The core Passover baking supplies for a bakery or café are matzo and matzo cake meal, potato starch, almond flour, shredded coconut, eggs, and a Passover cake mix or macaroon base for volume items. Build your menu around flourless and nut-based desserts, buy only packaged goods that carry a kosher-for-Passover certification if you are selling them as such, and place orders early because the holiday runs eight days and demand peaks the week before. You can find matzo, macaroon mixes, almond flour and coconut together in our April seasonal collection.
This guide is written for bakers, caterers and café owners planning a Passover case or catering menu. It covers what the holiday rules mean for your ingredient list, the pantry staples worth stocking, simple substitution ratios, and a planning timeline so you are not scrambling for potato starch the day before the first seder.
Passover moves every year on the Western calendar. In 2027 it begins at sundown on Wednesday, April 21 and ends at nightfall on Thursday, April 29 for communities that observe eight days, which includes most of North America. In 2028 it runs from April 10 through April 18. Easter lands on March 28 in 2027, so in that year the two holidays are more than three weeks apart and your spring baking calendar gets two separate peaks instead of one crowded week.
For a bakery, the practical takeaway is simple: seder dessert orders, catering trays and retail macaroon tins all land in the same few days before the first night. Lock in your ingredients a month out.
The restriction at the center of Passover baking is chametz. According to the Orthodox Union, chametz comes from any of five grains (wheat, barley, rye, oats and spelt) that sit in contact with water for more than 18 minutes. That is why ordinary flour, most breads, pasta and many baked goods are off the table for the holiday.
A few points matter for a commercial kitchen:
Always read the label on every package you plan to use for Passover production, including ours, and confirm the certification for the current season before you advertise a product that way.
Most Passover desserts draw on a short list of ingredients. Stock these in quantity and you can run a full case.
Matzo cake meal is finely ground matzo and stands in for flour in sponge cakes, brownies and cookies. Regular matzo meal is coarser and better for coatings and matzo balls. Whole matzo sheets are worth keeping on hand for chocolate-covered matzo toffee, one of the easiest high-margin Passover items you can make. Browse matzo products.
Potato starch does the job of cornstarch and part of the job of flour. It lightens cakes and thickens fillings and custards.
Almond flour is the backbone of flourless tortes, financiers adapted for the holiday, and macarons. Hadassah Magazine points out the difference between blanched almond flour (fine, skins removed) and almond meal (coarser, skins on): the fine flour suits lighter cakes, while meal works for denser, chewier cookies. Walnuts, pecans and hazelnuts round out a nut torte program. See our nuts collection for bulk sizes.
Coconut is the base of the classic macaroon. Keep sweetened flake for traditional mounds and unsweetened for a less sugary, more toasted result.
Flourless chocolate cake and chocolate-dipped macaroons are the two most requested Passover desserts at many bakeries. Use a couverture you trust for dipping and a quality Dutch-process cocoa for torte batters. Our chocolate collection covers both, but check each product for the Passover marking you need.
A Passover cake mix or coconut macaroon base lets you turn out consistent product fast when you are also running your regular menu. For a café without a dedicated pastry cook, a mix is often the difference between offering Passover desserts and skipping the holiday entirely.
These ratios come from the Orthodox Union's Pesach recipe substitution guide. Treat them as a starting point and test before scaling.
| Instead of | Use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 cup all-purpose flour | 5/8 cup matzo cake meal or potato starch, or a sifted combination | Sift well; cakes will be more tender and less structured |
| 1 cup cornstarch | 7/8 cup potato starch | Useful for fillings, pastry cream and custards |
| 1 cup confectioners' sugar | 1 cup granulated sugar minus 1 tbsp, plus 1 tbsp potato starch, blended fine | Blend in a processor for icings and dusting |
| 1 oz unsweetened chocolate | 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa plus 1 tbsp oil | Handy when your Passover-marked couverture runs short |
| Wheat flour in cookies | Almond flour or almond meal | Expect a chewier, richer result |
If you experiment with coconut flour, Hadassah Magazine warns that it is extremely absorbent and generally calls for about 20 percent less flour or extra liquid. Blending alternative flours with matzo cake meal also tends to give better texture than using any one of them alone.
A tight menu of five or six items is easier to execute than a sprawling one. These sell reliably and share ingredients:
For finishing, toppings and mix-ins such as chopped nuts, cocoa nibs and pastel sprinkles give the case a spring look without adding work.
If you are in our delivery area, free local delivery in New England can shorten the gap between ordering and baking.
Matzo cake meal, potato starch and almond flour are the standard replacements. The Orthodox Union suggests 5/8 cup of matzo cake meal or potato starch, or a sifted mix, for each cup of flour. Nut flours work best in recipes built for them rather than as a one-to-one swap.
Many Ashkenazi Jews avoid kitniyot, a category that includes corn, rice, soy and legumes. Cornstarch falls into that group, so potato starch became the default thickener. The OU gives a ratio of 7/8 cup potato starch per cup of cornstarch.
Not necessarily. Matzo that was not baked specifically for Passover is treated as chametz, according to the OU. Look for a kosher-for-Passover marking on the package before using or selling it for the holiday.
Macaroons are made without flour or leavening, which makes them a natural fit for the holiday. They began as almond cookies, and shredded coconut became common in the early 20th century. Today they are among the most familiar Passover treats.
Three to four weeks ahead is a safe window. Certified items and specialty mixes can sell through close to the holiday, and you will want time to test recipes at scale before pre-orders go out.
Ready to stock up? Shop matzo, macaroon bases, almond flour, coconut and more in our April seasonal collection for Easter and Passover, or browse the full year of holiday ingredients when you shop every season. Questions about an order? Chat or text us, or email support@specialtyfoodsource.com.
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