Plano North | May 2025

Dining

BY KAREN CHANEY

A variety of macaron avors are available at Sugar Ray’s Bake Shop.

Sugar Ray’s Bake Shop owners enjoy experimenting in the kitchen to create new recipes.

Some of the most popular cupcake avors include salted caramel, lemon ricotta and cookie dough.

PHOTOS BY KAREN CHANEYCOMMUNITY IMPACT

Sugar Ray’s Bake Shop thrives on custom orders Rachel Arrieta and Ana Torres, Plano residents and co-owners of Sugar Ray’s Bake Shop, said the division of the shop’s space is reective of their business model in that approximately two-thirds of their shop is designated kitchen space while the storefront lls the remaining space. What makes them special? Arrietta said she came up with all the base recipes when she started the business and from there every avor comes from a base. For example, all chocolate avors come from the chocolate base.

Custom frosted cookies are popular requests for bridal and baby showers.

“Once you have a solid base recipe, you can create any avor from there,”. Arrieta said. “We have to be priced where we’re priced because we get the highest quality ingredients. We use all pure ingredients, there is no Crisco, shortening or fake butter. It is all cream cheese and real butter.” Meet the owners Arrieta opened Sugar Ray’s Bake Shop in 2013 after developing a following by selling her baked goods at local cafes and Neiman Marcus Trunk Shows. “I didn’t even know I was good at baking. I did not go to school for it—I never took a class. I kind of just taught myself,” Arrieta said. “I was exper- imenting in the kitchen after I graduated college and made one cake for my mom, and it kind of just took o.” Torres became a business partner three years ago after working at Sugar Ray’s for two years. Arrieta said she and Torres have always been able to naturally split responsibilities based on one another’s strengths.

“Our catering and custom order business is 90% of our business,” Arrieta said. “When I started, I knew that the walk-in [business] was just going to be gravy on top.” On the menu The bakery sells cakes, cupcakes, cookies, macarons, pies and more. “We bake fresh everyday seven avors of cup- cakes,” Torres said. “We also always have a variety of avors of macarons and brownies. For custom orders we can do cakes, frosted sugar cookies and decorated cupcakes” Four of the made-everyday options are red velvet, milk chocolate, hazelnut and vanilla. “We switch our menu every month ... based on popularity and avors we invent that we think would be fun and good,” Arrieta said. “That’s what we love—experimenting in the kitchen.” Arrieta said their chocolate chip cookies are top sellers which she describes as “crunchy and soft and the chocolate chips are so gooey.”

Rachel Arrieta, left, and Ana Torres co-own Sugar Ray’s Bake Shop in Plano.

SPRING CREEK PKWY.

4021 Preston Road, Ste. 624, Plano www.sugarraysbakeshop.com

PLANO NORTH EDITION