Inside a bakery on Newark’s Academy Street, the smell of delicious treats fills the air.
On the counter are fresh-baked cupcakes of various flavors from coconut to red velvet, all topped with decadent frosting and some sprinkled with sugar dust, bits of chocolate, or nuts. Around the bakery are cakes bedecked with colorful ribbons and other examples of sugar artistry.
The shop is the Sweet Retreat Boutique, a relative newcomer to the Newark food scene, and a labor of love for co-owners and friends Larry Kenny, Jason Grey, and Hendrick Yamusah.
“We love to bake. It’s our passion,” said Kenny.
The trio opened the bakery last year in early September with Kenny and Grey, city residents, as the main bakers and Yamusah, an engineer in Pennsylvania, as a financial backer and supporter. Since its start, the bakery has been a hit with locals and other businesses who can’t get enough of the shop’s luxurious cupcakes and other baked goods, said Kenny, who works at the bakery the majority of the time.
“Newark really surprised me,” said Kenny, who said they scouted Jersey City’s Journal Square first before settling on Downtown Newark. “They (customers) have been extremely supportive. When they come in, they say ‘We want you to stay.’”
“They are not just buying cupcakes just to buy them,” Kenny added. “They are buying them because they love them.”
So far they have supplied cakes for weddings and other treats for establishments such as Cablevision and Mayor Cory Booker’s office.
Serious plans for the bakery started after Kenny’s young daughter Elexis died a few years ago of cancer at the age of 8. Kenny, a trained behavioral specialist who had worked with autistic kids, dropped his doctorate program on counseling psychology to be with his daughter, a bubbly, “girly girl” who was into fashion.
After she had died, Kenny, whose life revolved around her and her treatment, decided he needed to rebuild his life after that tragic event.
“Life is short. It made me rethink the priorities of life,” said Kenny, who thinks about his daughter most days.
Kenny said he presented the idea to Grey and Yamusah, who were enthusiastic.
It was a natural fit for Kenny and Grey, who are long time bakers. Grey said he first baked a cake when he was 11. Kenny said baking allows him to tap into his artistic side.
“I have seen no shop like this in Newark,” said Kenny.
There are plans to expand their offerings into cookies and other pastries, Kenny said. A cafe in the back is planned. And Kenny said they want kids to come in and design their own cupcakes during special events.
One thing’s for sure: Kenny’s daughter would have been pleased with the shop.
“She loved cupcakes,” he said.
Sweet Retreat Boutique is located at 17-21 Academy Street in Newark. Their website's address is http://www.sweetretreatboutique.com/# and their Facebook page is at this link.
They can be reached at (973) 848-1099 or at sweetretreatboutique2011@yahoo.com.
