Ann Arbor’s original Korean bakery celebrates a decade of pastries, cakes and more

ANN ARBOR, MI – A Korean bakery with French inspirations has crafted a following as diverse as its growing menu on Ann Arbor’s North Side.

Sunhyup Yoon opened Yoon’s Bakery off Plymouth Road in 2015 after immigrating to Ann Arbor from Seoul. He arrived in Ann Arbor to find plenty of Korean restaurants, but no Korean-style bakeries like the one he’d worked at in the bustling South Korean capital.

Yoon knew Korean Americans and University of Michigan students like his future wife, Ji-Young Kim, would appreciate the familiar flavors of Korean-style breads and pastries. He also drew on traditional French techniques to appeal to a Western audience.

Since then, the couple has found that their wide selection of breads, pastries, cakes and cold treats has crafted a diverse following. Kim says she knew from living in New York City and Washington, D.C. that Korean bakeries could have broad appeal, but credits Ann Arbor’s embrace of international cuisine with the bakery’s success.

“When we opened, we had a lot of customers who were very nostalgic for Korea,” she said. “But Ann Arbor people are very open to multicultural things, and that helped us a lot.”

Customers can choose from a staggering wall-to-wall selection of pastries baked fresh every morning, including Korean staples made with red bean paste and French patisserie-style sweets like flavored Canelles and baked tarts.

Traditional Korean pastries feature light, airy dough filled with a mix of the nutty, slightly sweet red bean paste. Some, like the popular Saboro bread, feature a crunchy, almond-based outer shell. From the start, the bakery catered to those who are looking for the subtly sweet, light and fluffy character of Korean baked goods.

“Korean people have bread as breakfast, sometimes even as lunch, so we don’t always think of bakeries as selling sweets,” she said. “I think even now we have more sweets than before.”

Customers craving a sugary treat can try chocolate- and custard-infused versions of traditional Korean pastries, flaky French-style croissants and sweet, sugar-encrusted tarts topped with fresh fruit. During the summer, Yoon’s Bakery sells a popular Korean-style shaved ice bowl loaded with fresh fruit toppings.

“We wanted to make sure that we can put out flavors that can bring in others – the younger generation of Koreans also want the newer styles of Korean stuff,” Kim said.

Yoon’s Bakery also specializes in cakes – both individual slices and whole custom cakes feature Korean-inspired flavors like matcha alongside French-inspired cakes like Basque cheesecake.

The bakery’s cake kitchen has grown substantially in the decade since the business began. At first, Sunhyup found he had little time to decorate the ornate topped cakes, which are piped with fresh cream for a lighter, more subtly sweet flavor than Western-style buttercream.

Now, Yoon’s has a whole team dedicated to baking and decorating cakes, which they sell both pre-made and baked-to-order.

“In the beginning, we had no time to make the cakes like this – we had only one fresh cream cake and one chocolate cake,” Kim said. “Now, we have one team only for cake. I feel like now we’re very famous for our cakes.”

Sunhyup says he has plans to add Korean-style doughnuts and pain de Campagne – a traditional French country bread.

Yoon’s Bakery, 2775 Plymouth Road, is open Tuesday to Sunday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Customers can call the restaurant at 734-929-4443 to place orders for custom cakes.

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