If you are still in doubt, read the longer review. Thanks to EA UK for the review copy they gave me!
The Venue
Indulgent Bakery is a gorgeous venue with 3 separate and different bakery stores. I think together with the Prism Art Studio, the bakery venue one of the most detailed venues the store has ever given us. Every room you will look through is decorated completely. What I find especially impressive is the roof design, there must have been a lot of work in that!
The 3 different bakery stores are all unique and each one can only be accessed through their entry on the ground floor, there are no interconnections anywhere. The first store is more a traditional bakery store where you can buy bread and then leave.
The 2nd is a large cafe with a seating area downstairs. Upstairs is the kitchen where you can bake more goods to sell or relax after a long day at work ;).
[tabs slidertype=”images” auto=”yes” autospeed=”4000″] [imagetab width=”578″ height=”326″]http://www.platinumsimmers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Screenshot-183.jpg[/imagetab] [imagetab width=”578″ height=”326″]http://www.platinumsimmers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Screenshot-184.jpg[/imagetab] [/tabs]The final cafe is less traditional, there are 3 floors. Ground floor has the store, kitchen and seating area, 1st floor has more seating area and the top floor is a more (fancy) pub space for a quick drink.
[tabs slidertype=”images” auto=”yes” autospeed=”4000″] [imagetab width=”578″ height=”326″]http://www.platinumsimmers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Screenshot-179.jpg[/imagetab] [imagetab width=”578″ height=”326″]http://www.platinumsimmers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Screenshot-180.jpg[/imagetab] [imagetab width=”578″ height=”326″]http://www.platinumsimmers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Screenshot-181.jpg[/imagetab] [/tabs]Gorgeous venue that must have taken a long time to plan and build.
Baker’s Station
The Baker’s station comes with so many new recipes, you wouldn’t believe how many if you saw the list beforehand. Some of them use ingredients from Expansion Packs or Other Store content (Bohemian Garden for example).
Here is a full list of all the new recipes and what skill or store set/EP they need. 14 recipes come with the Baker’s Station itself, this can be expanded with 24 more recipes using different Store sets and Expansion Packs.
| Name | Cooking Skill | EP/Store Set required |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Cobbler | 0 | |
| Apple Pie | 0 | |
| Birthday Cake | 0 | |
| Chocolate Chip Cookies | 0 | |
| Cinnamon Roll | 0 | |
| Chocolate Pie | 0 | Bohemian Garden |
| Dinner Rol | 0 | |
| Lemon Cobbler | 0 | Harvest Stands |
| Pear Cobbler | 0 | Bohemian Garden |
| Strawberry Cobbler | 0 | Bohemian Garden |
| Strawberry Pie | 0 | Bohemian Garden |
| Raspberry Pie | 0 | Bohemian Garden |
| White Bread | 0 | |
| Peach Pie | 1 | Bohemian Garden |
| Peanut Butter Cookies | 1 | |
| Pear Pie | 1 | Bohemian Garden |
| Plum Cobbler | 1 | |
| Orange Pie | 2 | Grandpa’s Grove |
| Plum Pie | 2 | World Adventures |
| Raspberry Cobbler | 2 | Bohemian Garden |
| Wheat Bread | 2 | Wood Fire Oven / Monte Vista |
| Banana Cream Pie | 3 | |
| Blueberry Pie | 3 | Bohemian Garden |
| Oatmeal Raisin Cookies | 3 | |
| Cupcakes | 4 | |
| Cherry Cobbler | 4 | World Adventures |
| Pecan Pie | 4 | Bohemian Garden |
| Pomegranate Pie | 4 | World Adventures |
| Sourdough Bread | 4 | Wood Fire Oven / Monte Vista |
| Cherry Pie | 5 | World Adventures |
| Sugar Cookies | 5 | |
| Blackberry Pie | 6 | Bohemian Garden |
| Blueberry Cobbler | 6 | Bohemian Garden |
| Rye Bread | 6 | Wood Fire Oven / Monte Vista |
| Wedding Cake | 6 | |
| Baguette | 8 | |
| Plasma Cobbler | 8 | Late Night |
| Life Fruit Pie | 9 |
All the baking is done on the station itself, here is a video that shows it off:
Afterwards your Sim gets this moodlet.
