Beloved Midtown Bakery Reopens After a Plumbing Emergency: The Sugar Hooker is Back With a Dreamy Bake Sale

Sugar Fairy Rebecca Masson is used to baking up a storm. But she wasn’t prepared for the literal downpour when a pipe burst in an apartment above her Midtown sweets shop, Fluff Bake Bar.

“It was like a punch in the face, standing in the bakery, watching the water pour down,” Masson tells PaperCity.

The October 22nd downpour forced Masson, aka the Sugar Hooker, to temporarily shut down operations at Fluff. If your sweet tooth has been aching, you can relax. You’ll get your fix soon.

The bakeshop at 314 Gray could shake off a little water. Masson will officially be back in business this Saturday. Fluff’s reopening with a Saturday Morning Bake Sale at 10 am.

Featuring 44 Farms, the bake sale’s custom creations include a Fajita Tostada with Fried Egg, Prime Rib Benedict Sammy, and Brisket with Pimento Cheese on a Pretzel Roll. Fluff bake sales last from 10 am to 12 pm, but they tend to sell out around 11:30, Masson notes.

“It’s better to come at 10,” she says.

Loyal customers will probably hit that deadline. Patrons continually stopped by Fluff over the last three months, hoping to snap up a gingersnap or pick up a peanut butter cookie. The custom bakeshop has a loyal following, thanks in no small part to the combo of classics like snickerdoodles and brownies and Unicorn Bait and black velvet cupcakes.

Bakery in Wait

The bakery has floor-to ceiling windows, and dessert-lovers spied people working inside. “They’d walk up and try to walk into the bakery, and they couldn’t,” Masson says. “They’d think, ‘You’re there. Why aren’t you open?’ ” Apparently, the pile of sheetrock didn’t tip the eager eaters off.

Unfortunately, the rebuild took time. “People who don’t have a small business don’t understand that I can’t just run out and go get people to start building,” Masson says. Between dealing with landlords and contractors, she had to wait a full four weeks before she got the OK to move forward.

She never put baking on the back burner. During construction, Masson kept making munchies through pop-ups and wholesale orders. The baker’s no stranger to those means, having done both before kicking open the doors of her own brick and mortar storefront.

“It definitely brought back memories of operating outside of commissaries and doing wholesale direct-to-consumer,” she says with a laugh.

The building sorely needed remodeling after the water damage, and that gave Masson the opportunity to streamline her 1,200-square-foot space. “It had always been in my head that I needed more kitchen space, but I didn’t know how to make the jump,” she says.

Enter: a faulty pipe and an unexpected opportunity. “Now, I can take that baby step before I take a jump into the commissary,” Masson says.

First, she drastically increased the kitchen space. “We’re definitely growing, we’ve got a lot of whole sale,” Masson says. Two-and-a-half work tables just weren’t cutting it anymore. “We were just on top of each other, so we’ve created some more work space.”

As for seating, you won’t see any traditional tables and chairs now. Fluff’s moved to counters with 16 barstools, a better setup considering the volume of customers that grab and go.

Practicality is important, but an aesthetic upgrade doesn’t hurt either. Houston artist Donkeeboy (Alex Roman Jr.) created a mural that brings together the best of baking and Bayou City. “Skyline of Cakes” is exactly what it sounds like–the Houston skyline, shaped out of sweets instead of skyscrapers.

Donkeeboy’s also responsible for the newest Fluff Bake Bar merch, including two T-shirts featuring dessert designs. “Karma is a Biscuit” and “Wakey Bakey” are available for purchase in-store.

In the next few months, you can expect the return of The “Dinner with My Friends” series, as well as a few new twists Masson’s been working on.

The baker, winner of a Houston Culinary Award for Best Pastry Chef, is geared up and ready to go. She’ll let them eat cake — and she’ll sell it in her own shop.