MEET THE FAMILY
Cellblock Sips & Bakery is located in the reconditioned 1935 historic, haunted, decommissioned 3rd Walker County Jail, 1/2 block off the historic Downtown Square. This is a coffee house / bakery featuring heirloom baked products, along with flights of fancy that are unlike anything you have tasted. Being located in such a historic building affects what is offered. Don't ask for a beautiful decorated cake like many modern bakeries. Instead, expect to experience legacy recipes like your great-grandmother would have made, served with the china and silver that she never let you use. Cat is inspired by 1930 to 1970 church lady cookbooks.
Cat is an amazing baker. The Sam Houston Memorial Museum recognized this skill and engaged Cat to help with Margaret Houston's Historic White Cake Recipe. Margaret was known to serve honored guests this delightful treat. The Museum had a recipe based on educated research. However, historians aren't bakers. Cat researched the likely origin and travel of this recipe from England's High Tea, to the port city of Mobile Alabama, home of the Lea family, then west to Huntsville Texas. They then fine tuned the recipe for the modern kitchen and returned the final updated modern and historical recipe back to Sam Houston Memorial Museum. Museum Director and Staff say it is the best they have ever tasted!
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Currently, Cellblock Sips & Bakery is the only bakery serving this wonderful legacy recipe. The recipe that you find online in not the real deal. It was a marketing effort by Imperial Sugar in the early 1900s. That recipe is not chemically possible for the time of Margaret Houston.
This is NOT a "white cake" that we think of today. It is flavored with bourbon and almond, then iced with a roux-based ermine frosting. We believe that the creamy color of the frosting is what earned it the name "White Cake". You must experience it for yourself. Unless you are fortunate enough to be served this delightful cake at a Museum function, the only place to obtain a slice is at Cellblock Sips & Bakery.
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Let’s meet the fam!
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Cat, The Quirky Baker and Product Photographer: Cat designs and prepares heirloom legacy recipes that make you miss your great-grandmother. Then they whip out their camera and photographs it to make you wish you had it in your hands RIGHT NOW!
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Teresa, The Sisterly Sounding Board: Keeps Cat sane and E'Beth from suggesting too much.
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E'Beth, Biggest Fan and Mom: 2018 Rack Attack Survivor (Breast Cancer), Lead Imaginator (The family hates it when she says "I have an idea"), Cheerleader, and Public Face of the Bakery (mostly because she doesn't know how to be quiet).
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Eddie, The Fix It Guy: Cellblock Sips & Bakery Remodeler & Repair Guy. Our Hero!