jeanne's bakery

I LOVE Jeanne's -- I grew up with it and have always looked forward to the cake and biscuit combinations. Today I was so excited to go and buy a cake and share it with friends just in from Calgary. I bought twelve individual pieces. 3 banana, 3 mocha and 6 marble traditional. None had the biscuit base, there was no flavour to the banana or mocha, there was no chocolate shavings on the banana or mocha. I think something went wrong. I will go with what I know next time.

Positives for our recent experience with Jeanne's Bakery on Notre Dame so I'll state those 1st. Customer service via the phone call to order pickup this past weekend, excellent. Cake was ready on Sat. & in my opinion, priced good for this day & age. There's no dispute for any increase in prices over many decades. So, we took it home & stored in a cool basement until Sunday, the day consumed. Note: we have NEVER purchased such cakes from anywhere BUT their Notre Dame location although we've seen them in stores. Now then, this cake as pictured. Fresh, blander than usual. Colour of cake is concerning since for many decades we've come accustomed to the dark chocolate cake look, similar to what a cheap box cake mix Devil's Food Cake would look like. This is fact, the cake used to be that dark. We once had a disappointing Jeanne's though and it was back when the original family owned it, someone appeared to have used the mixing bowl that contained a lighter mix (maybe for marble) and then failed to mix the dark in so it didn't even come out as marble but washed out chocolate. This latest cake reminds me of that and the chocolate or cocoa content was/is lacking. Again, it was fresh & that's a star for the bakery. The icing: it is what I've always known it to be, somewhat of a laxative. Many others share such an opinion & even back when the few generations of the Van Landeghem family owned it, it was always the case with the icing. So now the ingredients have changed for the icing (fact & had to change). A side note: an elderly neighbour now in his 80's & a retired baker who served in the Yugoslavian army for his mandatory 2 yrs, has told me on multiple occasions about what he was provided for food when on duty. Most of the time it was bread with lard & a little salt, if you were lucky. True story and also, had the effect that Jeannes icing has on many people. A positive: nicely decorated, the cookie base is somewhat okay but used to be "fluffier" or appeared to be more "airy" instead of the now hard-packed "slab" which appeared to be somewhat "shiny." Possibly the fat used & made it more "plastic" looking? Okay, so, in the 60's I had my first Jeanne's & prior to that our parents had them years before that. Over many decades we have had them for different occasions & even went so far as to just drop in and buy one off their rack OR order something for no occasion. Just past year 2000 & after Alan passed away we slowed it down & didn't order so much from this place. Our son went to school with one of their kids so we were actually quite faithful followers of this bakery. When Mr. Penner took over, we noticed changes and no matter what he says about doing it all the same way, it just isn't true. Over the years since 2003 we've definitely noticed inconsistencies with these cakes & each time we swear it's probably going to be our last time. Today is that time because for such a pale looking "chocolate" cake it failed & I suspect that either someone screwed up with the cocoa amount or this is par for the course & now a paler version? Since I highly doubt that a colorant is used in a cocoa/chocolate based cake mix, I have to question what you'ce chosen for cocoa because it's definitely weaker/blander than prior decades of product. I'm aware of the issues that many business who use cocoa in their recipes are having & costs HAVE skyrocketed but then again, cost to the consumer has also increased & I agree that it should anyway. I'm an admitted chocoholic, I love chocolate anything & even if it's very or too sweet. This one at the lighter colour is "weaker" and not very chocolatey in taste. "Weak" is the best word here & over the years we mistakenly ordered a marble one and found that to be more white cake taste than (of course) chocolate since it was in fact, marble. The p.s. before some changes that they might attempt to dispute: previously the interior cake WAS not far off from the colour of the chocolate shavings. See my photos, does this look pale or nice and "chocolatey?" 3rd is from someone who posted what it used to look like

I come from a long line of Jeanne's cake lovers. 4 generations to be exact. Every birthday, every holiday, even when you just wanted cake, it was Jeannes. Over the past year or so, the flavor is just not there. The cake itself is uneven and leveled out with copious amounts of icing. I love icing, but the last couple times I ordered, the icing had an almost sour taste to it. I understand that things change and with rising costs, tarrifs and ingredient availability, it's difficult to run a business without some change, but these are not the cakes I remember. I keep buying them hoping for the cake I remember, but it hasn't happened yet. It would be a shame to lose a Winnipeg icon.

👏Stop 👏being 👏cheap 👏on👏 the👏 cake🙏. 1. It’s mostly icing now 2. the banana has no flavour. You will lose the life long customer base if it’s not the same and be gone forever. I only get direct from the bakery.

I purchased a Jeanne’s bakery cake from Sobey’s this week, so this review is only about the cake itself, not the bakery. It’s been 10 years (at least) since I last had a Jeanne’s cake and I was so excited to have it again, being in Winnipeg after a long time, and I was quite disappointed! The cake doesn’t taste buttery like it used to, or have any flavor. Well, I read the laundry list of ingredients on the sticker, and what do you know, it’s just a list of the typical junky/cheap ingredients you’d find in any processed food. GROSS. No thank you. No wonder my tummy hurt after too.