Bakers Gonna Bake
Elana Pabon began Butter Bar Bakery while living in Virginia in 2019. She has been in this area for a full year now and has made Butter Bakery a well known name. The home-baker makes custom cookie orders and even teaches classes from time to time — something she plans to do more of this year.
Elana has an extensive background in both culinary arts and teaching, two things we don’t have the patience for. The years of experience gave her all the right ingredients for Butter Bar Bakery. Her passion for creating was the icing on the cake cookie.
“You can give me an invitation or details about the vibe you’re going for and I base the cookies off of it. I would rather do something creative than the same designs over and over,” she says. For Elana, the design process is the best part. She 3-D prints her own cookie cutters, so the sky is the limit with shapes and designs.
The name Butter Bar Bakery is loosely a military reference. The military spouse had the name in her head for several years before actually starting her business. “Some people get it, some don’t. I think it works either way because bakers use a lot of butter,” she says.
Why did you start the business?
“After becoming a mom to twins, I needed something to be just for me. I wanted to be Elana, who loves to bake, and cook, and create. I didn’t want ‘mom’ to be my only identity.”
What is your most popular request?
“I get orders for all kinds of events but most often do kids birthdays and baby showers. Right now unicorns are very popular. Everyone wants unicorns. When I lived in Virginia, I did a lot of military related cookies.”
Do you have any tips?
- Don’t buy premade dough
- Chill your dough
- Pay attention to the icing consistency
- Have fun
Butter Bar Bakery is usually completing around 12 dozen cookies a week. “Cookies do really well in this area,” she says. Check out her other designs here or order through her website.
