By David Klotz, special to the Blog
After almost 35 years of operation on Phinney Ridge TM Desserts owner Tim Towner was looking to retire. Fortuitously enough, Alina Muratova was looking to move her wholesale baking operation out of the commissary kitchen she was using into a space of its own. She heard about Towner’s desire to move on through a customer, and reached out to him to discuss taking over the bakery. “He wanted to pass it on to somebody who wasn’t going to completely change everything…to carry on the legacy and continue taking care of his customers.”
Muratova moved into the space on November 1st, 2024 and at first didn’t know for sure if they would open for retail. But enough people continued to stop by and ask when they were reopening that it “seemed like a no brainer.”
Sweet! Bakery opened its doors to the public on January 15th, 2025. She describes it as a “Speakeasy bakery”, explaining “I didn’t want It to be in-your-face-flashy…I didn’t want a sign.” Advertising and social media presence has been kept to a minimum for now. A large part of the reason for this is that Sweet! is still mostly a wholesale bakery, with roughly 99% of the business coming from that. At least for now though there’s no password to get into the speakeasy.
Even with this approach, the retail side has been going well. “We sell out several days,” including the entire first week, Muratova told me. “If it takes off that would be amazing, and we would love to be part of the community.”
Muratova says her personal favorite is the Basque cheese cake, but the best seller has been the chocolate cake. “It sells out every day.” The mango mochi cake comes in at a solid second.
For those not familiar with Basque cheesecake, Muratova describes it as “a baby between a regular cheesecake and a flan.” There’s a lighter creaminess to it compared to the density of a New York style cheesecake, but it still has the richness and tartness from the cream cheese. The best seller chocolate cake is satisfyingly dense, with generous icing while not being too sweet.
Sweet! offers a couple hold overs from TM Desserts: the chocolate lava cake and Tim’s Monster Cookie, which is made with peanut butter, oats, walnuts and chocolate.
For those looking for gluten free, there’s the Basque cheese cake and the Mango mochi cake (the cheese cake is made without a crust), along with two varieties of cookies, including the Tim’s Monster Cookie.
Sweet! Bakery is located at 6116 Phinney Ave N and open Wednesday through Sunday, 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. More info is available on their website at www.sweetbakeryseattle.com
