BIZ: Texas Pecan Cakes changes hands
Two Texas Pecan Cakes cool on a rack after being pulled out of the oven. The Bertram business is under new ownership as of early March. Photo courtesy of Texas Pecan Cakes
Bertram’s award-winning Texas Pecan Cakes will be baked by new owners Susan and Dale Malone, who purchased the business from Bridget and Will McCoy in early March. The Malones are moving the operation to mostly online, but the cakes still will be available for purchase at BTX Coffee in the Joann Cole Mitte Memorial Library in Bertram.
The McCoys shut down their pecan cake business in late 2022 due to Will’s battle with pancreatic cancer. The Malones, who had tried the cakes on a family trip and loved them, contacted the McCoys and offered to purchase the business when they learned the couple was halting production indefinitely.
The Malones trained alongside Will for weeks in the bakery to nail the recipe, which is based upon the pecan cakes that his mother, Lorraine, made at home. The business is still on hold while production is streamlined and adjustments are made to packaging, but Susan Malone told DailyTrib.com they expect to be up and running by early May.
“We’re not in a hurry to blow off the doors or anything,” she said. “We just want to strive for excellence. Our goal is to put a smile on people’s faces every day.”
The cakes gained local fame and widespread distribution when the McCoys won H-E-B’s Quest for the Texas Best competition in 2017. Along with a cash prize, the couple’s cakes were put in H-E-B stores across the state. The cakes are no longer in H-E-B, but Susan Malone told DailyTrib.com that the relationship with the grocer remains.
BTX Coffee took over the former location of the Texas Pecan Cake Shop in the Bertram library in early March. The owners plan to team up with the Malones to continue selling the cakes in Bertram.
“We are happy to announce that we plan on offering these same amazing Texas Pecan Cakes with a great cup of coffee,” reads a post from BTX’s Facebook page. “So you will still be able to buy the cakes you love at the same location.”
The McCoys could not be reached for comment by the time of this story’s publication.