Stanmore’s Pint-Sized Baking 101 Goes Big on Fluffy Cinnamon Scrolls and Airy Chiffons

Baking 101 began with a piece of chocolate cake. “I was at a kid’s birthday party,” founder Kelly Kim tells Broadsheet. “The cake was so yummy, I asked my friend, ‘Who actually baked this?’”

The answer was Jaemin Song (ex- Black Star Pastry, Bourke Street Bakery). Kim, who was already running fancy frozen yoghurt shop Purple Flow, proposed that the two of them start a bakery. “I’m not a baker, I’m a businesswoman. But with his great talent, why not?”

The duo quickly agreed on one thing: cronuts, crookies, cruffins and croffles would have no place on their countertop. Baking 101 would, true to its name, focus on the classics.

“Lately in the pastry world, there’s a lot of twists,” Song says. “It’s okay to be creative, but I want to bring it back to the basics, for the people who miss that – cinnamon scrolls and croissants and pound cake and classic English scones.”

Broadsheet visits on a sunny Friday afternoon, when Stanmore feels more like a cute, sleepy English village. Glassy doors with deep-red frames open into a pint-sized space dotted with a motley mix of antique, dark timber chairs, all canopied by a glitzy chandelier. An internal window looks into the kitchen, where all the baking happens.

This late in the day, nearly everything is sold out – but we manage to nab one of the few remaining cinnamon scrolls. The fluffy, oversized, generously spiced beauty lands on our table smothered in a silky vanilla cream. The treat perfect alongside an Ona coffee. There are also slices of airy chiffon cakes – vanilla and chocolate – floating on handfuls of tangy berries and spoonfuls of sweet compote. Carrot cake shining with candied pecans and orange peel, Basque cheesecake and lemon madeleines are other highlights.

Customers drift in and out in twos and threes. “Hold on – did you have a bakery in Camperdown? Excellent focaccia!” says one. They’re referring to Jaemin’s Cakes and Pastries, which Song ran from 2020 to 2023, closing it shortly after Covid. That very same focaccia is at 101 with a variety of toppings, like jalapeno bacon and cheese, and brekkie, which is topped with egg, bacon, sausage, cheese and hash browns.

“I knew [Jaemin] had had a bakery, but I didn’t know [it was] nearby,” Kim says. “A lot of his old customers have come in. It’s kind of like a bringing back – like, Jaemin’s back.”

Baking 101
128 Percival Road, Stanmore

Hours:
Tue to Fri 7am–3pm
Sat 7am–2pm
Sun 8am–2pm

@baking101au