A Natural Approach To The Art of Baking
AWARD WINNER (10X)
Thanks to recommendations from couples on The Knot
Based in Wheeling, IL, The Baking Institute is a wedding bakery producing beautiful all-natural wedding cakes for couples on their big day. Every cake is made from fresh, raw ingredients and without preservatives and artificial substitutes. The bakery is committed to providing customers with delicious and luxury standards of handmade sweet treats.
The bakery is owned and operated by passionate cake designer and pastry chef Igor Elyash. After more than two decades in the culinary industry, Igor decided to specialize in wedding cakes, connecting prospective newlyweds with unbeatable excellence. Igor prides himself on baking every cake with traditional, time-honored recipes, paying homage to the masters that came before him.
The Baking Institute can create custom wedding cakes from scratch. Couples are welcome to book a tasting session where they can sample different flavors and designs, discussing their ideas with the head pastry chef. The bakery also offers sweet treats like cookies, cupcakes, and pastry trays to complement the dessert table.
Woman-owned Business
20+ years in business
Speaks English, Russian, Spanish
Details
Cakes & Desserts
Cake Accessories
Cake Delivery & Setup
Cake Tastings
Cupcakes
Groom's Cakes
Other Desserts
Dietary Options
Dairy Free
Gluten Free
Sugar Free
Vegan
Awards and Affiliations
Any questions?
Reviews
4.5
out of 5.0245 reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.
Review Summary
This AI-generated summary is a snapshot of this vendor's ratings and feedback.
The Baking Institute, a partnered vendor with reception halls and hotels, received rave reviews for creating beautiful and delicious wedding cakes. Customers praised the accommodating and helpful staff who assisted in designing cakes to fit themes and dietary needs, such as offering gluten-free options. The cakes were highly praised for being not only visually stunning but also exceptionally tasty, with guests often complimenting the flavors and decorations. Overall, the Baking Institute was recommended for its professionalism, delicious cake varieties, and seamless processes for wedding cake selection.Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 9
Jamie Q
5.0
1/24/2026
The Baking Institute made our wedding cake and not only was it beautiful, it tasted amazing!! 10/10 would recommend!
Olivia Claire V
5.0
8/17/2025
Our wedding cake was part of the venue package, so we didn't look further, but this was an absolutely delicious and beautiful cake. Working with Igor and staff was easy and accomm...
odating. We selected 3 flavors of cake and filling, and settled on a white cake with raspberry Bavarian cream filling. The "Inspo" pic was duplicated just as imagined, and we received comments and text messages even days after noting how delicious the cake was. You won't be disappointed when you see the kinds of lovely cakes this bakery puts out
Any questions?
Peter M
5.0
8/16/2025
The Baking Institute was a partnered vendor with our reception hall, and honestly, we didn’t expect it to go as well as it did. Our first meeting wasn’t great, and we were unsure a...
bout moving forward. Thankfully, they allowed us to come back for a second visit—and that visit completely blew us away with their incredible customer service.
The baker took her time listening to our vision and thoughtfully sketched out a cake design that perfectly fit our theme. She also offered insightful suggestions that really helped bring our ideas to life.
On the wedding day, the cake looked absolutely beautiful and tasted even better. We chose a white cake with a French custard dulce de leche filling, and we had guests who normally dislike sweets devour their slices! We can’t wait to enjoy our anniversary layer next year.
Kelly R
5.0
7/26/2025
We got our cake through the Baking Institute via our vendor Biagios and the process was seamless! Our marble cake with banana filling was amazing and all our guests enjoyed it!
Megan M
5.0
7/07/2025
Worked with them for our wedding cake. I am gluten free but not many of my guest were, they suggested doing a GF topper and regular cake for the bottom two layers. They also sugges...
ted making the two types of cakes different so that the servers would have a visual distinction between GF and regular. I really appreciated them being able to accommodate my diet and also offer advice for my event. Of course the cake was beautifully decorated and absolutely delicious, our guests raved about it all night.
Jordan S
5.0
7/04/2025
My husband and I ordered sweets from here because it was a recommended vendor through our hotel package. We worked with Omar and he was so kind and helpful. Our cake tasted delicio...
us and everyone LOVED the sweets!
Paige D
4.0
7/01/2025
The tasting was good. We learned a lot about wedding cakes. As the weeks went on, we went back and forth on what we wanted our cake to be and what was even possible. On our wedding...
day, the cake looked great!
Emily F
5.0
6/21/2025
Our cake tasting for our wedding went by so smoothly! They listened to our needs and all the cake/frosting flavors were delicious. They custom designed the frosting pattern to matc...
h my dress!
