By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA – Calling all sweet tooth’s. A bakery that specializes in all things sweet including cakes, muffins, cupcakes, cookies and more is now open for business in Helena.

Brown Sugar Desserts by Renea opened its doors on Monday, Aug. 12, as owner Renea Spear and her husband John Spear plan to offer something sweet for everybody at the bakery located at 4290 Shelby County 52 Suite D.

“I’ve been baking since I was a young girl and in corporate America I started baking for coworkers and really realized it was more of a passion than anything else,” Renea Spear said. “So, I started to branch out and do it full-time. People say you should find a job that you love to do, well that’s what I love to do and it brings me great joy.”

Renea Spear resigned from corporate America in January 2017 and began looking for a storefront location for a bakery. After unsuccessfully finding a location for several months, Renea and her husband found at space at the Helena Coosa Mart kitchen late in the year to sell items.

A few months later, the couple was forced to relocate from the Coosa Mart, which led them to the space the bakery is now.

“We continued looking in Helena and we happened to pass by going to church one Sunday and saw a leasing sign out front,” Renea Spear said. “We called and it was perfect for us to move into with the bakery and enough space to grow into.”

After doing a lot of the remodeling themselves, the bakery was ready for business, as Renea gets the day started early, whipping up some of her favorite treats for customers.

“We open at 6:30 in the morning so we offer a few breakfast options like croissants, pigs in a blanket, cinnamon rolls, muffins, coffee and more,” Renea Spear said. “We also offer several different cake options by the slice with the most popular being the red velvet cheesecake, German chocolate, strawberry lemonade key lime and my personal favorite is strawberry shortcake. We have peach cobbler dishes which are also very popular.”

Brown Sugar Desserts by Renea is open Monday-Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 7 a.m. to noon and closed on Sunday.

In addition to normal menu items, the bakery offers whole cake orders and specialty design cakes. The business hopes to offer cupcake options in the future as well.

An official grand opening for the bakery is set to take place Saturday, Aug. 31 from 7 a.m. to noon featuring samples, giveaways and Kona Ice will be on hand.

Some of the menu prices for the bakery include cheesecake slices for $6.50, cake slices for $4.25, muffins for $2.09, pound cake for $3, cinnamon rolls starting at $3.50, croissants for $2.99, pig in a blanket for $1.99 and more.

As for the future, Renea Spear said she hopes the bakery continues to grow in Helena.

“The reception from the community has been awesome after kind of silently opening,” Renea Spear said. “It’s been phenomenal and word of mouth has been great. We hope to grow and definitely be an asset to the community. I know in the future we want to start giving back to the community because I know they’ll support us day in and day out.”

For more information on Brown Sugar Desserts by Renea, visit Brownsugardessertshop.com or Facebook.com/dessertsbyrenea/. The bakery can be reached at 895-1021.