Anna Cake Couture – cafe review

The smell of baking is the first thing you notice when walking into Anna Cake Couture on Boyce’s Avenue in Clifton Village.

Walk past the counter and the delicate patisserie creations on display and you’ll find the large open kitchen where not just the cakes are made but also various beautiful patisserie creations.

There are even four stools looking right into the kitchen if you want to see bakers Anna and Isabelle hard at work. 

On a recent morning a delivery of flour arrived at the same time as the couple who live upstairs walked in, bringing some post that had been delivered to them by mistake and gleefully realising that they could still get the wi-fi from their flat. No more working from home when you’re lucky enough to live above a cafe like this.

Plants in burnished copper pots add a splash of colour to the whitewashed surroundings, with bulbs also growing out of much smaller pots on each table in the seating area that can comfortably fit 20 customers.

Music when I visited was like a cool mixtape from your friend featuring Outkast, Kelis and R Kelly.

Anna is in charge of the cakes at her eponymous cafe – which was already a successful wedding cake business formerly based behind closed doors in St George – while Isabelle looks after the patisserie.

When Anna has finished making the cakes, the decoration takes place in full view of passers-by in a small room behind the counter.

Anna Cake Couture is now Bristol’s second cafe making traditional French patisserie on the premises, with Curtis & Bell on North Street in Bedminster the city’s only other similar business.

Of course, for cakes the current standard in Bristol is still set by Ahh Toots in St Nick’s Market, with similar-sized miniature meringues spotted in the window of Anna Cake Couture but not yet on the menu.

Here so far among other delights there is French-style Victoria sponge filled with chantilly cream and a raspberry curd, bannoffe tarts, meringues, biscuits, and generous slices of different cakes made by Anna.

My orange blossom macaron (£1.40) crumbled as it was cut in two, then elicited a delicate hit of citrus as it almost melted on the tip of my tongue.

A cannelé (80p) had the perfect caramelised crust and soft custard centre. Just the treat to accompany a well-made macchiato with beans roasted by Extract in St Werburgh’s. We also bought a vanilla and raisin brioche muffin (£1.80) to takeaway, its soft all-butter brioche rolled with a deliciously sweet filling.

Tea here features more than a dozen loose leaf varieties supplied by Canton Tea Co. of Long Ashton, from Iranian rose buds to wild rooibos from South Africa. There are also soft drinks from Luscombe, Orchard Pig and Lovely Drinks.

Watch out soon for afternoon teas and a patisserie tasting menu, as well as a range of classes in the new year in the kind of cafe where it’s very dangerous indeed arriving hungry. 

Anna Cake Couture, 7A Boyces Avenue, Clifton Village, Bristol, BS8 2AT
07989 843173

www.thisisanna.co.uk