BREMERTON, Wash. — At McGavin's Bakery in Bremerton, where they've been satisfying sweet teeth for nearly 80 years, there's a cake so special people will drive across states to get some.
“The pink champagne cake,” Bill Sheldon nods. “It's on the sign: Home of the pink champagne cake”.
There are other treats as well: Danish pastries, cupcakes, and iced cookies. But the pink champagne cake put McGavin's on the map.
“It's just really, really light and fluffy and airy,” says Sheldon, “and the secret ingredient for the icing is something I couldn't tell anyone”.
Sheldon’s dad owned the recipe and the bakery, which he bought in 1981. Sheldon kept the old name and the sign, which had become a Bremerton landmark. The boys, who were both in high school, always had jobs.
“My brother and I joke it was child abuse making us get up early,” Bill Sheldon laughs.
“We would get up at about 1 AM and get in there and start getting everything prepped,” says Lance Sheldon. “When I joined the army I actually got to sleep in”.
They loved their dad but their sleepless childhoods convinced the Sheldon boys the last thing they wanted to do was run a bakery.
“We just kept telling our father ‘Dad why don't you just sell the bakery and go live off your golden years on a beach or something?’ and he wouldn't have it,” Bill Sheldon says. “He just loved what he did.”
In 2017 Bill Senior died and you can guess who inherited the bakery.
“To be honest my brother and I just looked at each other and we were like man we weren't ready for this. We never wanted this but because it's been here for so long we just couldn't let it go on our watch,” says Bill Sheldon.
“We own the building so we don't have to worry about rent,” says Lance Sheldon. “We decided we think we can do it let's give it a try”.
“We've maintained it for four years now,” says Bill Sheldon. “It’s still here and going strong”.
In a few years, Lance will move back to the area. He and Bill have had conversations their younger selves would not believe.
“Eventually when we both sort of retire maybe we can work at the bakery full-time together as a family like when we were kids,” says Bill Sheldon.
McGavin's Bakery is more than the home of the pink champagne cake. For the Sheldon sons, it's home sweet home.
McGavin's Bakery is located at 619 N Callow Ave. in Bremerton and is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 7 a.m to 3 p.m.
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