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Tasty Bake Shop, 2571 Forest Drive: 1990s   35 comments

Posted at 10:15 pm in Uncategorized

The Tasty Bake Shop provided "Artistry in Pastry" for many years on Forest Drive at Pinehurst Road, and apparently in a satellite operation I had been unaware of in Silver's 5 & 10 Cent Store. Silver's sounds vaguely familar, but I can't recall right now where it was. Certainly it wasn't somewhere we went regularly. In fact, I don't ever recall being in the Forest Drive location of Tasty Bake either. I was certainly aware of it, as we drove by all the time, but my mother took off work from when we were born until we were in high school, so she would always make any cakes we needed, either from scratch or Duncan Hines..

Tasty Bake however seems to have a loyal following of folks who remember how awesome it was as it has come up here in the comments a good number of times, making me wish I had stopped by on my own. It seems to have been fairly low-key at least in its Yellow Pages presence. The two ads here are from the 1957 and 1958 Southern Bell phonebooks and were the only "picture" ads that I saw. After that, Tasty Bake went to a small text box with no graphics.

I believe Tasty Bake was open until the lot was bought by CVS and the store torn down to build the pharmacy that sits there now, but I think that all happened while I was living out of town, so I'm a bit unsure on the timing.

Written by ted on October 13th, 2009

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35 Responses to 'Tasty Bake Shop, 2571 Forest Drive: 1990s'

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  1. All of our family birthday cakes came from Tasty for years. It was indeed a very modest, low key place, but everybody knew about it. This was before you could get a birthday cake on a moment's notice at any grocery store.

    Silvers was an old fashioned dime store on the east side of the 1500 block of Main Street downtown. Very much in the mold of Kress, Woolworth's, McCrory's, etc. In 1950s & 60s Columbia these four stores were all almost on the same block. Silvers was right next to McCrory's (the McCrory chain was huge and eventually owned Silver's) and the letters are still on the building. I believe it had a basement shopping level like Kress, but the Tasty Bake Shop branch inside musta been before my time.

    Interesting history of McCrory's on Wiki:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCrory_Stores

    Dennis

    14 Oct 09 at 5:17 am

  2. Wrong location. The building still exists: It's the dry cleaners (Ed Robinson's I believe) next to the Sherwin-Williams paint store. Other than cosmetic changes it's much the same, and the 1950s era sign out front is, as I recall, the same, just with the new name. My mother got me many a birthday cake from here in the 1970s, and they were as good as everyone says.
    On a specific personal note, in 1975 when Jaws was all the rage Tasty Bake made a special cake with a swimmer in red trunks on the surface of a sheet cake and a conical shark's head breaking the surface in the corner of the cake. It was featured in the newspaper and me, being a very indulged child, had to have one. Sure enough that year for my birthday mom and dad bought one for me. I've always wondered how many of those cakes Tasty Bake sold in 1975....

    59 Ford Wheelman

    14 Oct 09 at 6:51 am

  3. 59 Ford Wheelman - glad you brought that up. I thought the location was in that building but I poked around the internet and couldn't prove it so I didn't mention it.

    Dennis

    14 Oct 09 at 8:49 am

  4. That building is still there and the building next to it, or in the block before it where the old S&H Green Stamps place was, is still there also but can't recall what the current business is there now.

    Del

    14 Oct 09 at 9:26 am

  5. I've brought it up before, but I wanted to bring it up again. My mom used to take me by there and get me a gingerbread man after my weekly allergy shots in the mid 70's. Thanks Mom!!

    Jonathan

    14 Oct 09 at 10:03 am

  6. Hmm, I'll take y'alls word for it, but Ed Robinsion's cleaners is 2551 Forest Drive and the CVS is 2571, which is the number in the Tasty Bake ad..

    ted

    14 Oct 09 at 11:03 am

  7. Ted, I guarantee you it's the same building. Something must have been done with the address since 1958. Thanks for the great website, by the way. Brings back memories for us natives.

    59 Ford Wheelman

    14 Oct 09 at 2:18 pm

  8. Yeah, I agree. I think at some point something funky happened to the street numbers. What was previously in the spot occupied by CVS? Or is that the first thing?

    badger

    14 Oct 09 at 2:51 pm

  9. OK, I'll add a picture of the Robinson's building next time I get a chance.

    As for what was where the CVS is, I'm pretty sure one thing was an "Edna's" location. It was really interesting inside with paintings all over the walls in two themes you don't see together that often: Jesus and pretty girls not overburdened with clothing.

    ted

    14 Oct 09 at 3:23 pm

  10. ted - Richland County Tax map does not have a 2571 Forest Drive, and shows some of those lots changing hands as early as 1911, so over the years something has changed with the street numbers.

