Sweet Treats for a Small Town

Corner Bakery, located between Beans-N-Cream and Stoney Creek Roasters, offers a variety of sweet treats to the community three days a week. The bakery is open Thursday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The bakery’s treats includes cupcakes, muffins, scones, pecan rolls, mini pies, quiche, breads and sweet breads, focaccia, cinnamon rolls, chocolate croissants and much more. The bakery also serves donuts made by Stan the Donut man in Dayton, which are usually delivered daily.

Operating the bakery

Linda Fawcett, owner of the Corner Bakery with her husband, Glenn, shows off her most popular sweet treat – pecan sticky buns. Photos: Malia Rickards

The business opened in July of 2006. Owner Linda Fawcett and her husband, Glenn, own many buildings in downtown Cedarville because he takes the buildings and renovates them.

Glenn took the building where Beans-N-Cream is and renovated it. Then, when deciding what other businesses could benefit the town of Cedarville, the Fawcetts decided to open a bakery. Two women ran it for a few months before Fawcett took over the business.

Glenn comes to the bakery at 4:30 a.m. to take the “early morning shift” on the days that the bakery is open. He starts baking when he arrives.

Everything is baked fresh daily. Linda comes in at 7 a.m. and continues with the baking process and prep work for the next day.

The bakery gets a lot of regular customers.

“Some people come in and say, ‘I’ll take my usual,’” Linda Fawcett said.

Fawcett said her favorite things to bake are the cinnamon rolls. The bakery makes the dough for the cinnamon and pecan rolls from scratch daily.

Customers

Linda Fawcett said the most rewarding aspect of running the business is her customers.

“I’ve gotten to know a lot of people,” she said.

She said she particularly enjoys the children who visit the bakery.

“I especially enjoy when little kids come in and look through the glass, putting their fingers all over it and looking in trying to decide what they want,” Fawcett said.

She said that one child in particular comes in, and he loves chocolate croissants.

“He gets so excited, because he just loves chocolate,” she said. “I have a lot of kids who really look forward to coming in. That’s what keeps me going, is the people who really look forward to coming in.”

If customers want to special order something for a day that the bakery is not open, Fawcett said she sometimes has the time to complete the order on her days off, depending on what she has going on.

Though she does not have formal culinary training, Fawcett said she really enjoys baking, but she said she never imagined that she would be doing it as a full-time job.

Another dessert served in the bakery are cupcakes, finished off with a variety of toppings. Photo: Malia Rickards

But Fawcett said her mom baked a lot as she was growing up.

Fawcett said the most popular item at the bakery is the pecan sticky buns, with the scones and muffins also being high on the list.

Currently, Fawcett’s baked goods are only sold at the Corner Bakery. The business used to bake muffins and scones for Rinnova Coffee at Cedarville University, but Rinnova has since discontinued offering baked goods.

Nevertheless, Fawcett said that some college students still come to Corner Bakery to get muffins and scones, as well as other baked goods.

Taylor Cefola, a senior Cedarville student, said she has been to Corner Bakery a few times to pick up some treats.

“One of the things that I purchased last year was a huge loaf of pumpkin bread, and that was delicious,” Cefola said.

She has also tried the focaccia and other items, which she said were freshly made and very good.

Cefola said the customer service was very timely, and she has never had to wait very long to get her order placed.

“I just wish they were open more,” Cefola said.

Fawcett estimates that about half of her customers come from the town, and the other half come from the college.

Serving the community

Fawcett said she enjoys it when little kids come into the bakery and look through the glass, pressing their hands against it while they try to decide what they want. Photo: Malia Rickards

She said that in a bakery, the bulk of the business is in the morning, which is why they are not open during the evening.

When the business first started, it was open Tuesday-Saturday. After a back surgery, Fawcett reduced the hours to Thursday-Saturday.

Fawcett said her business is a nice addition to the town.

“Over the years, this town has had so many businesses come and go,” Fawcett said. “Cedarville is a very hard town to have a business in, because people who live in Cedarville don’t necessarily shop in Cedarville. The more (businesses) you have in town, the more people you are going to draw because there are more things here. I like to keep it open because I don’t want another empty store front.”

When the bakery has leftovers, it wraps them and sells them for a reduced price. It also gives some of the baked goods away to some older people in the community.

Fawcett does not bake wedding cakes, she said, because they are very stressful, but she does do sheet cakes for birthdays, anniversaries, graduations and other holidays.

The bakery keeps its menu pretty constant, but occasionally Fawcett will make a couple of different things for variety. In the fall, she bakes some items with pumpkin.

Diane Harner and Carol Holloway, two local regulars, said they really enjoy all that Corner Bakery has to offer.

“They have wonderful baked goods, and it’s a warm place to go,” Harner said. “(Fawcett) is always so friendly.”

The two said they love to come to the bakery, and meet there once a month.

“It’s a warm, cozy gathering place,” Holloway said. “It is much appreciated through the community.”

Laura Jani is a senior nursing major and the off-campus news editor for Cedars. She enjoys a freshly brewed cup of coffee, learning the Spanish language and traveling to new destinations.