What is Tart's? Well, if I said “we are a small-batch, home-grown pastry shop,” would that help? Not really, huh? I get that reaction from first time customers pretty often because really, what we do here is fairly unusual. The thing is, first we grow our own ingredients—not the flour and sugar, I’ll give you that—but the fruit and herbs and vegetables that go into our delicious goodies. Our pastries blend the world of sweet and savory by using herbs and spices in innovative, unexpected ways our customers adore. Our preserves are made with hours and hours of hard labor; picking, washing, preparing, cooking and canning all distilled down into little treasure pots. Our wedding cakes are edible art to feed 50 or 500 each designed just for you. Call us for very special birthday cakes, tea parties, dinner party desserts, and any time you need a unique treat to share.

I started Tart's—that’s me, Susan Bostian Young—in 1995 because I thought folks in our area deserved quality scratch bakery and had the tastebuds to know it. And they definitely do. Word spreads quickly when it comes to good food. Customers call us up to place orders for tarts or cookie trays or cakes. Freshness is key—which is why we make our products to order. No three day old muffins languishing in a case here. In fact, we don’t even have a retail shop—we’re just the garden, the commercial kitchen and the delivery car—all located at our home in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. That’s right, at our home we’ve built a kitchen which is licensed and inspected by the State of Wisconsin.

A couple years ago we thought we’d try something new and started selling our pastries and preserves at local farmer’s markets. Wow, has that been fun. May through October I am out there talking with customers, answering baking questions and getting very important feedback about our goodies. That’s it I guess…just a small-batch, home-grown pastry shop. If you want to know more just send me a line at info@thetartlady.com.

Oh. One more thing. The name. Yes, the apostrophe is intended. It’s an old joke from pastry school—don’t ask.