    Where CVS is now I remember a run-down clapboard building that was a very old fashioned general store/market kind of joint. No AC, unfinished wooden floors, canned goods, and fried fish in paper sacks at lunch time. Had a walk up window for the food. Had a gravel or dirt parking area. Cannot remember the name but it was a person's name. It was definitely a hangout for the immediate neighborhood, and I mean the poorer area behind it along Pinehurst -- not the upscale all white Forest Acres crowd on down Forest Drive.

    Dennis

    14 Oct 09 at 3:39 pm

  11. Oh, by the way, Silver's was on Main Street. 1300 or 1400 block. The letters are still on the facade, but the store is long closed.

    59 Ford Wheelman

    14 Oct 09 at 5:52 pm

  12. ted, No need to add a picture of Ed Robinson's building; you have it right. Tasty Bake (owned by the Cobb family) was on the same parcel that CVS is now on - the corner of Westminster & Forest.

    There was a used car lot on the parcel where Ed Robinson's presently is, and Edna's was on Pinehurst Rd (i.e. the same block as Tasty Bake).

    E.J.

    18 Oct 09 at 8:44 pm

  13. I loved Tasty Bake. I remember my mother getting all our cakes there, but I specifically remember a Cinderella cake with a plastic coach I played with for years after.

    I also thought it was in the Ed Robinson/Sherwin Williams spot. I asked mom and she can't remember.

    A.

    Anne

    22 Oct 09 at 4:18 pm

  14. It was in the Ed Robinson's spot. I specifically recall that.

    59 Ford Wheelman

    22 Oct 09 at 4:58 pm

  15. In fact, it was the exact same building.

    59 Ford Wheelman

    22 Oct 09 at 4:59 pm

  16. Blast from the past! My aunt's ex-husband Doug is one of the Cobb's who operated the bakery. I haven't been in touch with him for some time, but my sister worked there briefly in high school. I, too, enjoyed many a gingerbread man. I concur CVS is the right location.

    Sean Mac

    22 Oct 09 at 6:15 pm

  17. Wow. I have a specific recollection of Ed Robinson's, but I seem to be in the minority. Who can settle it?

    59 Ford Wheelman

    22 Oct 09 at 7:17 pm

  18. Yes, I agree that the bakery was where the CVS building site is now. It was very close to the road, and the sidewalk was directly in front of it. Soon as one exited the shop, you stepped on the sidewalk. Most people parked in the parking lot that was situated to the right side of the building. Edna's fast food restaurant was situated sort of behind it on Pinehurst Road. Does anyone know how to contact the Cobb family? I would love to purchase the recipes for the pound cake, gingerbread men, and the devil food chocolate covered cupcake, with a whipped topping swirl.It was a square shaped cake.

    Lyda

    16 Dec 09 at 1:15 pm

  19. The devil food cakes were awesome! I really miss those things. One of the guys who worked there went to Tiffany's on Two Notch after Tasty Bake closed, and he made them there for a while, but they were never as good.

    Dave

    16 Dec 09 at 1:43 pm

  20. Plus Tasty was RIGHT on the street ..
    if you tripped going out the door, you'd
    fall right in the street !!! Robinson
    is setback too far from the street to have been
    Tasty !

    Fish

    10 Jan 10 at 6:16 pm

  21. I just be in love with your weblog! Very good post! Nevertheless you can do many things to improve it, and i will be back.

  22. I have very fond memories of a bakery that existed in the late 1960's in the Parkland Shopping Center in Cayce. It seems like it was called Tasy Bake Shop also. Anyone remember this place? (Email bobby@mbsc.com if you have info.)

    Bobby

    15 Jan 10 at 11:58 am

  23. would love to find the recipe for the rich buttery pound cake Mr Cobb made these cake for my family for so many years

    Janet Roberts

    19 Mar 10 at 7:55 pm

  24. I wish someone had the recipe for the caramel or butterscotch squares that they sold. Delicious! Lots of memories from there.

