If you’re craving a sugary treat, roaming pastry chefs and dessert-focused cooks across Philadelphia are expanding your options with temporary pop-ups. Try some of the best roving sweet experiences in the city by following these businesses on social media to find out where they’ll be next.
This Levantine-inspired small batch bakery is a dream come true for Saif Manna and any who encounter his unique confectionary heaven. He often creates new flavor combinations for old classics, like a rose brioche cream bun with dulce de leche. Order directly from him online or keep an eye out for this latest pop-up venture.
Manna Bakery’s honey cake made with caramelized honey sour cream mixed with creme fraiche and fresh vanilla seeds. (Courtesy of Saif Manna)
Robert Campbell brings artisanal chocolate products to the Philly pop-up scene. These “clean bean to bar” chocolates are made with unrefined sugar and make for a rich drinking chocolate. He can sometimes be spotted vending with his wife Judith Suzarra-Campbell, of the empanada pop-up Sazón 2 Go.
Noelle Blizzard’s microbakery is instantly recognizable for the stylized cakes featuring bright buttercreams and baroque designs with a distinctly modern twist. The online cake studio has gained national attention for these aesthetic creations and now can be found collaborating across the city with everyone from Her Place Supper Club to Friday Saturday Sunday.
Made with edible glitter and buttercream piped bows, New June’s cakes are easy on the eyes! (Courtesy of Noelle Blizzard)
This may be cheating, because Chef Hatim Hamdan does more than just pastries, but his Spanish-style cheesecakes — with flavors like Biscoff cookie and pistachio — are how he broke onto the scene. Order directly from him or catch him at his next pop-up.
The self-described “unofficial pretzel gremlin of West Philly,” Em Wilson combines their skills as a pastry chef and poet to make whimsical sweet and savory bakes. Their flavors are constantly rotating based on what’s in season, so their turnovers might have a balsamic honey blueberry compote one day and brown butter pecan pie filling the next.
Em Wilson’s “West Philly soft pretzels” are a signature bake for the West Philly pastry chef. (Courtesy of Em Wilson)
For astrologically-themed confectionary goods, Bake Bake Philly has you covered! Christina Lower has been baking things like their Pisces “sweet & sour handpies” or a Virgo jasmine tea cream cake since 2021. They also take custom orders on their website.
With glittering, flower-adorned cakes and colorful pop tarts, Ashley Huston of Dreamworld Bakes brings fantasy to the Philly pastry stage. This whimsical pop-up and online bakery is hoping to make the move to a brick and mortar shop in Kensington this spring.
One of Dreamworld Bakes' delicious confections. (Courtesy of Ashley Huston)
If you want to learn more about Philly's pop-up scene, check out what these chefs are cooking up.
