By Russ Tarby
Contributing Writer
Two innovative young pastry chefs – Kaleigh Ligoci and Lauren Scarpelli – are sweetening the Liverpool village business district by opening the Sugar Blossom Cake Shop at 304 Tulip St., across the street from the Cobblestone tavern.
A ribbon cutting hosted by the Greater Liverpool Chamber of Commerce is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 3.
“We’ll be specializing in custom cakes,” Ligoci said, “but we also plan to offer a variety of flavors of French macarons, specialty brownies and bars, cupcakes, cookies, cake slices, flourless chocolate cakes as well as coffee and tea.”
On weekends, Sugar Blossom will also sell assorted breakfast pastries; sugarblossomcakeshop.com; 315-214-5637.
Although the two baking ladies have barely passed age 30, they are each well-experienced in their chosen craft.
An alumna of Cicero-North Syracuse High School, Ligoci went on to study baking production and management at Alfred State College.
“After that I dove into the baking world at Mario’s Bakery in North Syracuse. I was there for a little over two years and then went on to work at Turning Stone Casino and Resort where I spent most of my six years there creating wedding cakes.”
More recently Ligoci worked as pastry chef at Sugar and Company in Syracuse’s Armory Square and later at Half Moon Bakery and Bistro in Jamesville.
Sugar Blossom co-owner Lauren Scarpelli graduated from Lake Placid High School before majoring in baking and pastry Arts at Paul Smith’s College in the heart of the Adirondacks. She interned at Cake Placid before accepting a pastry position at Adams Fairacre Farms in the Hudson Valley.
Scarpelli then moved to Central New York and became pastry chef at Wysockies Manor in Cicero for a short time before joining the baking team at the Half Moon Bakery in Jamesville.
The new cake shop will be open for business from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Macaron vs. macaroon
Prepare to be dazzled by dozens of multi-colored French macarons at the Sugar Blossom Cake Shop.
And make no mistake, we’re talking French macarons (pronounced “mack-ah-ROHN”) and not coconut macaroons (“mack-ah-ROON”).
These two cookies are constructed in totally different ways. French macarons are sandwich cookies. They consist of two halves of delicate, airy cookie with a layer of filling in between. They’re like brightly colored Oreos.
Sugar Blossom bakers Ligoci and Scarpelli said they will do their best to ensure that the size and shape of each macaron is as identical as possible. Color and flavor are what distinguish one macaron from another.
By comparison, macaroons are fairly dense, ambiguously shaped dollops of coconut-flavored cookie, baked to a moderate shade of golden brown.
For now, Sugar Blossom will only be serving French macarons, but Scarpelli said they may bake some coconut macaroons once warmer weather returns next year.
