Email
PrintJust Desserts
In time for the holidays, this Hermosa Beach resident puts her own sweet twist on a South Bay favorite.
Photographed by Siri Berting
Before Laura Mandracchia became the new owner of Cake Bake Shop in Manhattan Beach this year, she already had one foot firmly planted in the kitchen. “I started here in 2008 as the baker. I had just relocated from San Francisco and was really lucky to be able to step right in,” she says. “Earlier this year, the owners mentioned that they were moving on and asked if I would be interested in buying the shop.” Jumping on the opportunity, Laura reopened the doors of Cake Bake Shop on August 16.
Laura’s rise to the top has often been a charmed and auspicious one, getting her first position as pastry chef when her boss quit only a week before the restaurant opening. “It was scary but awesome all at once,” she remembers, “but I knew I had found my place.” She started a wholesale company called Sweet Art, consulting and producing sweets and treats, before moving to the South Bay a few years ago.
Since taking the reigns at Cake Bake Shop, Laura has introduced new items to the menu like scones, coffee cake, macarons and banana bread, as well as Peet’s Coffee for the morning crowd. “There are also many new cookies, cakes and bars that remind us all of those sweets and treats from a simpler time,” she says. Driven by the season and the holidays, there will always be something new behind the counter in December. “I want Cake Bake Shop to be a must-stop in the South Bay. I even have a dog bowl outside, and I make organic dog treats!”
