Veronika's Pastries and Cakes

Our pastries and cakes are created from authentic Hungarian recipes brought to upstate New York from Hungary by our family, who bakes and sells them. I learned the secrets of baking light, delicious pastry from my Grandma, and am proud to carry on her tradition, while adding creative new touches. My Hungarian pastries and cakes are made from the finest ingredients and baked daily for that fresh, new, out-of-the-oven taste. We use organic flour and sugar, plus the finest butter to be had. The strudel dough takes many steps in preparing. All of the fillings for our pastries are home made and taste tested to assure you of the finest high end Hungarian pastries available. We are delighted to be able to offer you the possibility of ordering the freshest home baked pastry in upstate, NY to be picked up at our booth in Ithaca, NY, and by appointment, in Homer, NY.

We came to the United States from Budapest, Hungary, in 2003 and made our new home in upstate NY in Homer. This small village is situated almost half way between Syracuse and Binghamton and very near Cortland and Ithaca - just about in the center of upstate NY. It is a wonderful place to settle, raise our three children, and pursue our dream of establishing an authentic, high quality bakery featuring Hungarian strudels, cakes and other pastries. We have set up a new, inspected baking area for our pastries and cakes in our home, so these are truely "home baked".

We began baking our pastries for sale in 2005 and passed the stiff jury process to join the Ithaca Farmers Market in Ithaca, NY that year as a new vendor. We sell these pastries - Hungarian strudel, challah bread (chocolate and plain), and various Danish pastries, at three (often four) of the market days. On Sundays you will find us at Steamboat Landing from 10 AM to 3 PM. If you don't want a pastry, we also serve sweet and savory crepes made while you watch. Often, if there is time, we sell our strudel and pastries at the Saturday Ithaca Farmers Market as well. The Ithaca Farmers Market, in upstate NY, has a huge variety of items beyond just produce and is well worth visiting! People from all over the country come here to enjoy shopping for the fine art, fine crafts, and amazing produce, as well as to eat the best pastries in upstate New York. We have a regular customer who comes up from PA often to choose a new selection of pastries to bring home for the coming week. He sent us a generous email praising our pastries and our service. We were told of a couple of very nice comments on Yelp! about our crepes from people outside of New York state.

We sell the pastries on Tuesdays in Ithaca at Dewitt Park (near downtown Ithaca, NY) from 9 AM to 2 PM. The Ithaca Farmers Market has a new market held at Dewitt Park on Thursdays from 4 PM to 8 PM where we also sell. This is a great time to stop by and pick up a savory pastry for dinner, or some sweet pastries to have as dessert. And, of course, any leftover pastry will be welcome at breakfast the next day. For a complete choice of all our pastries - and a taste of Pomegranate Tea - come visit us at one of these markets.
You can even ask us about our pastries in Hungarian!

Setting up at the market to sell the pastries and crepes. On each market day we bring our freshly baked Hungarian pastries, including a variety of Hungarian Strudel, Danish Pastries, challah bread, and many other varieties of sweet and savory treats. Because we live in Homer, NY (in upstate NY, just north of Cortland) we have to start off early to arrive in time to set up. Every member of the Ithaca Farmers Market must live within a 30 mile radius of Ithaca, and Homer is easily near enough to fall within the "local" distance category. So when you come to our market you can be confident that all the products for sale are made in upstate NY, near Ithaca, and not imports from a distance.

Before we can put out the pastries for our "hungary" customers, there are a great many chores to do. Once our booth is chosen (often we have a new booth in a different location at the market so please look for us) we have to unload all our cooking utensils, tables, and of course, the pastries. We need to have our vehicle near the booth to get everything ready efficiently. Most of the booths at the Ithaca Farmers Market have space right behind them.

Customers for our pastries come early and keep us hustling. Here a fellow vendor is counting on a pastry for breakfast before she sets up her own booth at the Ithaca Farmers Market, so Bori pauses to give her the Danish pastry, before continuing to arrange the remaining pastries.

Soon the market visitors will be crowding around. If you are fond of rugelah, be sure to come early, because this has rapidly become one of the Ithaca community's favorite pastries and we sell out rapidly. As you can see, we offer freshly cooked Crepes at the market, too. If you are a visitor to Ithaca, you can find the best breakfast right here at market. And for that perfect gift from Ithaca for friends back home, tuck away a bag of fresh pastries, like the rugelah, that will travel well.

Soon, Veronika's Pastries and Cakes will offer for sale online those items that will keep best during shipping. Keep checking back for details on what and how to order. We would appreciate it if you would email suggestions of what new pastries or confections you would like to see for sale that could ship well from the Ithaca area to your town. Be sure to let us know whether you are writing from central New York, or further away. For now, we can take pastry, bread and cake orders to be picked up at one of the Ithaca Farmers Markets in Ithaca, NY.

For a special gift that everyone loves, why not buy a selection of pastry to give? Delicious and definitely "Made in New York"! For special occasions or large orders, individual arrangements should be made to pick up the pastries, either
in Ithaca or in Homer, New York.