Brianna C
5.0
5/06/2025
The person that guided us through our tasting and cake design was so helpful and patient! We ended up with the absolute perfect cake and it was so delicious! We chose marble cake w...
ith bavarian cream. Highly recommend!
Kellie H
5.0
1/16/2025
Our cake was absolutely beautiful and delicious for our wedding on 10/26/24!!! We had a great experience at our tasting and designed a cake easily with the help of the designer. It...
came out exactly as we wanted and received multiple compliments on how tasty and beautiful it was! I definitely recommend The Baking Institute!
Joanna H
5.0
12/06/2024
It was so great. The cake looked just like our picture! They suggested we do both flavors we liked because we couldn’t choose, and it was the best decision ever. The vendor came th...
rough our venue, but it was a great choice!
Kimberly C
5.0
10/27/2024
We ended up working with the Baking Institute through our venue for the wedding, and honestly, it was wonderful! They offer gluten-free cakes, which was great for me since my siste...
r and I have celiac disease. The Baking Institute was great to work with from beginning to end. Our tasting appointment was super calm and had a bunch of different options to chose from. All of the options tasted absolutely delicious! They also had a bunch of different design options for the cakes and was able to match the colors of our wedding perfectly! The cake was delivered on time and both the wedding cake and 6in gluten-free free cake were beautiful and tasted heavenly, never dried out and was not overly sweet either. Truly perfect!
Brian E
5.0
10/11/2024
We used the Baking Institute for our wedding cake through a special deal through our venue. The tasting was easy to set up and we were able to sample several different styles of ca...
ke, frosting, and fillings. They also worked with us to design all the beautiful details on the cake - even ensuring they had the right color purple to fit our theme colors. The cake was absolutely delicious and our guests enjoyed it.
Jennifer W
5.0
9/17/2024
The cake was ABSOLUTELY delicious! It was decorated exactly like I wanted. One of the colors was a little off, but it wasn’t a big deal. I will recommend them to anyone I know that...
is looking for. a bakery!
Lizbeth V
5.0
9/11/2024
We went for a cake tasting and decided to go with a marble cake with dulce de leche bavarian cream. When we saw it on our wedding day, we were in awe on how beautiful it looked. It...
was also very delicious! Yummm. I highly recommend The Baking Institute.
Cate B
5.0
7/21/2024
The cake was delicious and looked gorgeous: it was waiting at our venue for us. They were great to work with.
Louella G
5.0
6/10/2024
Cake was delicious and delivered on time.
Kasia M
5.0
5/20/2024
Our venue, Concorde Banquets, uses The Baking Institute for wedding events and found out why they work with them. Our original vision was to have a cupcake wedding cake style but t...
he gentleman that we worked with was honest on options and how many we would need in order to accommodate our guests. He gave us cupcakes to taste and sliced cakes as well and because the taste of the marble cake with french cream and passion fruit filling was the winner! Our guests loved the cake taste and how light it was too versus how other cakes can be heavy to eat. I will definitely use them for future events if I need to order a cake.
Christine S
5.0
4/17/2024
Our wedding cake was absolutely delicious. We received many compliments about how good it was and how well decorated it was. Thank you! Very easy to work with.
Tara L
5.0
3/24/2024
Delicious wedding cake, they provided amazing flavors, and the decorations were perfect. Our wedding guests loved the cake!
Brittany S
3.0
1/03/2024
The cake was the correct flavors and tasted good. I liked everything on the cake except for the top. The cake was included with my venue- the only thing I paid extra for was a go...
ld drip on top, and even showed pictures of exactly how I wanted it to look- Def did not look like that. Looked like they just poured caramel over the top- it looked gross. First thing I said when I walked into the reception room was "I hate the top of the cake- looked like someone threw up on it" Very disappointing
Pamela S
5.0
11/25/2023
The best cake literally I and all my guests have ever had!! Just wow!
Jamie W
5.0
11/16/2023
Great to work with and my goodness the cake was delicious! Everyone complimented it!! We had a tasting appointment where they provided a book to flip through to pick a design (they...
were very open to any customizations or combining of different designs!) as well as try 3 different cakes (cake, filling, and frosting type). They delivered our cake to the venue and it was beautiful and delicious!
Jennifer D
4.0
10/16/2023
The cake we received was gorgeous and tasted delicious. Only complaints are that the cake didn't turn out exactly like our inspiration photo and the cake tasting was awful. We were...
only allowed to try 3 cake/icing flavors and they had less flavor than a grocery store cake (vanilla, chocolate, marble). Luckily someone had cancelled so we were able to try their flavors and the dulce de leche was excellent and the one we ended up choosing. Overall great execution on the cake, but I wish the tasting was a better experience.
