Morris bakeries offer sweet treats for spring

Spring is here, and along with the warmer weather, bakeries around Morris County have Easter, Passover and springtime treats ready to go.

Check out these great spots to feed your sweet tooth and for hostess gift ideas.

Swe et Lucy's Bakery

56A South Street, Morristown; 973-998-8070; sweetlucysbakery.com

This gourmet bake shop, celebrating its fourth anniversary, specializes in classic and contemporary baked goods.

For Easter, owner Tracy Silverman prepares themed treats.

"We have Egg Cake Truffles, which is cake and buttercream truffles covered in white chocolate with colorful white chocolate stripes, available in chocolate and vanilla funfetti," she said.

"Another customer favorite is our hummingbird cupcakes; banana cake with fresh chopped pineapple and shredded sweetened coconut, topped with cream cheese buttercream and toasted coconut ($2.75)."

She recommends trying the Strawberry Crumb Whoopie Pies, made with fresh strawberry cookie cake covered in oatmeal crumb and sandwiched with marshmallow buttercream, ($2)

Sweet Lucy's also offers vegan and gluten-free treats.

MoPweeze Bakery

Denville, Morristown, Chester, Butler; 973-664-7833; www.mopweezebakery.com/

The goodies from this allergy-friendly bakery can be found in local health food stores, supermarkets, farmers markets and gourmet food stores.

"I got started as a way to provide a safe, tasty treat for my family — we are a family of five and four (of us) have food allergies, with our youngest son topping at 23 food allergies. He's anaphylactic to a few foods, so I am well aware of how serious cross-contamination can be and I take extra precautions to ensure that our products are safe at all times," said bakery owner Christine Allen.

The all-time customer favorite, Allen said, is the Chocolate Cherry Dream, a chocolate cake cupcake with cherry frosting and a maraschino cherry on top ($3.75). Another favorite is the Three Little Bird Cupcake, an Easter-themed cupcake shaped like a nest (toasted coconut) on top with three happy birds inside.

"Each product is handmade with love and careful attention," said Allen. "We are always experimenting with new flavors and ingredients to ensure that you are receiving the finest in products. All of our ingredients are organic except for our sugars."

Sweet Spot Bake Shoppe

57 Main St., Chester; 908-879-3869; sweetspotbakeshoppe.com

This popular Chester bake shop is known for its Easter treats.

"Our Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcake ($1.25 to 2.75) has quickly become a customer favorite. It is available in chocolate or vanilla cake and is the perfect balance of salty and sweet," said owner Cheryl Burger.

For Easter, the Sweet Spot has a large selection of treats to choose from, including the Bunny Butt Cake in the shape of a bunny's bottom with the feet and puffy tail sitting on top of a layer cake. The bakery also has Easter Chocolate Covered Oreos for the holiday.

"We are also offering Girl Scout Cookie flavors: Samoa (our coconut cake with samoa pieces in the cake, topped with chocolate buttercream, samoa cookies and drizzled with chocolate and caramel) and Thin Mint (mint chocolate cake with thin mints in the cake, topped with mint green buttercream and thin mint cookies)."

Swiss Chalet Bakery

159 South Street, Morristown; 973-267-0092; swisschaletbakery.com

The Swiss Chalet Bakery and café has been a staple in Morristown for 45 years.

"We look forward to Easter and Passover," said owner Bill Moran. "It is one of the few times in the year when two different religions have celebrations in the same week. It is also a reminder that spring is here and warm weather is not far off.

He said the bakery's traditional sweets are most popular during Easter and Passover.

For Easter, the bakery has bunny cakes, lamb cakes, egg cakes, Easter basket cookies and breads (Easter cookies, $26/dozen; cakes starting at $24).

For Passover, Moran offers Hammantaschen, Sponge Cake, Honey Cake, macaroon cookies and cakes, Almond horns, Teiglach Lemon, chocolate and raspberry sponge rolls and Bobka.

"Besides these traditional items, we find that our regular assortment of cakes, pastries, cookies, Danish and pies end up being the holiday's best sellers," said Moran.

Little Cake Bakehouse

16 Schooley's Mountain Road, Long Valley; 908-867-7690; littlecakebakehouse.com

After leaving the corporate world for something sweeter, owner Jennifer DeChristopher spends her time creating special sweets for her customers.

"My favorite part about getting to do what I love is the creative side — making a cake or cupcakes personal for a customer," she said. "Exceeding their expectations for what they thought was possible in cake is my goal. It's so much fun to see their reactions, especially the kids."

For the spring holiday, DeChristopher plans to offer personalized bunny cupcakes and cookies, available by order (gourmet cupcake flavors, $3 each).

Got a Morris bakery or sweet shop to recommend? Email eabreu@dailyrecord.com