Cakes, macarons, tarts and more, Duchess Bake Shop celebrating 15 years

Duchess Bake Shop on Friday Oct. 18, 2024. (Evan Klippenstein/CTV News Edmonton)

A sweet Edmonton staple is celebrating 15 years in business and one can only imagine how intricate the birthday cake is.

Duchess Bake Shop has been feeding Edmonton's sweet tooth from Westmount since 2009.

"When we opened up and we were just a really tiny little shop, the community around us was absolutely phenomenal, they came out of the woodwork to support us day one without even knowing who we were," said Garner Beggs, a co-founder and co-owner of Duchess.

"It's never really changed, and that's one of the things that I'm always, eternally grateful for about Edmonton."

The popular bakery is known for its cakes, tart, pies and, perhaps most of all, its macarons.

There are baking classes held at the shop and even two Duchess cookbooks.

Duchess also received international attention when they were picked to compete in the French reality baking show Le Meilleur Pâtissier: Les Professionnels (The Best Pastry Chef: The Professionals) in 2018.

The Duchess team was the only one from North America competing that season and they placed third overall.

Duchess co-founder and competitor Giselle Corteau said in 2018 that going up against French professionals made the team feel good about their skills.

"It's not until we leave our little box that we can measure ourselves against other people and we were really proud of what we did and what we put out," Corteau told CTV News Edmonton after the show.

Now, Duchess is getting ready for some "big plans" in the new year, including some expansion plans, according to Beggs.

"We've got a lot of new products in the pipeline … the cooks in the kitchen are always busy, we're experimenting with new things, trying new flavors, trying to source better ingredients," Beggs said.

When the shop opened, they had four employees, now, the staff sits around 70.

"None of us really had any business background, it was very much a passion project, over the years we've had to learn through the school of hard knocks how to run a business properly and how to manage people," Beggs said.

"I'm proud of where we've gotten the business to today and I know we've got a lot of room to develop and grow, and I'm looking forward to getting that to happen."

A second location, Little Duchess Bake Shop opened in the Ritchie Market in 2019.

Duchess celebrated the milestone with a free birthday cake macaron for anyone who comes by, no purchase necessary, while supplies last.