of beer.
But it is the baked goods that are the main attraction at Nanak, which makes custom designed cakes for all occasions.
The retail bakery has a large selection of delectable pastries and more than 50 varieties of cookies. Cakes are limited only by your imagination: cheesecake, carrot, strawberry, raspberry, lemon, orange/pineapple, mocha cappuccino, tres leches, marzipan and vanilla. Varieties of chocolate cakes include ganache, mint, rum, raspberry,
even tiramisu.
Westerville resident Hooman Raad has owned the business for 20 years and is proud to have relocated in the town he calls home. He gladly supports local school events and sports teams. Although I-270 is close, access from northbound State Street is a bit complicated. It requires a left turn on Huber Village Drive, following the curved street a long block and turning left on Club Drive to get to the restaurant that sat empty for years. But one taste makes the trip worth it.
Nanak Bakery, 895 S. State St., Westerville, OH 43081; 614-882-8080; www.nanakbakery.com. Wednesday-Saturday 7:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.; Sunday 7:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; closed Monday and Tuesday.
RECIPE:
Strawberry Cream Cake
6 Medium Eggs
1 cup cake flour
1/4 cup milk
3 cups sugar
3 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup strawberry sauce
1/2 lb. fresh strawberries
Sift flour. Line the two 8” round baking pan with waxed-paper. Mix eggs and sugar in a pan and beat well then heat over low heat until lukewarm. Continue beating until thick and creamy. Add sifted flour to the egg mixture and stir lightly, then stir in milk and blend well. Be careful not to break the bubbles. Pour the batter into a waxed paper-lined pan. Flatten until ¼ of inch thick. Bake in a preheated oven at 356 degrees for ten minutes. Remove from the oven when golden.
To prepare cream icing,add sugar to whipping cream and beat until stiff peaks form. Divide plain cream into two containers; one for filling between layers, and the other for frosting. Mix one with strawberry sauce and spread it on top of first layer of the cake. Place the other layer cake on top of strawberry-flavored cream, then coat the whole cake with plain cream. Then decorate the cake with the fresh strawberries.