The Gingered Peach, 2 Gordon Ave, Lawrenceville, NJ
Tu-F (7AM-5PM), Sa (7AM-4PM), Su (8AM-1PM). Closed Mondays.
(609) 896-5848   Website    Google Maps

Gravitas:   Proximity:

I work in a pretty big office, and folks are always bringing in leftovers, sweets, and sundry confections to leave in the kitchenette. It is sometimes a challenge to resist temptation, but I do pretty well. That all changed a few months ago, when brown cardboard boxes started showing up with intoxicating baked goods: sticky buns that oozed with luscious sugar coatings, dripping down the sides and waiting to be licked up, perfect cupcakes adorned with fondant, in whimsical flavors that begged you to take a bite. What’s a boy to do?

Turns out, these scrumptious delights were all from a local bakery, The Gingered Peach–a colleague was working there and bringing in the previous day’s goods. If these were yesterday’s goods, I had to taste today’s!

Turns out, the bakery is right behind Wildflour (Lawrenceville’s superb gluten-free bakery)–and sometimes you want some delicious, chewy, doughy gluten! It’s a cute store with a few small tables, an incredibly friendly staff and pretty reasonable prices. The most exceptional thing about the Gingered Peach is their inventive baked goods. You might find yourself with an olive oil cake (it is a delicious, moist cake soaked with orange liquor), a goat cheese and herb biscuit (savory, crumbly, and surprisingly light), an “oreo” cupcake (with an Oreo cookie baked right inside) or even a “piggy bun” (bacon-topped sticky bun, offered only on weekends).

I bought a sampler of various items, and found the bakery strongest on the most savory or sweet edges of the spectrum. The super-savory items (like the goat cheese and herb biscuit) were superb, as we the ultra-sweet (such as the sticky delicious cinnamon buns). The best of the lot was the “Caramel Crack”–a brioche rolled and baked in a decadent toffee sauce, it is utterly unforgettable and so addictive that it should be illegal. Given the quality of their cupcakes, I feel confident that their cakes are also first-rate. Though their sweets and savories are superb, the things in the middle didn’t always rise to the full heights of the rest of the menu. I found the zucchini bread to be good but not great, and the croissants to be only middling. They don’t bake their own breads–but they do get them delivered by Princeton’s Mommo brothers’ companies (in this case, the Witherspoon Bread Company) and so the quality is good even if they aren’t made in house.

While it’s possible to get some great baked goods in Trenton city limits, either sweet or savory, there’s nothing quite like The Gingered Peach in terms of imaginative or inspired confections.  It’s definitely worth a trip. Try the caramel crack, and then immediately check yourself into rehab.