    Rosalyn Brown

    30 Dec 10 at 1:38 pm

  25. Tasty Bake made the best gingerbread men ever. I'd love to have the recipe. All of our birthday cakes came from there as well. Tasty Bake was an institution!

    E. McP

    15 Feb 11 at 9:59 pm

  26. My mom would swing us kids by there on the way back from the Dr. We'd get ginger bread men or iced cookies. Always loved that place. I worked for Columbia PD for several years covering the Pinehurst area. Used to park out front of the cleaners where the bakery used to be to do my reports. I guess I'm a sentimental fool but it seemed to create a nostalgic feeling the was a welcome respite in that chaos.

    Brent Carter

    6 Mar 11 at 9:12 pm

  27. Wow. This all brings back memories. I lived on Pinehurst Rd. ( 1630) up untill 1967. I visited the Tasty Bake Shop MANY times. To the right of the Tasty Bake Shop, was the Sinclair service station. It was on the corner. Then the bakery, then the cleaners I believe. The school bus would let us off right in front of the bakery. I would have to stop in, and get a donut, cream horn or ginger bread man, and a cup of ice cream before going home. Some times on Saturdays when Mr. Cobb would get rid of the two or three day old pastries, he would give us a bag full of donuts. I don't know how I avoided weighing a ton, or ending up with diabetes.

  28. Oh my goodness, I don't remember the location but it seems like the dry cleaners. I would love the recipe for the butterscotch squares. That was a special treat that my mom used to take my sister and I for. I have searched the internet many times for a recipe and given up. Nothing looks like I remember!

    Cindy

    28 Apr 11 at 3:53 pm

  29. A long delayed mea culpa. I was in Ed Robinson's several months ago and asked a long-time employee if that building had in fact been the Tasty Bake shop, and she said no. I have no idea how my memory failed me on this point, because I would have bet a decent sum of money on it, but I was wrong and everyone else was right. At least now we all know.

    59 Ford Wheelman

    12 Jun 11 at 3:42 pm

  30. Yes, the Tasty Bake Shop had a glass front, was only separated from Forest Dr by a sidewalk and was exactly on the corner of Pinestraw and Forest Dr. My mother would take me in there with her every week to get treats to serve at her bridge club. She would always let me get one of those wonderful iced gingerbread men. I still remember exactly how Mr. Cobb looked. What great memories!

    Chuck

    26 Dec 11 at 8:47 pm

  31. Tasty Bake Shop was actually on the corner of Forest Drive and Westminster Drive. Next door to it, on the corner of Pinehurst Road and Forest Drive, was a Sinclair Gas station. I believe it later became a BP Station. I lived in that neighborhood for many years and spent many pleasant hours watching the bakers decorating cakes. There is no grocery store cake on this planet that can ever match the wonderful cakes that those guys baked. I'll never forget their chocolate eclairs, creme horns, applesauce spice squares, and petit fours either. Just heavenly!

    KTBelle

    30 Aug 12 at 8:14 pm

  32. Tasty bake was owned and operated by my grandparents and was open Tuesday thru Saturday. Papa did his banking on Monday. My grandparents met at silvers when my grandmother worked the cash register. My granddad was a bread man and she always put his products out front so they would sell. The address was 2571 Forest Drive in between Westminster and pine hurst Roads. They never had written recipes which I miss now. I remember making icing in the big vats with powdered sugar, water, and shortening. Yes, I did get special rights to sneak a taste.

    Patrick

    9 Feb 14 at 6:40 pm

  33. Tasty Bake was on the corner of Pinehurst and a Forest. The Edna's Drive-In sat right behind it. It was in that spot all of the years I was growing up and my mom got my cakes from there. I got cakes for my oldest children there until they closed in the early to mid 80's I believe. My oldest child's b'day was in July, they closed for the fourth and stayed closed foe vacation the week after. I planned her parties around their schedule.

    Frances

    17 Feb 14 at 10:28 am

  34. SO remember those amazing butterscotch bars! Glad to see someone else does too! :)

    Julie

    31 Jan 16 at 8:36 am

  35. My father, Robert Stockdale, worked for the Cobbs in 1952 - 54. My dad learned so much from Mr. Cobb. The Cobbs gave my parents a wonderful going-away party when we moved to Augusta.

    My dad opened his own bakery in GA and then in Florida. Even though all this happened 65+ years ago, I will always remember Tasty Bake Shop.

    BARBARA WITTE

    3 Jan 17 at 8:39 pm

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