Rob Cooley didn’t buy Apple Annie’s Bake Shop until 2013, but he had a much longer connection with its previous owner. In mid-1985, before Cooley entered the U.S. Military Academy, his mother bought him a cake for a send-off party from the popular Chester’s Bakery near his home in northern New Jersey.
Fast forward 25 years, and Cooley had moved to Wilmington, where he discovered Apple Annie’s Bake Shop, a Kerr Avenue staple that immediately reminded him of home. Over time, he and its owner, Frank Longordo, learned of their similar roots.
“We started talking and I put it together and I said, ‘You’re not Frank from the Chester Bakery?’ And he said, ‘How do you know that?’”
Longordo then produced an old Polaroid photo of Cooley’s West Point cake. “It’s one of those small-world stories that you really can’t make up,” says Cooley.
Longordo had moved to Wilmington and opened Apple Annie’s Bake Shop in 1985. When he died in 2011, his son, Gary, was living in Florida and planned to close the business. Cooley urged him to reconsider.
“Gary asked me, ‘Do you know how to run a bakery?’” says Cooley. “And I said, ‘No, but I love to eat and I know business.’”
That was 12-and-a half years ago, says Cooley, who went on to open The Wine Sampler just down the street with family members as partners. He also co-founded Nuream, a mattress and sleep innovation company.
Cooley spent several years in the Army after graduating from West Point and then joined the Army Reserves in 1995, retiring in 2022 as a brigadier general, his last assignment as chief of staff of the Army Reserve Command at Fort Bragg.
Cooley says his Army Reserve experience gave him time for the bakery and his military career.
“We really made a promise to Frank and Gary that we would change none of the things that were incredible, the recipes, the people, the style, and we would just continue to grow it,” says Cooley.
Cooley remains active with Apple Annie’s Bake Shop operations, but in the last few years brought on Frank Lewis as general manager and Cora Foley as director of operations.
“Despite being a small business, this is a very complex business,” says Foley, noting Apple Annie’s Bake Shop makes 500 products from scratch and has both retail and wholesale customers.
The business produces about $2 million in annual revenue, including 70% from retail customers at the shop. About 28% comes from selling breads and desserts to Wilmington-area restaurants, with the balance from e-commerce. His plan is to boost the latter channel. Cakes are the biggest seller.
“We can’t ship everything obviously, but we can ship pies. We can ship some of our cakes, we can ship cheesecakes,” says Cooley. “It’s really amazing when somebody says they’re a third-generation fan of Apple Annie’s Bake Shop, but they live in Minneapolis, and they ask if we can send their mom her favorite cake, and she lives in Denver.”
Apple Annie’s Bake Shop has been in the same central business district since its launch 40 years ago. There’s no seating area, but its tasty treats have built a loyal following. Foley says she asked for a job in 2018 after tasting a cheese danish.
The recipes matter, she says.
“We have icings and fillings galore that we make. We make custard, we make chocolate custard, we make whipped cream from house. We make a Swiss meringue buttercream from scratch, so it’s a really light and airy and fluffy and not a too sweet buttercream, versus the American-style buttercream, which is just powdered sugar and butter.”
Apple Annie’s Bake Shop opens at 8 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and an hour later on Sundays. But the bakers show up at 3 a.m., preparing the rolls and desserts for wholesale customers, while giving cakes time to cool so decorators can apply icing.
Most customers don’t understand what it takes to have a display case of cookies or brownies ready first thing in the morning, she says. “The next time you visit a bakery, you should ask what goes into it.”
Baker workers get a workout. “When I’m hiring for production, and bread specifically, I tell people it is construction-type manual labor in the middle of the night. You will lift a thousand pounds of flour by the end of your shift and that’s every day,” Foley says.
To keeps things fresh, Apple Annie’s Bake Shop offers its “flavor of the moment,” she says. “That’s where either the baker’s feeling inspired or a flavor is trending. Or maybe we had a little extra chocolate mousse, so we decided to make a special cupcake.”
Sometimes the staff asks customers for recommendations. “We all have our favorites and we all just kind of yell it out,” she says.
The loyal following and word-of-mouth keeps Apple Annie’s growing, adds Cooley.
“If you want to buy a hundred cookies for a dollar you can go down the street or somewhere else. But if you want something handcrafted, using the freshest ingredients, products made with passion and by artisans then you know Apple’s is where you go.” ■
CREAM OF THE CROP
Apple Annie’s Bake Shop cake decorator acquires 1 million social media
followers by ‘accident.’
After 35 years of decorating cakes, Hans Westermark has grown accustomed to people lingering inside Apple Annie’s Bake Shop to admire his work. But it’s social media where he’s become a star, with about 1 million online followers across TikTok, Instagram
and Facebook regularly watching his work.
About 1 million online followers across TikTok, Instagram and Facebook regularly watch Westermark at work.
“Some people call me the Bob Ross of cakes,” says Westermark, “because a lot of time it looks like I’m painting on the cake, but with buttercream.”
Westermark says he doesn’t feel like the late “Joy of Painting” star, who achieved fame for painting landscapes on PBS. But he has fun even while unsure of how he attracted such an audience.
He started several years ago by posting a few videos. He thought he had hit his stride when one attracted 8,000 views.
A breakthrough came when he filmed himself writing on a cake. He asked his son if the post might reach 10,000 views. The next morning, it had 350,000 views, on its way to
7 million.
“I started getting noticed, so I kept posting,” he says.
He’s always been a bit shy in front of an audience, but has grown used to thousands watching his live demonstrations on Saturdays. His record video attracted 43.8 million views.
People want to see his next offering, he says. He decorates about 100 cakes a week, including about 30 on Saturdays. A cake big enough to feed a dozen people with standard icing and flowers costs about $136. Add a 3D car made of icing and the price can increase by $100. Cakes are the store’s biggest seller.
“About 80% of what I do is the same thing. It can feel mundane,” he says. “But the other 20% of my job is unpredictable. It gives me
an outlet to be creative.”
Westermark lacks any formal training in cake decorating. He started cleaning pans at Harris Teeter while a senior at Hoggard High School, before moving to Apple Annie’s Bake Shop. He started working full time there the day after his 1991 high school graduation, arriving
at 6 a.m.
Sometimes people will recognize him around town, although his hands get more screen time than his face. People from as far away as England have stopped by Apple Annie’s Bake Shop to meet him.
“One woman told me, ‘I met Martha Stewart and this is way better,’” he says. “That was quite a compliment.” ■