Food Network Winners Expand Warren Bakery, Move To New Location
STIRLING, NJ — Former Warren bakers and winners of Food Network’s TV show “Winner Cake All,” have some sweet news to announce. They are expanding their custom-only business to offer grab-and-go desserts at their first storefront in Stirling.
Gail Bongiovanni and Lauren Vicari, co-owners of Sweet Passion Cakery, are moving their custom only shop from a private kitchen in Warren to 267 Main Ave. in Stirling.
A grand opening ceremony and ribbon cutting will be held on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 10 a.m. This new store front allows Bongiovanni and Vicari to expand their offerings.
Find out what's happening in Basking Ridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“We’ve always been custom only. We do a lot of wedding cakes with different venues and events, but now we are going to step our foot into the storefront world,” said Bongiovanni to Patch. “We’ve never had anything off the shelf, so it’s very exciting.”
The new storefront will offer cake slices, cupcakes, macarons, dessert shooters, and more.
Find out what's happening in Basking Ridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Previously Sweet Passion Cakery operated out of Bongiovanni’s home in a commercial kitchen. However, for a number of years the pair had discussed offering more than custom-only orders.
“We have a lot of good clients now that follow us and come back to us over and over again. And so for a number of years, people are like, ‘Oh, you should open up a bakery.’ And that’s kind of a daunting thing… But we’re gonna give it a whirl and see if we can do something a little bit different. We are very excited.”
Since there are already a lot of Italian bakeries in the area, Bongiovanni said they won’t be focused on pastries.
“We will offer a lot of really fun, unique flavors that we’re hoping that everyone can drop by, grab a little special dessert for the weekend and take it home,” said Bongiovanni.
While many of the desserts and offerings will rotate seasonally, Sweet Passion Cakery will also keep some fan favorites such as the Lemon Blueberry cake year round.
For the fall season, they are currently offering the maple cake with a rum cream cheese and pecans and plan to offer the Coconut Key Lime cake in the spring and summer.
Bongiovanni and Vicari both agree that their favorite flavor is one they invented themselves – an Earl Gray cake.
“It was actually based on a bride’s request, because she loves Earl Gray tea, and she asked if we had ever done anything with it. So we came up with an Earl Gray cake that we pair with white chocolate mousse and a mixed berry compote, and it’s honestly become probably one of our, like, a number one or number two flavors,” said Bongiovanni.
For the grand opening of their high-end, boutique bakery, Sweet Passion Cakery will be offering taste bites along with champagne. Additionally, the first 50 customers will get a free cupcake.
For more information on Sweet Passion Cakery visit sweetpassioncakery.com or facebook.com/sweetpassioncakery or email info@sweetpassioncakery.com.
Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.