Walking into the bright, open Slice of Heaven Cafe & Bakery you’ll be met with the lovely aroma of baked goods from red velvet crinkle cookies to blood orange hibiscus bars, and strawberry crunch cakes. Colby and Marci Abshire are the masterminds behind these delicacies with Marci as queen of the cakes, cupcakes, and custom orders and Colby as the “Cookie King.” This sibling power-duo have been working together for more than two decades, but the inspiration for Slice of Heaven began with the COVID-19 pandemic, when they decided to cook and donate meals to community members in need.
“When it started out, we were pretty impressed because we were like, ‘We made 20 meals!’ And by the end we were doing hundreds at a time,” Marci says– but it was hard for just the two of them to keep up with.
When they had made and donated around 5,000 meals, they gave the leftover money raised for the operation to the food bank and moved on. However, this helped them realize how well they work together, and with Marci’s eight years of experience running an at-home custom cake business to back them up, Colby and Marci created their own Slice of Heaven.
“When we first started talking about opening, I started kind of monkeying with recipes,” Colby says “I think the most time I spent was on my s’mores cookie, which is the super popular one.”
The thick, warm cookie is well-liked for a reason– its mix of graham cracker, marshmallow and chocolate is the definition of ooey gooey goodness, and it’s not too sweet!
The siblings have continued to experiment and are proud of their unique variety of treats. Colby’s Mexican hot chocolate cookies, for example, have differing levels of spice using cayenne, tajin, or hot peppers like the Carolina Reaper. The kick of spice is cooled by the chunks of chocolate, and they pair wonderfully with hot coffee or cold brew from the cafe.
Another fun creation is Marci’s Full Nelson cake with two layers of chocolate, a layer of peanut butter cup cheesecake, and two layers of caramel filling. But Marci’s lemon bars, which Colby thinks are hard to get right and are often too sweet, are his personal favorite with their punch of perfectly tart lemon flavor and creamy consistency.
In addition to sweets, Slice of Heaven also offers a range of savory options like baked mac and cheese and lasagna, soups, sliders glazed with a garlic-sesame-mustard butter, and refreshing lavender lemonade to wash them down.
Menu items are always rotating, so if you want to see your own favorite up for grabs, tell them what you think! Marci and Colby love feedback, and multiple menu options are actually directly from requests including the salted caramel pretzel and the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. So stop by, try some delectable indulgences, and have a chat!
300 N. Samish Way, Bellingham, 360.922.0103, slice-of-heaven.net
