About Our Bakery
A Slice of Southern Hospitality
Since 1997, Sugaree’s has created made-from-scratch cakes in historic New Albany, Mississippi. Our cakes are rooted in traditional, Southern recipes and a devotion to simple, premium, locally-sourced ingredients. We are in love with our town, proud of the traditions we sustain, and delighted to have become a celebrated, nationwide ambassador of classic Southern layer cakes. Community, authenticity, and history are baked into every cake we make.
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We Bake to Bring People Together
What’s the Best Part of a Freshly-baked Dessert?
While some might say it’s the frosting, we think it’s getting to share a slice with our favorite people. To share food is to share a piece of our heritage and our hearts.
Time Around the Table Creates Memories & Connects Us to One Another
Our mission at Sugaree’s is to make that table bigger and bigger, and pass around enough plates and forks to ensure that everyone gets a taste of real southern food and culture.
Share Your Sugaree’s Moments With Us
We hope that our desserts give you and your loved ones the chance to slow down, enjoy good times, and make new traditions around your table.
As the kids say, pics or it didn’t happen!
@SugareesBakeryOur Treats Are Worth Writing Home About
Every Cake Must Be Up to the Standards of One Person: My Mom
“I grew up learning to bake with my mom and grandmother. My mom was one of those people who made 30 kinds of Christmas candy, and everything else you can imagine. Our family tables were where important memories were made, sacred spaces with homemade food at the center.
The setting didn’t have to be fancy. My grandmother’s holiday dessert table was a big piece of wood set across the washer and dryer in the laundry room. The food and the community it created were the important parts. With Sugaree’s cakes, I’m sharing that love, honoring family, and passing on those memories.”
- Mary Jennifer Russell
What People Are Saying
“The O list taste testers were rendered speechless (mouths full) by this moist cream—cheese pound cake from Sugaree’s Bakery. It’s made using a recipe from Robbie Ray, a Mississippi woman who clearly knows her way around a cake pan.”
“It only took one bite, and we fell in love with this bakery in New Albany, Mississippi. Sure they have layer cakes galore, but the pies are what we dream about.”
“The folks at Sugaree’s Bakery know their way around a dessert. I wasn’t alone in my thoughts when a coworker took a bite and, between chews, was able to say only, ‘oh, my god!’”
“Sugaree's Bakery in New Albany, Miss., lets us all in on the Southern tradition. The caramel cake is the classic, made by melting sugar in a cast-iron pan. The red velvet is not too sweet and terrifically tender, and these cakes arrive in perfect condition, frozen and on dry ice.”
1997
Meet MJ, the Face Behind the Frosting
Sugaree’s founder, President, and boss baker, Mary Jennifer Russell – or MJ – is a woman of many talents. When she established Sugaree’s Bakery in 1997, MJ was still fresh out of college with a Biology degree from Ole Miss and a desire to preserve and share Southern baking heritage. At first, MJ ran the business from her home kitchen, selling baked goods to the public. By 1998, she started selling them wholesale, also from her home!
2001
Sugaree’s Opens a Retail Location
After a few years in business, the bakery outgrew MJ’s house and opened a retail store in beautiful downtown New Albany, Mississippi! All these years later, it’s still the place that Sugaree’s Bakery calls home.
2008
The Bakery Grows Bigger
As business expanded, so did Sugaree’s! The bakery took over the storefront next door (which includes a loft apartment you can book on Airbnb), launched a website, and started selling cakes by mail to share their delicious Southern recipes beyond New Albany, MS for the first time.
2012
Sugaree’s Supports Local Farmers
From 2012-2020 MJ spearheaded the Biscuits & Jam Farmers’ Market held every Saturday morning starting in late May and continuing through the summer. Sugaree’s Bakery added to the offerings of dozens of local farmers and food artisans with concerts and free biscuits, jam, and coffee.
2014
Connecting to Tanglefoot Trail
MJ's community activism has included multiple successful and significant grants to support improvements in New Albany. Among these efforts, MJ held community workshops, spoke at an EPA national conference, and pursued multiple grants. One such project was a plan to expand the farmers' market and connect it to the Tanglefoot Trail, a historic 43.6-mile railroad trail.
July 2015
Cream Cheese Pound Cake added to Oprah’s O List
Ms. Robbie Ray, affectionately known as “The Cake Lady,” was a beloved baker from New Albany, Mississippi, renowned for her famous Cream Cheese Pound Cake recipe. She baked her famous cake for the public for 30 years, making over 10,000 pound cakes and donating over $100,000 to her church youth group. She happily shared her recipe with anyone and gave Sugaree’s Bakery a tutorial shortly after opening, at which point the cake was added to the menu. Sugaree’s donated another $50,000 to her charity over the next twenty years and surprised Ms. Robbie Ray in her retirement over lunch one day with the issue of O Magazine that featured her cake.
December 2015
Red Velvet Cake Featured on The New York Times Holiday Gift Guide
2015 was a big year for Sugaree’s and it certainly ended with a bang—the Red Velvet Cake appeared on the Holiday Gift Ideas and Guide feature published by The New York Times, pitching cakes from Sugaree’s Bakery as perfect holiday presents.
2017
MJ Named Mississippi’s Small Business Person of the Year
The U.S. Small Business Administration highlighted just 54 entrepreneurs out of the 28 million small businesses across the nation, one from each U.S. state and territory. For her many contributions to the community, MJ Russell was declared Mississippi’s Small Business Person of the Year. A recognition ceremony was held in Washington D.C.
2021
Southern Living Sings Sugaree’s Praises
Sugaree’s Bakery was selected as the only Mississippi bakery on Southern Living’s list of The South’s Best Bakeries. New Albany, MS was also declared by the magazine to be one of The South’s Best Small Towns.
2022
Still on the Rise
Sugaree’s Bakery expanded its operations yet again, purchasing a 50,000 sq. ft. warehouse to assist with their bustling nationwide shipping business (shipping frozen cakes to all 48 contiguous states), wholesale orders, fundraisers, and corporate gifting.
110 West Bankhead St New Albany, MS 38652
Open Tues-Sat 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed Sun-Mon
Phone 1 (866) SUGAREE
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