New Kensington bakery Evanly Bakes has made a sweet expansion under the slogan “bigger & gayer than ever.”
Baker Evan Morgan-Newpher and his business partner, Kate Heller, joined New Kensington Mayor Tom Guzzo on Saturday to cut a red ribbon announcing the new location’s grand opening.
Evanly Bakes, now at 945 Fifth Ave., sells gluten-free brownies and blondies as well as cake jars, which are layers of cake and frosting made to enjoy right out of the jar.
Doors of the new location opened at noon, and customers shuffled in and out of the shop, grabbing samples of cake and trying chocolate cherry beer from Tortured Souls Brewing Co. in New Kensington.
The bakery’s previous home was just across Fifth Avenue from the new location.
“In the last 4½ years or so, the city of New Kensington has opened up about 154 new businesses,” Guzzo said. “Our downtown has become sort of a great place for bakeries, and every one is distinct. … We’re looking forward to Evan doing another great job.”
Lower Burrell sisters Lisa and Chrissy Dibas, 30, have been frequent customers of Morgan-Newpher’s since he opened his first location in November 2024.
“We’re always pretty well stocked with his items,” said Lisa, 37.
Morgan-Newpher started Evanly Bakes as a home business in January 2023 after working at the Tulsa Zoo for 10 years.
While he describes himself as a “hobby baker,” he was one of three finalists on the third season of Canadian cooking competition series “Great Chocolate Showdown” in 2022.
The new bakery location will be able to accommodate 12 to 16 people inside and 24 to 36 people on the outdoor patio in warmer months.
Inside, the bakery has two couches for relaxing, a television that plays dance music, a disco ball and a rack of LGBTQ themed merchandise available for purchase.
Morgan-Newpher wanted the bakery to be a place where people could comfortably gather and said that, once the patio opens, Evanly Bakes plans to host drag events.
“It allows people to have a space that doesn’t feel stuffy,” Morgan-Newpher said.
For Heller, who has a 12-year-old daughter with autism, the expansion of Evanly Bakes means creating safe community spaces for LGBTQ and neurodivergent individuals.
“We’re adding something to the community,” Heller said.
Evanly Bakes has 10 flavors of blondies, two flavors of brownies — which are circle-shaped treats decorated with spoke wheel frosting — and 12 flavors of cake jars also available for purchase online.
Despite the expansion, Morgan-Newpher said he does not plan to add more items to the menu but will instead stick with “tried-and-true” flavors.
“I love what he is doing here in New Kensington, and I love that he has the biggest, gayest bakery in Western Pennsylvania,” said Jennifer Eisenreich, 56, who met Morgan-Newpher while appearing on a talk show for her company, Shift Show Communication.
“I think we’re going to go with the Boston cream pie — it’s epic,” Eisenreich said after trying multiple cake jar samples.