11
BUSINESS WWW.FAUQUIER.COM
Fauquier Times | October 31, 2018
Sweet things are her forte Signature Sweets by Amanda offers a variety of confections from cake pops to wedding cakes By Gabriela Tobar Contributing Writer
Inspired by her late grandmother, Amanda Keeney began Signature Sweets By Amanda in 2012. Since then she has immersed herself in a career as a pastry chef. Keeney’s grandmother passed down her books, recipes and pans. From those, Keeney’s desire to honor her grandmother’s legacy and recreate those kitchen memories has taken her on a journey from earning her culinary and pastry degree at Stratford University to now owning her own business. She started by baking cakes for friends and quickly discovered that more and more people liked what she did. She’s grown her business from cakes to donuts, macarons, cupcakes, cake pops and other small confections. Signature Sweets By Amanda began six years ago and has become a popular cake business in Northern Virginia. “This is my life. I work 24/7 on cakes and I very rarely get the night off on a Saturday depending on what I have going on Sunday,” said Keeney. “My business is from sunup to sundown for me.” The name Signature Sweets By Amanda was created from a decision Keeney made back in high school with help from her mother. Keeney wanted to make more than just cakes—she wanted to make sure people knew who made them. Keeney’s work, at just 25, was recently featured in The Martha Stewart Weddings and The Knot Magazine: Best of 2018 Weddings. But Keeney does much more than only wedding cakes. She makes confections for a variety of events that include indulging flavors and fillings. Signature Sweets has fast become a recommended cake vendor throughout Northern Virginia. Keeney has garnered awards for her decorating techniques and baking skill. All of Keeney’s fillings are made from scratch
PHOTO COURTESY OF FOREST HEART PHOTOGRAPHY
Amanda Keeney is the owner and chef at Signature Sweets By Amanda. with her creativity. Some of Keeney’s cake flavors include traditional chocolate, vanilla, lemon and red velvet flavors – but some of her more extravagant flavors are champagne, bourbon, spiced banana walnut and her grandmother’s special
carrot cake. Keeney works around allergies and gluten-free options for her clients to provide accommodations. See SWEET, page 12
Brian bakes up a cookbook ‘Red Truck Bakery Cookbook: Gold-Standard Recipes from America’s Favorite Rural Bakery’ now on sale By Vicky Moon
Contributing Writer
COURTESY PHOTO
Red Truck Bakery owner Brian Noyes debuts a cookbook just in time for holiday gift-giving. It’s full of scrumptious scone recipes, marvelous muffins, biscuits-to-beg-for and more.
To many of his Fauquier County friends and neighbors, Brian Noyes is a hometown country gentleman, even if he did grow up in California. Following a career in art design in Washington, D.C., he finally made his way to this splendid outdoor space. In 2008, at the height of the recession, Brian abandoned his career to follow his passion for baking.
The acclaimed Red Truck Bakery was born in his Shenandoah Valley farmhouse and, quite literally, out of the back of his old red truck (which he had purchased from fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger). The bakery began in an old gas station building on the corner of Waterloo and Ashby in Warrenton and grew quickly. A few years later, his Main Street store in Marshall followed. See RED TRUCK, page 12
Simple and Complex Estates
Fallon, Myers & Marshall, llP 110 Main Street Warrenton, VA 20186
540-349-4633
