NAZARETH, Pa. — Taylor Romero is 23 years old, and she's been dreaming of opening a French-themed bakery for most of her life.
"I wanted to bring Paris here," she said.
- Let Them Eat Cake is a French-themed bakery opening June 24 in Nazareth
- It is run by Taylor Romero and Channon Smyly, a mother-daughter duo
- The bakery specializes in macarons, cupcakes and custom cakes
"There's not really a place where you can sit down and have that fancy feeling," Taylor said, "of when you walk into those French patisseries where the ceilings are ornate and then you've got beautiful, gorgeously designed desserts."
Let Them Eat Cake, a bakery she started with her mother Channon Smyly, is holding its grand opening at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 24, at 143 S. Main St., Nazareth.
"It's not a French bakery," Smyly said. "It's French-themed."
There won't be croissants or French food. Instead, Let Them Eat Cake focuses on cakes, cupcakes and macarons.
Of cupcakes, a popular flavor is Velvet Volcano, which is a red velvet cake with Oreo cream cheese frosting, salted caramel drizzle and chocolate drizzle.
"It's my favorite flavor," Romero said.
They also have a birthday explosion flavor cake, which is a white funfetti with cake batter frosting — popular with kids.
Honey lavender is a top flavor for macarons, as well as cookie butter.
Let Them Eat Cake will also sell what Smyly calls small, cute cold case cakes, perfect for anyone who needs one last-minute.
"They can walk in, literally grab a cake, walk out the door with it," Smyly said. "That's gonna be a big staple of what we do." They'll have online ordering to make it more convenient.
In addition, the bakery will offer custom cakes, with consultations and tastings on Sunday. Romero will then do digital cake sketches, which she says no one else offers in the Nazareth area.
They eventually plan to expand, but first, they want to wait to see what the community wants. They also plan to partner with other bakers to offer cookies and other pastries.
When it all started
"When I was about 12, 13 years old, I became obsessed with two things," Romero said. "I became obsessed with Paris, France.
"And then I also became obsessed with baking."
She'd bake boxed brownies every day, until her mom finally told her to stop. She asked what the most difficult thing to bake was, and according to Google, the answer was French macarons.
Though she didn't know what a macaron was, she was determined to perfect it. Along the way, she developed a love of cakes, and eventually got a pastry arts degree from Mercer County (N.J.) Community College.
Bumps along the road
Romero and Smyly have had a few challenges since opening. The oven broke down, and there have been issues with other equipment.
"But you know, I have my mom here," Romero said.
"It's really hard to share a dream with someone else, but she understood my dream really well."Taylor Romero, co-owner of Let Them Eat Cake
"It's really hard to share a dream with someone else, but she understood my dream really well because I've been talking about it for the last eight years."
She says her mom executed the operational aspects of the business, so she could focus on baking.
"She's there to say 'This is what I want,' and I'm usually able to say I can do that," Smyly said.
Putting down roots
Romero and her mom describe themselves as from all over. Now Romero lives in Nazareth, and Smyly lives in Palmer Township.
Originally from Oklahoma, they've lived in Missouri, Colorado, Virginia and Texas.
This is the place they've stayed the longest, for six years.
"This little area has lots of history," Smyly said, of their decision to open the bakery in Nazareth. "This building here is probably 100, 150 years old."
She said the number of festivals in the area also played a role in the location. They're hoping it will draw foot traffic.
Nazareth Councilman Charles Donello, who lived in Lyon, France, for three years, said "This is right up my alley.
"I think it'll draw a lot of people in, because we just need something different in town to get stuff going."
The first 50 customers at Saturday's grand opening will get half a dozen macarons for free.