1. We're small, fewer than 1000 square feet, including the bathroom and the *office*, but not including Mary's Cupboard, the bakeware consignment shop next door. We also have an old fashioned front porch with colorful benches, and a courtyard with tables and shade umbrellas.
2. We are all trained, professional bakers and decorators... Mary, Sarah, Rebecca, Louis, and Rosie (our mixer). We will do our very best to help you, and tell you in the kindest possible way when we cannot.
3. We make absolutely everything we sell right here in historic downtown Northport, Alabama! While Rosie (our mixer) is bigger than a home mixer, she's considered small by commercial bakery standards. We fill every cake pan and cut every cookie by hand, one at a time. Our cakes and cookies are hand iced and decorated. We have an open kitchen and you are welcome to come chat with us while we work.
4. Mary visits the Tuscaloosa Farmer's Market every Saturday at 7 a.m. for fresh produce and cheese for our lunches and baked goods. We are also a drop-off location for Snow's Bend Farm's CSA -- Thursday afternoons from April through December. We believe in buying local. Our signs and metalwork were done by Steve Davis, a Kentuck artist, and our t-shirts are printed at Eye Catchers on Main Avenue.
5. We make custom wedding and celebration cakes, but we also have lots of freshly baked items in our display case that you can pick up for a last minute treat, dessert, or gift. Our boxes are tied with red and white bakery string, but we will gladly place your purchase on a platter and tie it up with a bow for special occasions. We also have hand letterpressed gift cards. We delivery locally for a small fee.
6. We are licensed to reproduce the script A, or any of the University of Alabama's other symbols on our baked goods! Our Bama Shortbread are hugely popular for tailgates, graduations, and other events. For non-UA characters and symbols that we are unable to legally reproduce -- due to copyright, trademark, and/or license issues -- we can often suggest alternate themes, or decorate around a licensed item that you provide.
7. We have our own blues song, and our own cookbook. Besides this blog, we also have a website and a Facebook page. Or you follow us on Twitter or Pinterest.
8. We serve a fresh lunch every day, and make our own gelato in the warmer months. Our $5 lunch special includes a freshly made entree, plus a cold drink, a cookie or sweet from the bakery case, AND tax. Some say it's the best lunch deal in town!
9. We host a free cookie throwdown most Saturdays in the winter for kids of all ages, and a baking camp in the summer for children ages 6 and up (not free).
Come down and see for yourself what a small, hometown bakery is like. You will know you are close when you start smelling cake.
See you at Mary's!