I think the store team has mothers that are awesome at baking because the pizza oven from Monte Vista gave this moodlet:
I’ve not yet managed to set this station/stove on fire. So if you want your Sims to make food without ever failing, get this station 😉
Premium content that adds new things to create are a great addition to my game and something I personally really love. This content does not add just a few recipes though, it adds 38! 2 of the recipes are new cakes, the birthday and wedding cakes have the same functionality as before. While the wedding cake looks similar to what we already had, the birthday cake is completely different! So age those Sims up with the homemade birthday cake if you want!
Some of these new recipes require frosting! Did anyone expect to get this animation?
I never noticed before but these premium content recipes do not display in the cooking skill list, shame!
Baker’s Bazaar Collection
If you are like me and want to be involved with your Sims’ income to a nit-picky level, then being able to own your own bakery/restaurant sounds awesome! And it is.
Unlike the seller’s collection from Midnight Hollow, the Baker’s Bazaar Collection does not restock the food automatically. This is good because it felt like cheating that the shelves automatically got refilled. This does make the at home-bakery hard to make profitable but fun nonetheless! Stocking the shelves is easy, make some food and then drag the plate to the shelf. This video shows how:
The downside of not automatically restocking functionality is that community venues over time will empty as the NPC Sims buy out all the food! Cannot have it both ways and I do prefer the more realistic way!
Not a perfect set, because no such thing exists! Here are the slight downsides.
Price
This is a bit of a first world problem, but past tradition suggested that this venue would be on sale for 1700 Simpoints for at least a week and then turn go to the regular price of 1900 Simpoints. This venue is not on sale and has, from the start, the regular price of 1900 SimPoints. A sale would reward the people who immediately buy it. Even though the sale would only be like 10%, it would have been nice to have! Though I will say, this venue is worth the 1900 Simpoints price.
No clothes
This venue does not come with any baker clothes, which I did expect.
The expansion pack Ambitions, the cooking career and other store content do make up for this but as I said, I did expect one or two clothes items. This Sim below was made using Ambitions outfit and Bohemian Garden hair so you can make a baker Sim if you want.
How does it look
Still in doubt about the set, have a look at this video that showcases the entire venue and items!
Conclusion
Slowly we’re getting our beloved Open for Business in The Sims 3 and then some. I cannot speak highly enough of this venue, it is together with Art Studio venue my absolute favourite. Incredibly detailed with many nooks and crannies that you can explore. The baker’s station with 38 new recipes is amazing, way more than I expected. And the Baker’s Bazaar Collection feels right, hard to make a living with but doable and no cheating feelings.
Giveaway
Cannot afford the bakery? We are giving one away! Though you will have to do a few things.
- Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/PlatinumSimmersYT
- Watch&Like the How does it look video that showcases the Bakery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RSQ0Ug15y0
- Comment on the video, with your favourite Real Life recipe for any of the new recipes that come with the baker’s station.
If your favourite recipe is for Banana Cream Pie you would link to this one: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/banana-cream-pie-i/ or type out the recipe in the comment. - Bonus: Your entry you will be given 2 chances to win if you include a link to a picture of your baking creation (we do know how to use Google! Use a picture you’ve taken, not just one you found). Birthday and Wedding cakes also count for this!
To make this work first upload the picture to imgur.com and then link the url in the comment.
This contest finishes on April 14th 23:59pm BST. That gives you plenty of time to subscribe, like, comment and bake!
Also make sure to like The Sims UK facebook page, we are able to host this giveaway thanks to them!
Entered the giveaway! Love the look of the bakery. 😀