Sweetie Pies Bakery – Satisfying Your (Vegan) Sweet Tooth!

Located at 520 Main Street in Downtown Napa!
Located at 520 Main Street in Downtown Napa!

Since becoming vegan the thing I miss the most when a sugar craving strikes, is the freedom to walk into a local bakery and satisfy my sweet tooth! Finding a vegan-friendly bakery in Napa has become a part time job for me. There is no doubt that I have enough skill to bake cookies or mix up a batch of cupcakes but that is really not the point. Frankly, the last thing I need in the house is a dozen cupcakes when I only wanted one in the first place! You know how that is, right?!

Oh...so many choices...so little time.
Oh…so many choices…so little time.

Well, after searching Napa’s local bakeries for the last 3 years my luck has finally changed! When it comes to vegan cupcakes, anyway! This summer while I was volunteering for Napa Humane’s Mobile Adoption Clinic at the Napa Farmer’s Market, I happily found the remedy to my problem. While wandering around the Market, I noticed Sweetie Pies had a stall – Sweetie Pies is a local bakery located in downtown Napa. I have been into Sweet Pies several times over the last couple years but have always left disappointed since they did not offer any vegan choices yet. I walked over not expecting the answer I wanted but had to ask all the same. “Hi,” I said. “Do you guys finally have any vegan options?” And the magical answer was “Yes, our mixed berry muffins are vegan.” After I did a double take, a little dance and a cheer, I ordered the last vegan muffin she had left. I wasn’t even really hungry but I knew that I had to celebrate this extraordinary win! I thanked her profusely and quite thoroughly devoured the delicious muffin!

Mixed Berry Vegan Muffins
Mixed Berry Vegan Muffins

Since making this amazing discovery, I have had the opportunity to visit the Sweetie Pies bakery on Main Street from time to time and have always really enjoyed the berry muffin. Last week my husband and I stopped in to see what other delightful morsels might be available and were excited to see that their vegan menu continues to expand. In addition to the mixed berry muffins, they also had vegan chocolate cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies available.  We ordered one cupcake and one muffin and took them home to share with our vegan dogs – Buttercup, Tobey Jug and Violet. The muffin was amazing as usual but I have always been a sucker for a good cupcake. And this cupcake was truly one of the best I have ever had. In fact, I loved the cupcake so much I headed back in later that week and special ordered their vegan chocolate cake for my husband’s birthday celebration. The cake was a luscious 6 inch triple layer chocolate cake with chocolate soy pudding in between the layers topped with soy buttercream frosting. Just like the cupcake, this cake far exceeded my expectations. In fact, I am sitting here salivating as I type!

cupcake2
Vegan chocolate cupcake with soy buttercream & vegan mixed berry muffin.
2 slices2
Vegan chocolate cake with soy pudding & delicious soy buttercream frosting!
birthday cake
I just emailed them a sketch of my beloved Tobey Jug and they made an edible image of our favorite boy!

Honestly, the fact that these sugary creations are so delicious really should not come as a surprise. Toni Chiapetta, Owner & Pastry Chef of Sweet Pies has been a dessert connoisseur since she was a child. For Toni, the only reason to eat dinner was to get to the dessert! From the Table Talk pies featured at her parent’s luncheonette, to her first experiments baking chocolate cake, dessert has been a huge part of her life! Her career as a pastry chef began at home with her Mom Tess. Once Tess helped ignite Toni’s passion for baked works of art, Toni headed off to study at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. From there, she next studied at Peter Kump’s New York Cooking School (now none as ICE – The Institute of Culinary Education) and under Albert Kumin, renowned Swiss pastry chef and former White House pastry chef. Toni’s first professional baking gig was at Icarus in Boston. She then headed to Sfuzzi in Philadelphia and then finally to Bistro Don Giovani here in Napa Valley.

Toni - Owner & Pastry Chef
Toni – Owner & Pastry Chef

I have been fired a time or two and for about the first 5 minutes I remember thinking – “S*@t! Now what am I going to do?” But in both cases, getting fired from jobs that were not helping me reach my potential was absolutely the best thing that could have happened to me. Well, ends up the same thing happened to Toni. Getting fired from her job ended up being the best thing that ever happened to her and the rest of the dessert-eating world! Toni brushed herself off and retreated to her Victorian apartment and tiny oven and commenced to baking! Toni only had the room to bake one cake at a time but instead of giving up, she thrived. She began delivering samples to our local coffee shop Napa Valley Coffee Roasting Company. Her baked goods were such a success that within four months she was able to move her operation to a commercial kitchen and for the first time Sweetie Pies had a payroll! She continued baking and succeeding and finally on September 15th, 2000 Sweetie Pies became one of the first businesses to open in The Hatt Building in downtown Napa! And even though Sweetie Pies is now a booming business with a staff of dedicated bakers, Toni continues to oversee every aspect of the operation…from developing new recipes (some of them vegan, yay!), to training new culinarians, to taking out the trash and paying the bills but most important of all she continues to try to satisfy her incurable sweet tooth!

Part of the Sweetie Pies' Team
Part of the Sweetie Pies’ Team

Sweet Pies not only has the bakery in the Hatt Building at 520 Main Street in downtown Napa but also offers a stall at the Napa Farmers Market from May to October and bakes for food distributors and retail stores. Sweetie Pies also bakes custom cakes for special occasions including birthday and wedding cakes. Their pumpkin pie has been awarded a Top Pick in Bon Appetit Magazine’s feature on “Best Mail-Order Pies.”  Sweetie Pies’ strawberry-rhubarb pie has been featured in Food & Wine: American’s Best Pie Spots. And is also a Martha Stewart 2014 American Made Finalist. So between my ravings and these other prestigious mentions, you need to stop by Sweetie Pies right now! Get yourself one of her delicious vegan cupcakes, cakes, muffins, cookies…or one of each and thank them for offering so many delicious choices!!

Two of many awards!
Two of many awards!

bon3a

As always, thanks for reading and eat, drink…and be vegan!

Tags: #NapaValley, Napa, Napa Valley, Napa Valley dining, vegan bakery, vegan dining, vegan food

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