Scandi Bakery The Vicar’s Daughter Is Preaching to the Converted

An actual vicar’s daughter is behind The Vicar’s Daughter. Her name is Alva Brattgard, and after opening her little Scandi bakery in early 2025, she’s been slowly, slowly garnering a loyal following of northern beaches locals. The pace, she says, was intentional.

“It’s been a journey. When I opened, I was the only one doing the baking. For the first eight months I did all the baking by myself, with a couple of people to help me in front-of-house.”

Since then, her brother Henrik Brattgard has joined her in the kitchen, learning how to bake and lightening the load. Their days start at 4am, at the latest, when they arrive to their slice of Collaroy, directly opposite the beach. They turn the ovens on, lower the proofers and start preparing an impressively large array of baked goods.

“It’s Swedish baking. I try to bring in a lot of my classic childhood baked goods, like the cinnamon buns and the vanilla pretzels,” Alva says. Her glossy knotted buns – dark, spicy cinnamon and ultra-fragrant cardamom – are the star when Broadsheet visits. You’ll also find fruity pastries that change with the seasons; danishes topped with chocolate; ham-and-cheese mustard croissants, and some topped with potato and leek; and sugar-sprinkled ginger caramel cookies that sell out daily.

There are lots of loaves, too: long-fermented sourdough and dark seeded numbers, dense Danish rye and gorgeous baguettes. First loaves usually come out of the oven between 5.30am and 6am, but you’ll usually find a warm loaf after 10am too.

“I want people to be able to come in and get a fresh loaf out of the oven any time of the day, so that’s why I don’t start baking too early,” says Alva.

She’s been working as a baker and pastry chef for roughly 15 years, first in Sweden and then, from 2017, in Sydney after a friend told her that Manly’s Fika was looking for a baker. “She said, ‘I know you love an adventure – do you want to come over?’” I did, and I absolutely fell in love with Sydney and the northern beaches.”

Nearly a decade on and our northern suburbs have become her home. “This has been a little dream come true. I love baking and I was missing the Scandinavia feeling of a bakery in Australia, so I thought I would just give it a go. Very scary, but I was so grateful that I did it. I picked a beautiful spot, we have such lovely customers coming back. They’re like, ‘Thank you for opening here, we’re so happy to have you here.’”

And while her father, the vicar, is yet to jet over, a photo of him the day he was ordained hangs proudly on the wall. “Poor Dad, he was never a really good baker, let’s put it that way,” Alva says laughing. “I think at some point I was like, I can do it better myself. Going through high school, I didn’t really know what I wanted to study. My parents have always been very encouraging – like, ‘You’re going to work the rest of your life, you may as well do something you think is fun.’

“I enjoyed baking, so I gave it a go – and turns out I’m pretty good at it.”

The Vicar’s Daughter
1105 Pittwater Road, Collaroy

Hours:
Thu to Sat 7am–3pm
Sun 8am–2pm, or until sold out

@thevicarsdaughterau