NE 82nd Avenue has a new bakery. Nana’s Exquisite Confections, a woman- and Black-owned business operated by Florence Jenkins, has opened a small takeout counter in Portland’s Roseway neighborhood. After previously selling at markets and through mail orders, Jenkins now has a storefront offering to-go service with a focus on cake.
The new spot at 3137 NE 82nd Avenue is designed to be a neighborhood stop for German chocolate cake, red velvet and a rotating cast of pound cakes. In an interview with Bridgetown Bites, Jenkins explained that she took early retirement from a long career in insurance in 2023 so she could bake full time. She describes the roughly 200 square foot space as a “stepping stone” toward a future shop she hopes to one day pass to her son and grandchildren. For now, she is keeping it intimate and will staff the counter herself.
Menu Built on Yesteryear Desserts
The menu leans into polished comfort food, the kind of desserts that look like they could have come from your grandma’s church basement if your grandma ran a professional bakery. According to Nana’s Exquisite Confections, the lineup centers on German chocolate cake, red velvet and a rotation of pound cakes in flavors such as chocolate espresso, strawberry, vanilla and a 7-Up citrus made with organic lemon juice.
The bakery’s online listings also show quiches, pies and dessert trays alongside whole and sliced cakes that customers can order for pickup or local delivery, giving that tiny counter more range than its size might suggest.
Sharing a Counter With a Community Meal Program
Jenkins is not going it completely solo. She is sharing the storefront with Pacific Northwest Food Alliance, which prepares culturally sensitive meals for African-American seniors 65 and older. That arrangement helped her secure a small front counter rather than a standalone shop, according to Bridgetown Bites, and it keeps the bakery rooted in everyday neighborhood needs while keeping overhead low.
From Pop-Ups to a Corner Counter
Jenkins started Nana’s Exquisite Confections back in 2008 as an in-home bakery and has taught cooking sessions for local groups as the business slowly grew. That backstory is laid out in a profile by Hacienda CDC, which traces how she relied mostly on word of mouth and market booths to build a following before taking the leap into a physical counter.
The modest footprint, focus on nostalgic sweets and partnership with a local meal program all fit a familiar Portland small-business playbook: start small, protect the quality and expand only when demand and opportunity line up. If opening day is any indication, Roseway just picked up one more reason to detour to NE 82nd for something sweet.
