There’s a newish bakery in Olympia. Tender Velvet Rebel Oven opened in the 222 Market building on Capitol Way in November. Its menu offers a luxurious spin on baked goods, especially sweets like cakes and cupcakes, but also savory biscuits. The shop held a grand opening in July.
Not wishing to rush into an opening celebration, owner Mari Pasos-Quarello got set up and started selling her creations with help from her wife Mych Pasos-Quarello. Mych also designed most of the branding for Tender Velvet Rebel Oven. After five months, they had saved up enough money to hire an additional baker and counter help.
Fresh, Organic Ingredients Serve as the Building Blocks at Olympia Bakery
Besides the unusual business name, one of the first things customers might notice is the focus on creamy ingredients and soaked layers, like brown butter cream cheese, guava cream and guava milk soak, pistachio mascarpone, and pistachio white chocolate ganache. But the list of indulgent, unusual ingredients doesn’t stop there. There’s also diplomat cream, which is a mixture of pastry cream lightened with whipped cream. “It’s really yummy stuff,” Mari says.
Another major factor in making Tender Velvet Rebel Oven’s baked goods so delicious are the local and organic ingredients. Mari gets her organic flour from Skagit Valley and her eggs from Spotted Frog Farms in Olympia. “If you’re going to eat sweets … at least the ingredients should be high quality,” Mari says, noting that they try to avoid ingredients with additives and contaminants. “I think people can taste the difference,” she adds.
“I’ve always wanted to start a food business of some kind,” Mari says. She learned how to bake professionally at her first job in a bakery in the Bay Area, after which she also held kitchen jobs in delis and gastro pubs. After moving to Olympia to attend The Evergreen State College, she studied food systems, including the sourcing of local organic ingredients to reduce chemicals and contaminants in what you eat.
Olympia Bakery Name Describes How Owner Lives and What She Likes
Now about that name. “It’s a mouthful but we’re into that,” Mari says.
She originally thought of naming the bakery Rebel Oven. “I’ve always kind of been a little rebel and just done what I want so it’s like an extension of that.” Then she thought of using words that describe cake and pastry that she enjoys. “I couldn’t pick between the two,” she admits, so she decided to keep them all.
Besides the unusual business name, Mari uses cheeky names for some of her cakes. The carrot cake might only stand out because of its brown butter cream cheese frosting. But the Bruce Bruce chocolate cake may remind you of its namesake, the character Bruce who had to eat a large quantity of chocolate cake in the Roald Dahl story “Matilda.” Mari describes pistachios as a “bougie” ingredient, so she gave that cake the name Bougie B–ch Pistachio.
Matcha Drinks Round Out the Menu at Tender Velvet Rebel Oven
The baked goods menu also includes tres leches cake cups, Basque cheesecake, brownies, cookies and savory biscuits.
If you, like Mari, are more of a matcha than a coffee fan, you’ll notice the drink focus on flavored matcha, along with several hojicha and a few coffee and tea drinks.
When the business grows into a larger space, Mari hopes to add pies, sandwiches, and more biscuits, which might include a gravy-stuffed biscuit.
Olympia Bakery’s Evening Hours Fill Local Void for Those Seeking Sweets
While many bakeries open early in the morning and close by mid-afternoon, Mari decided to serve the lunch and evening crowd after struggling during evening hours to find a place other than a grocery store to buy a piece of cake. Currently open from Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. (or earlier on Sunday if they sell out first), Mari hopes to add additional staff in the next couple of months so they can open the shop on Wednesdays too. Their proximity to places like Sophie’s Scoops, Chelsea Farms Oyster Bar, and Dos Hermanos Mexican Kitchen in the 222 Market building, that also stay open into the evening, make this choice work too.
One Friday morning soon after opening for the day, a customer comes in and orders several slices of the decadent cake to go. She explains she’s stocking up for a weekend activity and says, “I just really like your stuff.”
Tender Velvet Rebel Oven
Inside the 222 Market building
222 Capitol Way N, Olympia
360.350.0302
