MENOMINEE — The stainless steel mixing bowls shine with reflections of five dozen freshly scooped cookie dough balls as staff runs back and forth to the front desk, the freezer and the ovens.
It’s just another busy Tuesday at Jean’s Cakes & Bakery, recently opened in November at 532 10th Ave. in Menominee.
The bakery is owned by Cassie Frederiksen and is named after her mom, Jean Smith, who bakes and decorates cakes at the shop.
Smith is cupping toasted coconut flakes onto the side of a cake as she prepares for the week. She talked about how people wanted her to open something.
“People were telling me for years and years,” Smith said.
She specialized in home-cooked meals and desserts, with 17 years under her belt at Schloegel’s, now called The Watermark, and 10 to 11 years, most recently, at Harbors Retirement Community.
It was time to start something, with help from her daughter.
Frederiksen stirs some white cake dough and talks about how her mom would juggle working at Harbors and creating her custom cake orders, something she’s been doing for as long as she can remember.
“It was getting to be too much,” Frederiksen said.
Smith said most of her first memories of baking came from her grandma. She first used her baking chops at The Bakery of Marinette, located where Kamin’s Bakery used to be.
For this bakery, they’re keeping it in the family, and they’re here to stay.
“You start something up like this, and you’re in it for the long haul,” Frederiksen said.
They’ve hired a few employees and, for once, Smith said she doesn’t have to be a manager — her daughter does that. How does she manage her own mom?
“She tries,” Smith said, laughing.
Smith is the mastermind behind the bakery’s recipes. They’re currently trying to write the process down. She taps her head, explaining where all the recipes are stored.
“My head’s always buzzing,” Smith said.
Baking is really just about knowing how the dough looks and what to add or subtract to manipulate it.
“That just comes from experience,” Smith said.
Sure it does.
The bakery offers favorites like pistachio white chocolate cookies, raspberry white chocolate scones, Nutella croissants, cinnamon rolls and sourdough bread.
Their unique style shows up in the bundt cakes she’s prepping.
“We didn’t want to just do cupcakes,” Frederiksen said.
With a few other bakeries in town, they decided to focus on what they could do well instead of competing with an item like doughnuts, which are already done well at other local bakeries, she said.
Each day offers a new assortment of treats, with prices ranging from around $2 to $5 for most handheld single-serving items. The prices can add up, sure, but customers are paying for the expertise behind the desserts.
“It’s not just paying for a cookie; it’s paying for everything you see here,” Frederiksen said.
All of the confections are made from scratch. They bought almost all the kitchen equipment brand new to stock their location, too.
They recently teamed up with Pit Bros. Barbeque across the street to offer weekly Southern-inspired desserts at the Pit Bros. restaurant, including bread pudding, apple cake and peach cobbler.
She said the hardest thing they’ve had to explain is their location — a lot of people can’t find it, Smith said. It’s tucked behind a small parking lot on 10th Avenue, the former location of Joe’s on the Go, a hair salon. People can find the bakery between Pit Bros. Barbeque and Thai Cuisine, heading east toward 1st Street.
Their busiest days are Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and holidays.
“At Christmastime, we did over 120 dozen cutouts,” Smith said.
An assortment of cakes and coffee cakes can be ordered digitally on their website. People can also call 906-352-4319 to order customizable cakes, cupcakes, cheesecakes, sugar cookie cutouts and wedding cakes.
They prefer 24 hours notice for gourmet cakes.
“The earlier the better — we can only take so many of those,” Frederiksen said.
As she loads the bundt cakes in the oven, she talks about the work needed to start the business.
“It’s like having a baby,” Frederiksen said. “You try to plan, and there’s no way.”
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