Alliston baker Samantha Young developing loyal following with her butter tarts
Some artists express their creativity with the stroke of a paint brush on a canvas, while others like Samantha Young use butter, flour, eggs, sugar and a warm oven to bring their visions to life.
Young, who turns 23 next month, has long dreamed of having her own bakery.
She’ll never forget the day she asked her mom how she could combine her love of art and baking.
“She said ‘Oh, you can be a baker or a pastry chef.’ So since (age) 10 that’s what I wanted to do for sure. I never changed,” Young said.
After graduating from Banting Memorial High School she went to the University of Houston to get her business degree in hotel and restaurant management, and finished her studies after transferring to Guelph.
When she graduated in February she was still planning on attending culinary school, but then an opportunity came up after a storefront in downtown Alliston became available.
The property’s landlord reached out to her to see if she would open her own bakery.
“I hadn’t gone to culinary school yet, but I decided I will just do all of my self-taught baking,” she said. “I might as well just dive in and see what happens.”
Leading up to this she was already building up a loyal customer base with the treats she sold during the fall at her boyfriend’s business down the street, Cool Moose Creamery, like her famous butter tarts, pies and cookies.
“I kinda got my following there, and then at The Well Café a couple doors down, I started baking for them too,” she said.
The landlord of the Well also owns the building where her bakery is located.
“He was obsessed with my butter tarts and said I needed a place to sell these things,” she added.
Carriage House Bakery celebrated its grand opening in late April.
“It’s been unbelievable, the support from the community has been even better than we imagined it would be,” she said.
Most of the treats are based on old family recipes passed down from her grandparents and other relatives.
Her Scottish shortbread has been in the family for generations, and her fudge squares are her great aunt’s recipe.
Her butter tarts, which come in plain, pecan and raisin varieties, are the most popular daily baked items, followed closely by the scones, cinnamon biscuits and cookies.
She also does custom orders for cakes, cookies, cupcakes and cake pops.
“That’s starting to take off more than we expected to,” she said. “We are now getting booked three weekends in advance.”
Her dad Greg bakes the bread, which is offered in different varieties throughout the week, like farmhouse white, chunky cheddar, multigrain, whole wheat and natural sour dough.
“His passion has always been bread,” she said. “He’s always loved it and he’s a real bread nerd.”
Carriage House Bakery is located at
To contact them call , visit their or follow them on Instagram
They are open Monday to Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.