The good news: There’s a new bake shop in town. The not-so-good news: There goes your resolve to stay away from sweets.
The name of the bake shop is Crave Dessert Studio, 2721 James St., in Eastwood. The owner is Tykemia “Tye” Carman, a self-taught baker and designer of confections. She opened her shop in early June and is there to satisfy all your sweet tooth cravings.
Stop by on any given day and you’ll find a display case filled with treats like macarons and cake balls in a variety of flavors, designs and themes; chocolate-covered Oreos; and chocolate-dipped strawberries, pineapple and pretzels.
On Thursdays and Fridays, Carman offers what have come to be known as Crave Cups. Recent offerings have included Cookie Blast Crave Cups, a mash-up of desserts featuring two chocolate chip cookie cupcakes with buttercream frosting, topped with edible cookie dough plus cookies, all stuffed inside and spilling out of an edible chocolate cup. You can eat everything but the straw, Carman says. And then there’s the Cinnamon Roll Crave Cup, in an edible vanilla cup: two cinnamon roll cupcakes and cinnamon roll frosting topped with a freshly made cinnamon roll.
Another Crave specialty is cheesecake-stuffed apples. Carman hollows out apples and stuffs them with cheesecake for an unusual combination of flavors and textures. “People love them,” she says.
Carman, 25, says she has been baking and creating sweet treats for about two years. She grew up on the South Side of Syracuse, graduated from the Syracuse Academy of Science and attended the Rochester Institute of Technology to study marketing. It was there that she started baking for family and friends and getting creative with dipped fruits and Oreos and candied apples. She customizes these treats for all occasions, from birthdays to bridal and baby showers and weddings.
“Baking wasn’t something that was ‘passed down,'” Carman says. “Something that was a hobby for me just turned into a passion.”
Prior to opening Crave, Carman worked as an administrative assistant at The Cottages at Garden Grove in Cicero and as an account executive for Syracuse Media Group. “I just knew that I wanted my own business,” she says. “I just stepped out on a leap of faith to build my own business.”
She credits her husband, Donnell, for unwavering support and encouragement to do her own entrepreneurial thing. “I probably would not be able to open the store without him,” she says.
Crave Dessert Studio is open Tuesdays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. On her days off, Carman does a lot of shopping on Sundays, and Mondays are reserved for making macarons (when the weather isn’t too humid).
“No rest,” she says with a laugh. “Not yet.”
Get the skinny on Crave at facebook.com/cravedessertstudio. For information on custom orders, call (315) 552-1946 or email [email protected].
Margaret McCormick is a freelance writer and editor in Syracuse. She blogs about food at eatfirst.typepad.com. Follow her on Twitter, connect on Facebook or email [email protected].