Martha's Country Bakery

American dessert classics, made since 1972

The glass cases carry the argument at Martha’s Country Bakery: layer cakes, cheesecakes, cupcakes, cookies, pies and pastries, with coffee beside them rather than in front of them. This is not a European viennoiserie counter or a bread-first bakery. It is an American dessert programme with roots dating to 1972, run out of a handful of New York City shops across Queens and Brooklyn, including Astoria, Bayside, Forest Hills and Williamsburg.

Custom cakes sit at the centre of the operation, which is the clearest sign of what the bakery is for. Decorated cakes for birthdays, weddings and anniversaries are handled alongside the daily case, so the same counter covers a single slice in the afternoon and a full celebration order placed well ahead.

A bakery-cafe rather than a restaurant

Service runs both ways, dine-in and take-out, and the room is built to absorb both. A visit can be a quick counter stop, a coffee and a slice at a table, a boxed selection to carry home, or a cake order for a gathering. The setting stays casual throughout, closer to a neighbourhood dessert habit than an occasion venue.

That flexibility is the point. The bakery works as an after-dinner stop as easily as an afternoon one, which is why the case is built wide: several kinds of cake, several formats, and a coffee menu that supports them without competing.

Order the baklava cheesecake first

Start with the baklava cheesecake. It is the most distinctive thing in the case and the fastest way to understand the house point of view, folding a Greek pastry idea into a New York cheesecake. A plain cheesecake slice is the direct alternative, and a slice of layer cake is the classic one.

For a group, layer cakes and cupcakes carry the celebratory side of the programme, especially with custom cake service behind them. Fruit tarts are the lighter choice when the table wants fruit rather than frosting, while cookies, pies, brownies and pastries stay in the same American bakery lane. Add a coffee drink when the plan is dessert and a cup instead of a meal. Read the bakery through that combination: a long-standing New York name, a case built on familiar cakes, and a counter that can also turn out a decorated cake for a party.