Monroe County Business Function: Stephanie Cake

Stephanie Morgan has had the tremendous success of owning her own business for nearly 20 years.

The three wives and mother own and operate Cakes by Stephanie at 118 N. Monroe St., a bakery specializing in custom cakes and desserts, ready-made pastries, cookies and cheesecake.

Before starting the family, the 53-year-old bakery started working on tole painting. She painted and sold her work at various art shows in Michigan and Ohio.

“When I started having children, I knew I still needed to work, and I baked a lot,” Morgan said. “People liked my cookies and stayed home for baking on the weekends, so I started baking at home and taking orders. Before I knew it, I had a big account and a bigger space. I realized I needed it, so I started looking for it. Another place. “

Less than a year later, a self-taught bakery was looking for a building and said it was a chocolate hoho cake recipe that started the business.

“All my recipes are family-friendly recipes with my own flair. I made ho-ho cakes based on family recipes, and that’s the cake I started the whole business with,” she said. rice field. “When I was baking at home, I started from it, and I always say it’s the cake that started it.”

Morgan’s signature Ho Ho Cake is a dark chocolate fudge cake with a cream filling covered with chocolate ganache, along with freshly baked cookies and Chantilly cake, a white cake with mascarpone filling, frosting and fresh berries. It remains popular.

Morgan and his daughter Sidoni (headcake decorator) are constantly creating new items and adding them to their menu, including the Ho Ho Explosion Cookie, a crunchy chocolate cookie topped with cream and homemade ganache. Sweets are posted on the bakery’s Facebook page.

Morgan admits that it is difficult for a bakery to identify the busiest time of the year.

“We are very fortunate,” she said. “May and June were busy months for us, but especially during the holiday season.”

With the help of her husband Tom, daughter and son-in-law, Sidoni and Brandon Adler, and sons Nicholas and Alex, Morgan runs a thriving bakery, but some coronavirus pandemics along the way. I admit that I changed that.

“When COVID closed our door, we had to go to social media to market ourselves,” she said. “We started using Instagram and Facebook. I could go in and bake in the morning and then my daughter would come and take a picture and show people what we were doing.”

During the pandemic, a new line of party cakes was developed. Unique cakes are displayed according to the taste of the cake. Five to six cakes are made daily and can be purchased in the cooler section of the store.

The company’s website offers a long list of cake flavors, fillings and frostings, as well as a downloadable menu listing pies, cheesecakes, brownies, cupcakes, cake dots and other pastries. We also offer sugar-free cakes and gluten- and dairy-friendly cakes.

After renting the current location for 12 years, LaSalle Township residents are planning to recently purchase a bakery across the street and move to a building under renovation.

The new bakery will be twice the size of the existing bakery, but will not come with the Monroe-based Presley Bergmouser, a hand-painted mural designed and painted on the exterior walls. The mural says, “Life is short, sweeten.”

Morgan doesn’t know what plans the building owners are planning for the murals, but said they are likely to incorporate some of Bergmouser’s art into the new dessert shop.

For a busy bakery and her family, the next few months are ready to celebrate the arrival of their grandchildren (Sydni is scheduled for November), move to a new building, and celebrate 20 years of sweetness. The business of 2023 is packed tightly.

Stephanie cake

Owner: Stephanie Morgan of LaSalle Township

address: 118 N. Monroe Street

service: Specializes in custom cakes and desserts, ready-made pastries, cookies and cheesecakes for every occasion

time: Monday and Friday from 10am to 5pm.Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10 am-6pm, Saturday 10am-2pm

Facebook: Https: //www.facebook.com/cakesbystephaniemi/

Website: Https: //cakesbystephaniemi.com/