Pastry chef Kate Schlenker has grown Newbury Park Pastries from a college venture opened in 1987 into a Rochester-area bakery with a loyal following for its savory pies. After years of wholesale work for local restaurants and venues, Schlenker shifted the business toward take-and-bake specialties in 2003, including the famous Turkey Pot Pie. She now operates the bakery with her crew in Henrietta and brings its weekly offerings to local pickup spots and the Brighton Farmers Market.
The Bearded BakerAfter six years of selling macarons at farmers’ markets across New York state, Scott Krevat opened The Bearded Baker in Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill in 2021, where he makes handmade macarons and other baked treats. Krevat taught himself the pastry from scratch in 2015, drawing on the meticulous thinking of his chemistry studies at NYU, and still develops seasonal flavors alongside the bakery’s cookies, brownies and other sweets. The shop also prepares specialty treats for parties and events and ships its macarons nationwide.BROOKLYN, NY
Carrot Top Pastries, IncKnown around New York City as the “Carrot Cake Queen,” Carrot Top Pastries has baked cakes and pastries on premises in Inwood since 1979 and Washington Heights since 1985. The family-run bakery is also a full-service restaurant, serving its uptown community from two locations and catering celebrations, offices, and other events. Its customers have included Stevie Wonder, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and the King of Spain, but the Mancino family says its heart remains with local neighbors.NEW YORK, NY
Geneva BakeryGeneva Bakery grew from Linda Rannels’s childhood baking at her parents’ produce stand into an East Petersburg bakery making cakes, pies, pastries and cookies from scratch. Rannels started the bakery in 2008 after converting her home garage into an inspected commercial kitchen, then moved in 2015 into the former church building where she worshiped as a child and where her parents were married. Today, the bakery is especially known for made-to-order cakes with creamy, not-too-sweet buttercream and fresh daily baked goods.EAST PETERSBURG, PA