Ariana S
5.0
9/30/2023
Look no further! They have such a wide selection of deserts for a desert table and their cakes are incredibly delicious! Every person we worked with was so helpful and great to wor...
k with. We had a ton of food for our wedding and not a massive number of guests but, they devoured every type of desert and the cake. There was almost nothing left over. We will absolutely be using them again to cater another event.
Lauren T
5.0
7/27/2023
An incredible experience!!! The whole tasting process was smooth and delicious. Filling out the form ahead of time was easy to make sure you tired what you wanted. I am also gluten...
free so they accommodated that as well. Our cake was absolutely amazing and all our guests loved it!
Jessica R
5.0
6/28/2023
We used The Baking Institute in partnership with our venue for our 6/24/23 wedding. I don't even like cake, but after tasting this cake I could not stop eating it!!! I had so many ...
guests tell me this is the best cake they've ever had in their lives!
From the start, The Baking Institute was nothing but professional. They made the entire experience very fun for couples through the tasting experience. You get to fill out a form requesting 3 different types of cakes with whatever flavors you want for cake flavor, filling, and frosting. At the tasting, they even let you take home the cake you didn't finish eating. I brought in a photo for inspiration and they had no problem recreating it.
On the actual day of the wedding, the cake looked JUST like the picture and tasted absolutely incredible. I couldn't have asked for anything more from this company! If you're looking for a stress free company to help you make your wedding cake dreams come true, then look no further! You won't regret it!
(By the way, our cake was a white cake with raspberry Bavarian cream filling!)
Amanda S
5.0
6/12/2023
Their cake is unbelievable. People were taking slices home for later. Our tasting was great and they NAILED the sugar flowers on our cake.
Nique W
5.0
6/10/2023
They were flexible with timing to come in and taste cakes and pick out the design. They had several samples available of what could be done with the cake. They had a lot of differe...
nt cake combinations available. The cake was moist and the flavors were really good. They did a great job listening to the design we wanted but provided helpful suggestions. It came to life beautifully.
S H
5.0
5/30/2023
We opted for a selection of desserts instead of a cake and the Baking Institute delivered superbly. Communication was seamless, the customer service team was flexible and allowed u...
s to make changes as needed, and the cost was affordable. Our guests were very happy campers and are still raving about the selections. Many thanks to the team at the Baking Institute!
Alexia T
5.0
3/20/2023
My wedding cake was part of my package deal with my venue (Venuti's Banquets), but The Baking Institute still allowed us to come for a tasting and offered us all options, some as a...
t an additional cost of course. To my surprise, they even asked how we wanted the cake designed. I assumed I was going to be given maybe three choices, but the woman we met with took her time and asked questions about what we might want and showed us pictures along the way. My guests raved about the cake! My mother-in-law froze our cake top as some kind of tradition, but my husband and I were a little upset we didn't have the chance to enjoy more of it! I would highly recommend The Baking Institute whether it is offered in a package deal or not! They are worth it!
Monica Z
5.0
1/30/2023
Our cake was so stunning and incredible! The cake was so delicious it was eaten completely with no leftovers, which as you know for wedding cakes, is almost unheard of! Absolutely...
delicious and so unique and we received a ton of compliments from our guests. Thank you Baking Institute!!
Becky K
5.0
1/16/2023
Our cake was delicious and looked exactly how I imagined. Definitely recommend!
Amanda M
4.0
11/30/2022
Our cake was included in our package--we went in for the tasting and met with the owner. He was a funny man who knew his stuff. He helped me pick out the design of my cake keeping ...
in mind, venue and even what my dress looked like! I ordered a half and half cake (half yellow and half chocolate) with an oreo mousse filled (which was an additional cost). The cake was absolutely delicious and so fresh. I didn't have an entire piece, but I did snag a bite from a random table. I was so happy it was fresh and some of the best cake I have ever had! The lemon, praline and carrot cake were other ones we tried and were also delicous!
Sara J
5.0
11/08/2022
Delicious cake! 100/10 would order through here again, everyone loved it!
Jacquilynn R
5.0
10/24/2022
Beautiful and delicious, just as we knew it would be! The process was very easy and streamlined thankfully 👌🏼
Karen H
5.0
10/20/2022
We recently hired them for our wedding and the cake turned out great! The taste was super yummy and it looked beautiful
Nicole C
5.0
10/11/2022
Absolutely amazing. We never had a worry about our cake. We did everything through Concorde Banquets. We went to the tasting & was blown away by the quality of the cake! We did not...
have one person not like the cake! It was absolutely amazing. Definitely will recommend to anyone!
