When you hear SugarFire, your mind and your taste buds are likely thinking barbeque, but half of the business comes from Carolyn Downs' sweets.
She’s been baking for decades and if you’ve eaten at some of St. Louis' favorite restaurants, you’ve likely fallen for her bread pudding or cakes or her pies. Or her pake. What’s a pake? Well it’s a pie inside of a cake. And right now it’s getting a national spotlight thanks to the Cooking Channel show Cheat Day USA.
Carolyn works alongside her husband who brought back the beloved Cyrano’s Café in Webster Groves and alongside Chef and restauranteur Mike Johnson, together they opened the first Sugar Fire Smoke House in 2012. Mike handled the fire…Carolyn the sugar.
They’ve expanded across the St Louis area and across the country to bring St Louis BBQ and the perfect desserts to pair with them, to an even bigger audience.
But it all started small, and Carolyn joined us this week to talk about those early days and how she talked her pies into some of the kitchens around town.
Learn more by listening to our interview with Mike Johnson in Episode 50 here --> https://bit.ly/3tMF0SY
