This St. Clair Bakery Makes a Different Country's Pastries Each Month
CocoBella's has a stunning space, and their German treats this month are a must
St. Clair — CocoBella’s Bakery is a one-of-a-kind bakery in what feels like the middle of nowhere. Its pastries and its chic, French patisserie-styled building are straight out of a picture book, and the flavors of those desserts are just as enticing.
Owned by Dan and Heather Brennan, with Dan being the owner of Westhaven Builders, the bakery came about as an experiment. They had owned the building prior to CocoBella’s opening and wanted to bring a bakery to St. Clair. The name “CocoBella’s” comes from the names of the Brennans’ two children—“Coco” from the nickname of their daughter Chloe and “Bella” from their second daughter’s middle name, Bellarosa.
The kitchen portion of the bakery is headed by partner Samantha Santiago Torres, a pastry chef from Spain who’s held executive pastry chef roles in Michigan and in Chicago.
Inside, there is a large window where you can peek inside the production bakery and see all of the delicious treats being made, as well as an antique golden register and various art pieces decorating the walls and countertops. There’s even a small kids' corner with toys. The most interesting part of the decor, however, is right under your feet— the floorboards are all reclaimed distillery wood from Kentucky.
CocoBella’s Bakery is most known for their stunning European-style pastries, baked goods, and sandwiches. Every month they select a new country to take inspiration from. When I went this October, it was Germany.
The bakery was decorated with a huge German horn, cuckoo-clocks and lederhosen, and the pastries that I tried— I went with a friend, and we elected to sample almost the entire lot— were spectacular. German pastry profiles aren’t ones you see around quite often, so it was an adventure to try CocoBella’s spin on them.
Among our spread of treats, my favorites were a mille-feuille style take on the German Friesentorte, with layers of buttery puff pastry, plum jam and whipped cream, and the “Autumn Harvest”, a seasonal layered cake made with a fig and sweet potato sponge and a pistachio cheesecake layer. The Friesentorte was light and crispy, with an airy vanilla cream and sweet spiced pear jam, while the Autumn Harvest embodied fall with its warm, spiced cake and sweet pistachio cheesecake, almost like an elevated carrot cake.
While CocoBella’s Bakery has only been open a short while, coming up on their one-year anniversary, the creativity on display not only in the architecture of the bakery but within the pastries is exciting.
Their exploration of international desserts makes you want to keep making the drive out month after month. Who knows what other fascinating flavors they’re going to try next!
Be sure to make the drive out to St. Clair to taste their delicious creations for yourself, and get yourself a CocoBella’s reward passport while you’re there to start collecting sticker stamps. You won’t regret it.
