Orléans Food Spot Review - Black Walnut Bakery

Well worth the drive to Cumberland. Trust us.

April 23, 2025

Ok… before I am thoroughly tarred and feathered by everyone, and then correctly told that the Black Walnut Bakery is actually in Cumberland… well, you’re right. It is. But this probably won’t be the last time we spotlight some great food place in Cumberland since it’s still a fairly short drive from many parts of Orléans. And we think outstanding local businesses like this one deserve to be highlighted.

THE STORY

According to their website, which I might add is rather excellent, Black Walnut Bakery was started by a husband and wife team in 2015 and has grown to a team of 16 people. I love local business success stories like this. I’m sure it hasn’t always been easy as no entrepreneurial venture ever is, but it’s nice to see that this bakery has gathered somewhat of a cult following. Seriously, just read the Google reviews… it’s no easy feat to maintain a 4.8 star rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ across nearly 800 reviews.

When I arrived this past Saturday morning I was greeted with a line that went well out the door with about 20 patient patrons waiting to make their way inside. This is just a sampling of Black Walnut’s popularity. And with good reason.

THE SPACE

Prior to very recently the Black Walnut Bakery was pretty tiny…. at least the small portion of it dedicated to customers. You’d open the front door, walk in, and then essentially be inside a room that was maybe 10 × 10 feet and had a retail counter with some shelving for merch and pantry supplies.

But things have changed. Black Walnut has recently gone through what seems to be a major renovation and expansion. As you can see from some of the photos there’s still a few rough edges, but I have no doubt that once they’re completely done, it will be a massive improvement on the old retail space… in-fact, it already is.

THE SELECTION

In addition to the usual cadre of breads 🍞 you would hope to find at a bakery like this (Rye, White Sourdough, Multigrain, Khorasan, Cottage White, Egg Bread, and Raisin Egg Bread), Black Walnut also offers an amazing collection of pantry supplies like: honey, maples syrup, salsas, and coffee beans.

But that’s just scratching the surface. There’s a whole lot more to try, all of which is baked and made from scratch:

Available pastries 🥐 include:

  • Scones

  • Butter tarts

  • Croissants

  • Almond croissants

  • Morning buns

  • Chocolate Almond croissants (I’ll talk about these a bit later)

  • Apple turnovers

  • Cookies

  • Pain au Chocolat

  • Ham, mustard and cheese croissants

  • Power bars

  • Pecan brownies

  • Orange date squares

  • Savoury croissants

  • Muffins

Is your mouth watering yet? 🤤

There’s also pies, soups, salads, and sandwiches in ready-to eat portions including:

  • Mini Quiches

  • Chicken and dill pot pies

  • Beef, stout and mushroom pot pies

  • Large quiches

  • Pork sage apple pies

  • Vegetarian samosa pies

  • Apple raspberry pies

  • Butterscotch pies

  • Various flavoured soups

One thing to keep an eye on if you’re planning on visiting is that the bakery seems to put out a regular schedule of what flavours for various foods they’ll be carrying that particular week. You can check that out here. You can also place orders for your stash of goodies each week by using their website’s ordering system.

And if that wasn’t enough, the bakery also has nice selection of hot and cold drinks you can see in the photos below.

WHAT WE HAD

While we’ve been to this bakery at least a few times before, and tried their sourdough breads (they’re excellent), this time we decided on testing out three of their pastries:

  • Butter tarts - 4.5 ⭐️’s out of 5

  • Chocolate Croissants - 4.9 ⭐️’s out of 5

  • Carrot Cake Croissants - 5 ⭐️’s out of 5

To say that we overwhelmingly loved these pastries would be a gross understatement.

THE INTANGIBLES & COMMUNITY SUPPORT

There’s already a lot to love about Black Walnut Bakery… but perhaps best of all, this local business seems dedicated to giving back to both the local community and more broadly with their support for the Ukrainian people amidst the ongoing war.

Locally they support three charities including The CHEO Foundation, The University of Ottawa Heart Institute and the Easter Seals Foundation along with the Cumberland Community Association. 👍

So forget for a moment that Black Walnut is in Cumberland, it’s more than worth the trip from Orléans, your taste buds will be doing somersaults.

THE ORLÉANS CONNECT RATING

⭐️ 4.9 stars out of 5