Gainesville’s Uppercrust is one of the most delicious and versatile bakeries in town. With two locations, they are constantly offering new items and providing an array of goods from soups and sandwiches to croissants and cupcakes. Of course, when they asked us to come to their Petit location and shadow one of their bakers, Maggie, we couldn’t say no. Maggie gave us a full tour of where the magic happens and performed some demos of assembling the goods that make their way to the front case for everyone to enjoy. They were even kind enough to let us taste the items and document our experience.
Our Visit
Petit Uppercrust is their smaller location that opened in March 2022, with “Mothercrust” being their longstanding shop. Although Petit is smaller in size (hence the name), their selection does not disappoint. To start off our experience, Maggie took us back into the kitchen and explained how the bakery items continue to grow and evolve. Workers are encouraged to pitch ideas and experiment in the kitchen as much as possible to keep the flavors ever-changing. Every day they offer a quiche, soup, macaron, scone, and specialty for the day (often more than just one of each)! To check out these specials and their full menu, head on over to their Instagram.
After Maggie explained the inner workings, she got to demoing some of the products. When we went, the specials included a lemon-raspberry cupcake and the “Black Panther” chocolate cupcake with apricot filling. Every day Uppercrust has a chocolate and vanilla cupcake, but the filling and frostings change periodically. Maggie showed us how she cored the inside, filled the cupcake, and frosted a beautiful swirl of frosting right on top. For the “Black Panther” cupcake, there was even a dusting of silver powder that left it shining.
Besides just food, Uppercrust also offers coffee options and wine to pair with your treats. The coffee beans come from the local company Resident Coffee Roasters. Just like Uppercrust carries other local companies’ products in-house, there are other Gainesville shops that carry Uppercrust. The Gainesville community is amazing and supportive of each other. If you can’t make it over to either one of the Uppercrust locations, pop into Pascals or Opus!
Before we tried any of the baked goods they had to offer, we sipped on the soup of the day, Split Pea Soup, and indulged in hot coffees. The soup of the day is cooked fresh when the bakery opens, and the Split Pea Soup was nothing less than flavorful and hearty, with roasted peas, carrots, and onions. The black coffee was a great mild blend, with a bold kick to wake us all up. We also tried the Valentine’s Day specialty latte, which included a pink-white mocha syrup and smooth espresso, straight from their new espresso machine.
Our Tasting
Once we had finished touring the bakery, we sat down outside on the patio to try all of our newly claimed food. We had a spread of cupcakes, tarts, and savory pastries to give us an idea of the bakery’s wide range of products. The Chocolate Silk Tartelette was rich, with a smooth chocolate filling paired with a light and airy crust. The four of us couldn’t get enough of it and ate all the way through.
We then tried two cupcakes, both of which had fluffy cake and decadent flavor pairings. The vanilla cupcake was filled with raspberry jam and lemon curd, then topped with a sweet cream cheese frosting. This cupcake was delicious, but the Black Panther cupcake took the cake. The Black Panther cupcake was created by Uppercrust to honor Black History month, with the proceeds going towards the local Resilience Charter School. The chocolate cake was moist and spongy, and the apricot jam inside added a sweet note to balance out the silky purple buttercream frosting.
Then, we tried the Gruyere and Ham Rose, which was made of a buttery and flakey croissant dough underneath melted gruyere cheese and ham slices. At this point, we didn’t think our experience could get any better until we ate the Croque Monsieur — a traditional french sandwich with melted cheese and ham. The bakery used fresh bread from their main Uppercrust store, then topped the sandwich with more melted cheese, resulting in a meal that we will never forget.
Now that you’ve come along with us on our experience, you must go check it out for yourself! If you’re still not convinced, check out our TikTok. You will not be disappointed.