As cold weather begins to warm, and the flowers begin to bloom, the first signs of spring usher in brand new opportunities for retail cake and pastry shops across America.

Shoppers are hungry for fresh flavors and bright designs. America’s top bakeries are poised and ready to respond.

Three Brothers Bakery is ready for Mardi Gras season 2025, which culminates on Fat Tuesday, March 4. All of the Houston bakery’s four locations will have King Cakes, cupcakes, dipped decorated cookies, petit fours and more available for purchase in store or online for pickup at all Three Brothers Bakery locations. 

Other innovative retailers offer their own versions.

“It's one of our favorite times of the year, when we bake up our classic Galette des Rois (or "king's cake") to celebrate Epiphany, the day the Three Kings visited Baby Jesus,” pastry chef and owner Dominique Ansel of Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York City.

Their version is a traditional French cake is filled with creamy almond frangipane inside a flaky, buttery puff pastry crust (think: almond croissant in cake form). Guests can pre-order this traditional French treat (serves 6-8 people), available in two flavors: classic almond frangipane and a new hazelnut praliné version (filled with hazelnut almond frangipane, liquid hazelnut praliné, and caramelized hazelnuts) for Soho & Flatiron New York City,

Perfecting the process

At Three Brothers Bakery, king cake flavor options include plain (no filling), king cake with cheese filling, king cake with choice of the following – cheese, strawberry/cheese, raspberry/cheese, or pecan praline

Many folks from Louisiana have deemed the Three Brothers Bakery as good as the ones they had at home. Perfecting the process for almost 200 years, each day the fifth-generation scratch bakers produce a full line of breads, pastries, cookies, specialty dessert cakes, and pies. 

All king cakes are decorated with Mardi Gras beads and other seasonal decorations. And, of course, there is a plastic baby inside for someone to find who traditionally will have to bring the next king cake.

“About 10 years ago the team from Three Brothers Bakery went to a bakery convention in New Orleans during Mardi Gras season and went on a bus tour of about 9 different area bakeries,” the owners recall. “They came home with about 9 different king cakes and let everyone try them and decide what they liked best about each one. Then the team reformulated the bakery’s king cake into what it is today.” 

The traditions of Three Brothers Bakery began in Chrzanow, Poland circa 1825, and were preserved despite the family’s concentration camp imprisonment during the Holocaust. Their liberation and subsequent move to Houston, brought Eastern European scratch baking traditions to 4036 S. Braeswood Blvd, 12393 Kingsride Lane, 4606 Washington Ave., 574 Chimney Rock Rd, where the owners are now proud to call themselves “memory makers who happen to be bakers®.” 

Three Brothers Bakery was named 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Best of the Best Bakery by Houston Chronicle Readers and their pecan pie was named “the Best Mail Order Pecan Pie America has to offer” by Country Living magazine multiple times along with many other accolades. 

In 2018, Three Brothers Bakery received the SBA Phoenix Award for Small Business Disaster Recovery and advocates to help small businesses recover after disasters.

All king cakes are decorated with Mardi Gras beads and other seasonal decorations.

Anniversary season

Special anniversaries are another reason to celebrate. Filipino bakery Red Ribbon Bakeshop, Inc., founded in the Philippines over four decades ago, is celebrating its 40th anniversary in the United States. Best known for its beautifully crafted cakes, including its signature Mango Supreme Cake and vibrant Ube Overload Cake – and its unique lineup of sweet and savory pastries, the beloved bakeshop is marking this milestone by offering a week-long celebration filled with special deals, freebies and giveaways at its participating US locations.

“For 40 years here in the US, Red Ribbon has been elevating special occasions with our uniquely delicious cakes and pastries. We’re so appreciative that our fans see our treats as an essential part of getting together with the people they love,” says Donny Reyes, business unit head, Red Ribbon Bakeshop, Inc. “With our 40th anniversary, we’re looking forward to celebrating both our longtime fans and newcomers to our brand who are discovering our delicious take on traditional bakery items for the first time.”

Red Ribbon serves visitors at 38 locations across the US, including California, Nevada, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Texas and Illinois.

Flavor trends

For all retailers, it’s vital to watch the trends regarding the flavors that today’s shoppers crave.

One of the world’s top food and beverage flavor manufacturers has officially named the 2025 Flavor of the Year: brown sugar. 

As versatile as it is nostalgic, brown sugar has been a culinary staple for centuries. While it has origins as a cooking and culinary ingredient, brown sugar features a rich, complex flavor profile that makes it popular in a wide array of products and foodservice menu items ranging from baked goods to sweet and savory sauces, beverages and more. 

The sweet ingredient is increasingly featured by coffee shops in “brown sugar lattes,” and gaining momentum among mixologists for the deep flavor notes it adds to craft beverages and cocktails like Old Fashioneds or dark rum-based drinks. Since brown sugar is not refined to remove all of its molasses content, it retains an intense caramel-like richness and a warm color that makes this ingredient popular among foodies and culinary influencers on social media. 

Brown sugar’s new crowning as Flavor of the Year is just one of many findings in the 2025 Food and Beverage Flavor Trends Report, a free annual publication by California-based flavor manufacturer T. Hasegawa USA.  

T. Hasegawa has developed custom flavors for the world’s top food and beverage brands for more than a century. Globally recognized for its innovation and expertise in flavor development and proprietary flavor enhancing technologies, T. Hasegawa remains at the forefront of consumer trends and shares these developments and research findings throughout the food and beverage industry.

“Consumer preferences are continually evolving in food and drink categories, and the flavor industry is on the frontline of these trends,” said Mark Webster, vice president of sales and marketing at T. Hasegawa USA. “By working with many of the world’s top food and beverage brands, our R&D team have direct insight to the ingredients, culinary trends and consumer demands that will influence restaurant menus and CPG products well into the future.”