GRAND RAPIDS, MI – If you’re looking for a new place to curb your sweet treat cravings, there is a new bakery specializing in unique dessert bars that has something for everyone to try.
Elizabeth “Liz” Siegel opened up Qwake Bar Bakes at 2927 28th St. SE along with her dad and husband in May 2023 to provide scratch-bake goods to the Greater Grand Rapids area.
The bakery specializes in bar bakes that are a spin on classic sweet treats with a cake, brownie or cookie base with decadent frosting on top.
Siegal said her husband came up with the name Qwake Bar Bakes because he always told her that she made “groundbreaking bakes with earth-shattering tastes.”
She said the inspiration behind the business revolves around her mother, who taught her everything there is to know about baking.
“I spent my whole childhood baking with my mom and having special memories with her,” Siegal told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. “I always say baking is my love language, and I feel like that is something I get from my mom.”
She said that although baking has always been a big part of her life, it was more of a side hobby to her day job of teaching for 16 years.
“I always said that if I wasn’t a teacher, I would be a baker,” Siegal said. “It just got to a point where it felt like I needed to make a change.”
In a lot of ways, she said her experience with teaching prepared her for running the bakery. Building and packaging the bars was like making a lesson plan and hiring staff was similar to teaching students how to do something and why.
A lot of the time, she gets asked the question, “What is a bar bake?” Her answer is always the same — she wanted to do something unique, not just one thing.
“I didn’t want to just do cookies, or just do brownies, or just do cakes,” Siegal told MLive. “Some people might not be fond of cookies, but they might love a sponge cake, so they can come into Qwake and we have options for everybody.”
Each Qwake bar is topped with frosting that is tailored to the specific bar bake. Customers can choose from over nine flavors in four different bar sizes starting at $5, including Espresso Brownie Bar, Chocolate Chip, Lemon Blueberry, and White Chocolate Raspberry.
For those looking for something else, Qwake Bar Bakes also offers bar bakes with double the frosting for $6 or no frosting at all for $5. Other options include the Seismic Bars starting at $20, which is similar to a custom cookie cake.
Siegal said she made sure to include family recipes and her own recipes in the batch of sweet goods. A menu item close to her heart, “Grandma Dot’s Banana Bread,” is the same recipe her grandma made.
She said what separates the family-owned business from other area sweet spots is that all the desserts are made from scratch with recipes passed down generations.
“The recipes are special to us and that’s why we want to share them with the community because we took the time to really make something that’s homemade and made with love,” Siegal said. “Even from a young age bringing cinnamon rolls to the neighbors with my mom and seeing their faces light up, this is the way to spread joy that’s close to my heart.”
Learn more about Qwake Bar Bakes and their custom catering options here.
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