Ellyn Hopper, owner of the forthcoming Fat Rabbit bakery located at 2025 Venable St. (Photo courtesy Ellyn Hopper)
Ellyn Hopper isn’t a classically trained baker. She didn’t attend culinary school. And of her baking job at a French patisserie in Annapolis, Maryland, during a summer in college where she learned how to wake up at 4:30 in the morning? “They should not have hired me,” she says with a laugh.
But that was over a decade ago, and it hasn't slowed down the dedicated freelance baker, who in mid-March plans to open the doors of her own shop, Fat Rabbit, in Union Hill at 2025 Venable St.
“This has always been the goal, and for what this means or not, this move has been something I’ve dreamed of since I was 5,” says Hopper, 29, who grew up in a household where good food was respected along with routine, her parents former restaurateurs. "It's just in my blood."
While attending the University of South Carolina, where she studied art history and minored in hospitality management — or as Hopper refers to it, “wine on Friday" — when she wasn’t in class, she was in the dorm kitchen baking. She became infatuated with the world of food blogs, poring over recipes, gaining knowledge from other bakers and simultaneously building a blog of her own, Stuffed Rabbit.
“I would read certain blogs religiously and just sponged it up and baked like crazy,” she says.
During exam weeks, Hopper's treats fueled her friends during study sessions, and if it was someone’s birthday, Hopper was the woman to see about a two-tiered cake. And though at the time she wasn’t exactly sure how her baking journey would unfold, she says of the craft, “I always had this feeling, it was one of those things: As much as you may ignore it, it keeps coming back.”
After college and an inspiring trip to Italy, Hopper returned to her native Richmond, landing stints at Stir Crazy Cafe, WPA’s original bake shop in Church Hill and Stella’s Grocery. Two weeks after joining the team at the Lafayette Street market, a head baker left the team, and she was catapulted into a more prominent role.
“It was like, 'All right, we’re going to do this,' ” Hopper says.
It was there she was given the gift of culinary freedom, the chance to explore what she was capable of without limitations.
“To come in and have [chef] Loretta [Montano] or Katrina or Johnny [Giavos, the owners,] be like, 'Make what you like to make and what you’re good at, and put it in the case,' was wild, I couldn't wrap my head around it first,” she shares.
Her coconut cream pie became one of the most talked about items on the menu at the Giavos-owned Little Nickel.
“To see people enjoy [my recipes] was really humbling,” Hopper says.
Hopper's coconut cream pie at Little Nickel (Photo by Alexis Courtney)
Around that same time in 2019, Hopper launched a side hustle she dubbed Fat Rabbit, a nod to her early blogging days with a logo designed by her sister. Adopting the tagline "moreish cakes for all occasions," on days when Stella’s Grocery was closed to the public, she would hop in the kitchen and make cakes for clients. She even picked up an account for the miniature golf destination and bar Hotel Greene making “Hop-tarts,” playful spins on the classic toaster pastry.
When the pandemic struck, Hopper began to focus even more on growing her business.
"It was definitely a moment of jump or get pushed off the cliff," she says.
For Mother's Day she offered a limited release featuring prosecco cake with lemon curd and lavender buttercream, strawberry-rhubarb scones, and a few other items. Promoting sales and menus through her Instagram account, she began filling orders out of her apartment and arranging deliveries.
“After a little bit it, I was like, 'OK, this is working,' ” says Hopper of the response from the public.
In July 2020, Hopper transitioned to baking at food business incubator Hatch Kitchen in Manchester. Weekly orders became more consistent, and she became more confident. Then late last year, Hopper received an unexpected phone call from Melissa and Frayser Micou. The owners of the now shuttered Pomona, who had worked in the Union Hill corridor during the same time Hopper was at WPA, shared that they were closing their corner cafe and looking for new tenants.
"It all kind of fell into place, just felt very right," says Hopper, who lives down the street from her forthcoming bakery.
She took over the Venable Street lease in January. When Fat Rabbit officially opens its doors to the community in the coming weeks, expect a fresh coat of paint and some interior touch-ups achieved with the help of Hopper's parents, a smattering of tables, and a pastry case filled with selections including sweet and savory biscuits; bagel-sized English muffins; old-fashioned buckles; roasted-pear scones; "Lyle-O Oreos," named after her lop-eared bunny, Lyle; fruit-stuffed Hop-tarts; dark chocolate-olive oil cookies; granola; and pies.
Hopper is best known for her whole cakes, stunning creations carefully adorned with bright edible flowers or a topper of cascading caramel or chocolate. They will be available in the bakery in addition to “lots of cake by the slice,” she says. Patrons can also look forward to daily rotating specials, a coffee program, and hopefully in the future, beer and wine options.
For Hopper, reaching this point is something she isn't taking for granted.
"It's been nice to see it all come along," she says. "I feel like, as a business with its own identity, Fat Rabbit is hospitable, and I really want to create this welcoming, cohesive environment from the staff to baristas to bakers."
Fat Rabbit's hours are tentatively planned for 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Check Instagram for more updates.