Maggie M
5.0
10/10/2022
Our wedding reception venue had a contract with TBI which is how we found them. There is an easy online form to request a tasting and consultation. The staff member who helped us s...
howed us many photos and was able to help us find the right fit. The wedding cake itself was attractive and tasted ok.
Heather A
3.0
10/09/2022
This company has a contract with our venue. If I’m being honest the cake tasting was terrible. The cake didn’t taste good at all. But I didn’t want to pay for a cake when it was in...
the package. All that aside our cake for our wedding was really good! It was designed how we wanted it to be! I wish they included more options in the price with the venue though.
Holly M
5.0
9/27/2022
We had this bakery as part of our wedding package, which can be a little unnerving. But there was nothing to fear!! Our cake was gorgeous and exactly what we wanted. Delicious and ...
we got so many compliments. Definitely recommend!
Gina M
5.0
9/20/2022
The Baking Institute was apart of our package at our wedding venue, Avante Banquets. We could not have been more happy with our cake and sweets table! It was all so good and commun...
ication with setting up our tasting leading up to our day was very easy.
Joel M
5.0
7/27/2022
Cake was perfect! Exactly what I asked for and tasted amazing! Thank you so much for making my day that much more special!
Haley V
5.0
7/12/2022
We used Meridian Banquets who utilizes The Baking Institute for all of their bakery needs. They made our wedding cake exactly as requested. We got half chocolate cake with raspberr...
y filling and half yellow cake with dulce de leche filling. The flavor was delicious and tasted so great! The cake design turned out phenomenal and they created a gorgeous and elegant design from the picture ideas we provided them (picture ideas from their website). The cake looked like a fairy tale!
They were very accommodating for the cake tasting when we got sick unexpectedly and had to do an at home cake tasking. They made it easy to do a contactless pick up and did the entire thing over the phone with us.
They also provided a full sweets table for dessert at our wedding and our guests were raving about the taste and expansiveness of the dessert table.
I would definitely recommend The Baking Institute for any wedding!
Lydia V
5.0
6/27/2022
We just had our wedding yesterday and the cake was incredible! It was beautiful and delicious! We ordered a bunch of bite sized sweets too, and our guests loved them all. Thank you...
!
Tiffany D
5.0
4/08/2022
Highly recommend!!!! They were fabulous and so easy to work with. They did such an amazing job on my wedding cake and my dessert table. They have a million different options, and e...
verything they make is SO yummy!!! I also had them create Tiffany&Co theme treats for my bridal shower, and everyone thought they did such a great job! I will definitely be going back to them for all my future events.
Paige C
5.0
1/24/2022
Our cake from The Baking Institute was included in our package with our reception venue - Itasca Country Club. Our cake was beautiful and tasted amazing. We got a lot of great comp...
liments on it. We also had The Baking Institute provide us with mini assorted sweets for a sweets table - also a big hit. Thank you so much Baking Institute!
Lauren H
5.0
1/11/2022
The Baking Institute had a relationship with our venue, the Congress Plaza Hotel, so they sort of fell into our lap. But we couldn't be happier. The tasting menu is HUGE with some ...
amazing flavors; it was hard to choose just one. They were very thorough in their questions when I described what I wanted the cake to look like. And at the end of the day, we were blown away by the results! The sugar flowers looked real! Would highly recommend.
Abby D
5.0
12/21/2021
Our cake was baked, constructed and decorated perfectly and to our liking !!! Everything came out delicious and we can't to taste it again in a year (on our anniversary)!!!
Michelle M
1.0
11/09/2021
The wedding cake was included by the venue and we had to go with this company. During the tasting the Cake was sooooo good! We picked the marble cake with mango cream. On wedding d...
ay our cake was completely different than what we agreed to. The cake also had way more icing than what was at the tasting. The wedding cake was icing with a sid of cake. We tried to reach out to the team to understand what happened. We have not heard a response from them at all. If you book Astoria beware of the Cake company.
Want to book a visit?
Start the convo
*=Required
Use this secure form to reach out and share your wedding vision.
The Baking Institute
The Baking Institute
|
Owner
Typically responds within 24h
Wedding vendors in Northbrook
The Baking Institute
Why use The Knot to message vendors?
Messaging our verified vendors on The Knot is free, safe and secure. Conveniently track vendor messages and planning details all in one place. Our mobile apps make it easy to stay in touch with vendors while you're on‑the‑go. For personalized pricing and package details, sending the vendor a message is the fastest way to get info.