One of the pastry display cases at Sin Desserts new shop
Sin, an award-winning dessert bakery based in Providence, owned and operated by pastry chef Jennifer Luxmoore, has expanded into a storefront café and retail operation on the ground floor of their 200 Allens Avenue location. The shop is now open with a grand opening celebration planned for Saturday, April 14. In addition to cakes, the store sells an assortment of cookies, cupcakes, muffins, scones and what Luxmoore calls “cupcake shots”—mini versions of her cupcakes for 75¢. There is hot coffee and cold-brewed iced coffee for sale as well.
I’ve had the opportunity to sample many of Luxmoore’s desserts at various culinary events and a couple of weddings over the last few years. Her work has often jumped out at me as very flavorful and always a great dessert, while not being overly sweet. This past November I was a judge for the City of Providence‘s 375th birthday cake competition, which Luxmoore won, a decision I was happy to take part in. Her cake was beautiful and was also my favorite bite of the evening (the competitors served the judges cupcake samples of their larger creations to evaluate taste). That cake is on display in the retail space and you can find some photos of it on Facebook.
Sin Desserts menu board
I stopped in to the store on it’s second day of being open. Luxmoore treated me to a Cheddar Bacon Scone and iced coffee while we talked about her opening this new part of her business. “We’d been having a bunch of people stop in over the course of the last year, thinking that we were a traditional bakery,” Luxmoore said. “Since we were only custom order, we didn’t have anything to give them. I hate to send people away without treats! So we started looking for a retail space, but didn’t find the right space. Everything was too big, too small or too expensive. Then late in [2011], I learned that the gallery space next to me was going to be open.”
After a remodel—which included the display cases, coffee preparation stand, a bookshelf of great pastry cookbooks and other reading materials, and seating for sixteen—the store was ready to open. “We’re starting out small—a few items and a few flavors of each item—and we’ll expand as we get busier. We have a great Cheddar and Bacon Scone and Blueberry Muffin, Chocolate Chip Cookies baked fresh every morning, plus a different cookie every week. We started out with our favorite Chipotle Peanut Butter! Plus we have Whoopie Pies, cupcakes and brownies, and of course Coffee and Iced Coffee,” Luxmoore said.
The Sin Desserts shop will be open Monday – Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 200 Allens Avenue in Providence. You can find Sin on Facebook and at eatwicked.com.
Sin Desserts new space
