SWEET TREATS

By Vicki Martinka Petersen Photos provided by Haylie Bollweg

Sometimes, you’ve got to take a leap of faith. For Haylie Bollweg, not only did she take a chance starting her own business, but she did so during the pandemic. “After working at two other bakeries, I thought it was time to branch out on my own,” she says. Soon Haylie B’s Bakery set up shop in her kitchen, where she worked on orders for special occasions like weddings and birthdays. After a friend referred her to the Batavia Boardwalk Shops program last year, Bollweg took a chance and applied. “I baked everything at home and brought the products into the tiny boardwalk shop,” Bollweg recalls. “The Batavia Boardwalk was a great way to get our name out there,” says Bollweg, noting many of the businesses signed

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 HAYLIE B’S BAKERY 109 E. Wilson St., Batavia 630-937-4003 Facebook: Haylie B’s Bakery

leases to brick-and-mortar locations after their time at the boardwalk ended. She moved into her new location this past summer. Originally from Yorkville, Bollweg became acquainted with Batavia through her boyfriend, who lives there. “Batavia is such a great community. They’re really great about supporting local businesses,” Bollweg says. Haylie B’s Bakery’s specialty is cupcakes. She’s piped frosting to look like succulents nestled on top of chocolate cupcakes, and pink and white flowers perched atop vanilla cupcakes. Every week the bakery switches up its menu, which features staples such as cheesecake, cookie bars, homemade Oreos and cakes. Recent desserts include the raspberry chocolate truffle — a chocolate raspberry cake dipped in ganache and topped with a whipped chocolate buttercream and fresh raspberry. Her creativity particularly shines with her specialty cakes, including a recent cake with a wine glass filled with chocolate that “spills over” on the top and side of the cake. Another recent cake looked like a chicken on a platter, complete with a beak and feathers. “My favorite part of the job is doing custom orders, which allows me to be really creative. And I like being a part of celebrations for people,” Bollweg says. With the holidays coming up, the bakery will be taking pre-orders to make those gatherings with family and friends extra special. Last month for Thanksgiving, the bakery offered 6- and 12-pack treat boxes with a variety of pumpkin cupcakes, maple pecan cupcakes, caramel apple cheesecake bars and apple butter cookies. Check out the bakery’s social media accounts @hayliebsbakery on Instagram and Facebook for more details on holiday pre-orders this month. Periodically Haylie B’s Bakery hosts themed pop-up events. This fall, the bakery hosted a Mean Girls pop-up celebrating this iconic 2000s film. The special event menu featured pink bagels, raspberry cheesecake cups, sugar cookie sandwiches and pink glitter lemonade.

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