Our Recipes: Mary Anne's Coffee Cake

One of the most iconic and recognized of our Signature recipes bears the name of one of our founders, Mary Anne Kowalski. Mary Anne's Coffee Cake has been a staple in our Bakery Department for more than 20 years. By far our best-selling coffee cake, it's made from an enriched sweet yeast dough swirled with cinnamon and baked in a pool of almond-studded caramel. Unlike other coffee cakes, it's flipped upside-down after baking, like a pan of caramel rolls, to allow the rich, sticky glaze to soak down into the tender baked dough. Maple glaze is literally the icing on the cake.

The Maple Stick was originally sold at Dutch Bakery, located near St. Clair and Cleveland Avenues in St. Paul. As a girl, Mary Anne, who lived above the hardware store in the neighborhood, used to visit Dutch regularly. Many years later, when she and her husband, Jim, needed a bakery to supply their then three Kowalski's stores, they bought the historic bakeshop. Reluctant to give up one of her favorite childhood treats and wanting to share it with others, she requested our bakers turn the Maple Stick into a coffee cake. Sometime later, customers requested a more portable, personal-sized pastry, like the original. Thus, our very own (very generously sized) Maple Stick was born.

Mary Anne's Coffee Cake was the first and, until recently, the only recipe named after Mary Anne. It's a testament to her role as the driving force behind this recipe's development as well as her love for the product. The other item bearing her name? It's also a cake: Mary Anne's Fudge Cake, part of our Kitchen Counter Cake Collection.

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