Macon baking week features new treats

The third annual Great Macon Baking week is almost upon us. 

Maconites can soon grab their passports and embark on a tour de cake. Hosted by Macon Magazine, the event has participants earn a stamp for every sweet treat they try, vote for their favorite and win prizes from July 20-27.  

More than a dozen restaurants and bakeries will feature new items for eager dessert-lovers to satisfy their cravings, from tres leches cake to strawberry matcha bars. But only one restaurant or bakery will be crowned the winner for its truly top-tier dessert.

Sweet Eleanor’s owner Scott Mitchell created a dessert paying tribute to Market City, a downtown Macon cafe which closed its doors on Cherry Street more than a decade ago. 

Just for baking week Mitchell is introducing his “labor intensive” version of the cafe’s whipped banana pudding in a cinnamon sugar shell. The bakery’s blackberry peach biscuit pudding earned second place in last year’s competition. 

Felicia’s Cake Factory has been serving sweet treats since 2017 and relocated from its downtown shop to Houston Road in November of 2024. 

Owner Felicia Howard said “a lot of people rave” about the old-fashioned caramel cakes she entered into this year’s contest.

Layers bakery on Vineville Avenue has won the event twice now, and owners Steven and Reia Collins are hoping for a three-peat this year. Their white velvet cake won the first year of the baking contest and their lemon blueberry cheesecake cake won last year. 

“The number of wonderful chefs and bakers in this town, it’s huge,” Steven said of the stiff competition. “They all put out their very best for this contest.”

Reia is the brains behind the unique flavors Layers offers its customers, and this year, she wanted to create something both different and local. The two cake wizards are whipping up peaches and cream cake using fresh fruit from Dickey Farms and a homemade yellow pound cake. 

“When you take that bite, that’s going to be so full of flavor,” Steven said.

The following restaurants and bakeries are participating:

• Dawson’s Kitchen – Banana pudding cake
• Layers – Peaches & cream cake
• Macon Bagels – Key Lime pie
• Felicia’s Cake Factory – Homemade caramel cake slices
• Satterfield’s – Texas Toast bread pudding with caramel sauce
• Natalia’s – Bread pudding with bananas foster
• Kinjo – Mandarin whisky bread pudding
• Dovetail – Cracked pie
• Yollah – Tres leches cake
• Sweet Eleanor’s – Whipped banana pudding cups
• Taste and See – Flourless chocolate torte cake
• Acres and Oak – Peach upside down cake garnished with a vanilla buttercream and sugar cookie crumble
• Village Coffee – Strawberry matcha bar
• Sweet Affairz – Butter me red
• The Macon Baking Company – Oreo cookie
• Nothing Bundt Cakes – Red Velvet bundtlet

Dessert aficionados can pick up a passport at the Macon Visitors Center or at any participating restaurant or bakery.