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From the Columbus Dispatch | Shop Talk
A weekly chat with a store owner or clerk in central
Ohio
Thursday,
April 2, 2009
Darlene Jones with a drizzle cake Jeff Hinckley | dispatch
Darlene Jones
Owner, The Suisse Shop, 2119 Polaris Parkway
(614) 846-5102
Q: You were a registered nurse for 17 years,
then an interior designer. Your husband persuaded you -- an avid
cook and baker -- to check out a bakery that was for sale. So,
you've been at this for six years?
A: I never thought I'd work this hard
at this age! (laughing)
Q: The original Suisse Shop was opened by
a Swiss woman, then run by a German and then by an Italian, yes?
A: And now an American lady -- although
we still follow some of the European recipes.
Q: Where did your passion for baking come
from?
A: My mother was German, and she had
a pastry table. She showed me how to knead breads and make creams.
Q: What do you make?
A: The main game is our cakes and European
tortes. All of our products are made from scratch using the best
ingredients.
My mom always said, "Your product is only as good as its ingredients." I would be embarrassed to put out a product that I did not absolutely love.
Q: What are some examples of your work?
A: We do muffins with cream cheese and
fresh strawberries in them. We do brownies that are made with three
types of chocolate and dipped in chocolate ganache. We do Kentucky
tortes, and we use a really good bourbon in them.
We do peanut-butter cup cookies, with an actual peanut-butter cup in them. We do princess bars that have hazelnuts and oatmeal and real butter.
Q: And everything's fresh?
A: If you're going to get the calories
today, make it worth it! I don't have preservatives. My products
are made fresh.
Q: You pride yourself on offering new items
for holidays. What do you have for Easter?
A: We make these cakes that look like
an egg. . . . We can put in it anything people want. I make Easter
egg cookies. We do a cookie that looks like an Easter basket and
it has little jelly beans in it.
Q: You can even package colorfully decorated
sugar cookies for baskets, right?
A: We can put these in a plastic bag
so you can put it in a basket. Kids get such a charge out of this
sort of stuff.
Q: Easter treats aside, what's your most popular
product?
A: The Suisse Almond. It's an almond
cake, and I don't use almond extracts -- I use real almond paste.
It's filled with a layer of seedless raspberry marmalade, a layer
of French buttercream, and then it's topped with French buttercream
and wrapped with toasted almonds.
Q: What's your personal favorite?
A: It's so hard! I love the triple sin,
because I'm a nut freak, and this is filled with the best chocolate
mousse.
-- Kristy Eckert keckert@capital-style.com
Media Contact:
Herb Jones
(740) 815-7335
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