Bake
Akro (2023)

Sampling the most recent release from Akro, Bake, inspired by a scent of a bake shop involving lemon, vanilla, praline, brown sugar, rum, and Chantilly cream, a creamy vanilla lemon cake of sorts. It has a good mix of the sweet and tart aspects, being sugary but not overwhelmingly so. It’s definitely a gourmand for gourmand lovers, though, quite sweet, a little cake-ish, and a little sugary, with a healthy lemon note that nonetheless does not take over items of tartness of general citrus character. The whole fragrance feels well conceived and patiently balanced.

This reminds me of a couple of other similar gourmand scents, like Kerosene Unknown Pleasures and Xerjoff Lira, though all three are distinct in their own ways, as there is a bit more caramel in the other two, a bit more vanilla in Bake.

In the US, Akro fragrances are sold via the house website as well as Luckyscent, and the current brand pricing is $180 for 100ml, in EDP concentration, still under the $2/ml for niche that I find to be quite reasonable in the evolving market. This is probably my favorite of the line, along with the coffee-led Awake.

8 out of 10