Dessert cafe House of Chimney Cakes opens on S 4th Ave

A new location for House of Chimney Cakes, a franchise specializing in European desserts, opened its doors in Ann Arbor on Saturday. Defined by its bright pink interior, the Ann Arbor location on South Fourth Avenue is the first cafe in the dessert house franchise. While this is not the first House of Chimney Cakes in Michigan, the Ann Arbor location differs from its Dearborn counterpart in that it offers a broader range of desserts and drinks. The franchise gets its name from its specialty chimney cakes, a hollow and cylindrical Hungarian dessert typically coated in sugar and cinnamon.

Amanda Debek, co-franchisee of the House of Chimney Cakes Ann Arbor location, said in an interview with The Michigan Daily she wanted to join the franchise to help it branch into new areas after visiting the Dearborn location. 

“(The franchise has) another location in Michigan,” Debek said. “I saw it and fell in love with it. … I wanted to expand that (franchise) because I’m the first cafe in the brand.” 

LSA senior Emily McNichol visited the cafe on its opening day and said she felt excited that House of Chimney Cakes cafe offers a menu distinct from anything else in downtown Ann Arbor. 

“They’re offering something that you can’t get at any other place downtown,” McNichol said. “And the more variety you have, the more it feels like an actual city, which I feel like is part of the draw, because Ann Arbor is like a city, but it’s not that big. So I love when (businesses) do stuff like this.”

Before joining House of Chimney Cakes, Debek had a career in event planning. Debek said her experience inspired the cafe’s pink aesthetic, which was enthusiastically accepted by Szandra Szabó and Omar Lara, the co-founders of the business.

“(Lara) actually told me that (Szabó)’s dream (was) to create that pink cafe, and ‘You’re fulfilling her dream,’” Debek said. “It was so nice, and that’s why I guess they allowed me to do it because that’s something they wanted for themselves. So it was really exciting for me.”

Dozens of people streamed in and out of the cafe throughout the opening day to try one of their 15 signature chimney cake creations, including “Oreo Overload,” an Oreo crumb-crusted chimney cake filled with vanilla ice cream topped with Oreo pieces, and “Everyday Birthday Cake,” a chimney cake filled with Strawberry Dole ice cream and topped with a mini cupcake.

Debek said she plans to have a suggestion box for visitors to place new ideas for flavors in hopes of reflecting what the community wants. 

“I want you to bring me a new flavor to the table, so we can offer something different because I want it to be diverse,” Debek said. “I just want to be open to people’s ideas because I want to bring things that the community wants.”

Belleville resident Heather Clark was visiting Ann Arbor for the day when she passed by the House of Chimney Cakes. Clark told The Daily she had visited the Dearborn location before and was excited to visit the one in Ann Arbor.

“I actually came to the running store to buy shoes, and then the next natural step was to go eat sugar and ice cream right after that,” Clark said. “I had been to the one in Dearborn before, and as we were driving by, I went, ‘Oh, awesome, chimney cake.’”

Clark said she felt the cakes were delicious, noting that she enjoyed the freshness of the cakes, but that the cake’s interior could be overwhelming. 

“The food’s amazing,” Clark said.  “It’s limited — it’s just desserts — but the chimney cakes are delicious. They’re cooked when you order them. So super fresh, chewy, delicious bread covered in sugar.”

Daily Staff Reporter Eilene Koo can be reached at ekoo@umich.edu.

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