Happy hour just got a lot sweeter. Lacey Pearce’s baking biz brings alcohol-infused pies to Austin.
By Lindsey Logan, Photos by Niki Jones
“Delicious,” “flavorful” and “heavenly” are just a few words that come to mind after taking a bite of Baked and Boozy’s Guinness chocolate pie. The perfect combination of sweet and salty, its creamy, smooth filling is complimented by a crunchy pretzel crust, topped off with Baileys-infused whipped cream and finished with a drizzle of Jameson-infused caramel.
Baked and Boozy is a new baking business in Austin specializing in alcohol-infused pies. It was started almost accidentally by owner and baker Lacey Pearce. After moving to Austin from the small town of Navasota, Texas, Pearce had planned to become a dog walker for the app Wag. As part of the onboarding process, she created an account on the social-networking site Nextdoor to get to know her neighbors. While Pearce did not end up working for Wag, she did become an active user of Nextdoor, through which she channeled her passion for baking. In November 2017, Pearce posted a message to Nextdoor asking if any of her neighbors were interested in ordering a bourbon pecan pie from her. Pearce was stunned when only three days later, she’d received 37 orders. After tasting her pecan pies, Pearce’s neighbors were eager for more. Before she knew it, Pearce had a budding business.
Prior to the birth of Baked and Boozy, Pearce was a jill-of-all-trades. She had dipped her toes into everything from caretaking to housekeeping to managing a Domino’s Pizza location. Yet nothing fueled her soul the way baking does. While Pearce has always loved to bake, she never thought she would be able to sustain a career in it, and as a mother of two, she was nervous to take the risk.
“I kept [baking] as a hobby because I loved it and was passionate about it,” Pearce says. “From one post, [my pies] took off and opened so many doors and opportunities. … I’ve gotten to meet so many cool people and do so many cool things.”
She credits Baked and Boozy for finally providing her with the chance to live out her dream of working in a kitchen.
Pearce’s personal pies of choice are the Mexican-hot-chocolate pie topped with tequila-infused whipped cream and the peach, raspberry and strawberry pie with limoncello and Disaronno. Some other showstoppers include a margarita key-lime pie with Cointreau-infused whipped cream and coconut crust, and a blueberry and basil goat-cheese pie with limoncello-infused whipped cream.
Her favorite part of the process is getting in the kitchen and inventing new recipes. Sometimes she gets it right away but other times it takes her several tries to get the perfect finished product. She draws inspiration from a variety of places, turning cocktail recipes into pies and also looking for creative ways to t alcohol into already established pie recipes.
Pearce’s boozy creations are available by the pie and by the slice at Royal Blue Grocery downtown and Flightpath Coffeehouse. Custom orders can also be placed through Baked and Boozy’s Facebook page. Currently, the most popular flavors are available year-round. However, Pearce has plans to offer seasonal and monthly flavors as well.