7 Layers Bakery — Real NY-Style Baked Goods Made By Real New Yorkers!

In case you didn’t realize it, I have something of a major sweet tooth. I’m more of a chocolate and peanut butter guy than I am into any type of fruit-flavored treats, but no matter what type of baked goods you prefer, I’m sure you’ll find something you’ll love at 7 Layers Bakery, located in the Grand Oaks Plaza on Wesley Chapel Blvd. (S.R. 54) in Lutz, in the same plaza as Amici Pizza.

It was easy for me to become friends with 7 Layers owners Evelyn Barreno and her husband William Morello. After all, not only are they fellow transplanted “New Yawkas,” they serve Evelyn’s amazing baked goods, most of which remind me a lot of the great bakery items I loved when I was growing up on Long Island.

Evelyn, whose background is in marketing, says she has been baking since she was a kid. “My mom, my grandmother…all of us…love to bake,” she says. “People have always told me I should open my own bakery, so here we are.”

I remember meeting this fun young couple at last year’s Wesley Chapel Fall Festival and being instantly hooked not only on Evelyn’s cake and cookie samples, but also on Will’s high-spirited, friendly approach to getting people to try everything.

Since their store opened a little less than a year ago, William and Evelyn have become involved with the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce, and held a Chamber ribbon-cutting ceremony almost a year ago.

“We’ve made a lot of friends through the Chamber,” Evelyn says. “The response since we opened the store has been amazing.” The bakery is also a favorite of Joey Richman’s, the young Wesley Chapel resident we wrote about in  a couple of recent issues, who has had some continuing health issues following a recent kidney transplant.

There’s no doubt that the baked goods are top-notch. Although the store is named for the famous Italian seven-layer rainbow cookies that Evelyn and Will grew up with in New York City, I initially fell in love with 7 Layers Bakery’s awesome specialty cupcakes, especially the Reese’s peanut butter cup cupcakes, which have not only decadent peanut butter-flavored icing, but also…surprise!…a mini Reese’s cup hidden in the center.

Other great cupcake flavors include double chocolate, double vanilla, creme brulée, toasted marshmallow, red velvet, cookies and cream and so many more.

But, even this man can not live by cupcakes alone. I’m also partial to Evelyn’s hand-piped cannolis with homemade cannoli cream, her amazingly flaky Napoleons, the real NY-style black-and-white cookies (Evelyn says some of her customers call them “half moons”) and the store’s assortment of loose Italian-style cookies available by the pound, especially the soft-baked chocolate chip cookies and the traditional NY-style lace cookies (which, according to Evelyn, some people call “Florentines,” even though I never heard that term before). 

Other items also available at 7 Layers Bakery include homemade tiramisu, flan and tres leches, as well as Italian sfogliatelle pastries (like crispy croissants with custard-style cream inside), as well as an ever-changing assortment of Leann’s cheesecakes, which are uniquely served in jars and great coffee.

Holiday Traditions!

Evelyn also says that she is already gearing up for the holiday season. “We’ve already started doing our pumpkin spice and we’ll have apple pie cupcakes soon,” she says. “By the time the holiday season really gets started after Halloween, we’re going to have to bring in an additional oven to handle the holiday orders,” Evelyn says. “We have a lot of very loyal customers.”

She says that in addition to Christmas tree-shaped, iced cookies, she will be creating some surprises for the holiday season. “But, get those orders in early, because we run out of our cookies a lot now already, so we expect to really be busy this holiday season.”

Custom Cakes, Too!

There’s no doubt that Evelyn also creates some amazing custom-designed cakes in your choice of flavors and designs.

“If you can dream it up, I can make it for you,” she says.

7 Layers Bakery (26306 Wesley Chapel Blvd.) is open seven days a week. For more info, visit 7LayerCookieCakes.com or the company’s Facebook page or call 388-2271.