Experience Signature Desserts

Pastry Chef Stephen Mueser learned the art of baking by watching his father make homemade breads in their tiny kitchen during the holiday seasons. After taking Bake Shop in high school, he began his culinary career working in an old fashioned neighborhood bakery making scratch breads, donuts, cookies, cakes, pies and Danish. He watched closely and learned skills from the old master bakers, whose old world recipes were so highly guarded many would take them to the grave. A valuable lesson was learned when the bread baker died suddenly and the bakery was paralyzed because no one knew his recipes. "A recipe gives you immortality. All my recipes are written down in a special binder for anyone to reference."

"All of our baked goods are still hand made using only the freshest and finest ingredients and most important of all, no preservatives, that's really important to our customers."

- Steve Mueser

In 1983, Pastry Chef, James Simakas was seeking a pastry chef apprentice and Steve knew this was a perfect opportunity to expand his knowledge from baker to pastry chef. Jim Simakas offered Steve employment at USA Gourmet, and became Steve’s mentor and lifelong friend. Working closely with Jim, Steve learned the art of French Pastry and assisted in new product development and recipes, while watching Jim’s business grow from local pastry shop to a national wholesale pastry distributor.

In 1986, Steve was offered a position as Executive Pastry Chef of Pittsburgh’s Five Star Restaurant, The Lemont. Then Owner, James Blandi was seeking fresh new changes for his pastry department. Hiring Steve, and then bringing on Master Pastry Chef and World Renowned, Gunther Heiland to privately train Steve in Austrian and German pastry was one of the highlights of Steve’s career. Through his twelve years tenure at the LeMont, Steve had the opportunity to work with many famous chefs through the annual charitable event which would benefit Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh and would attract celebrity foodies and famous chefs alike. Paul Prudhomme, Wolfgang Puck, Ferdinand Metz and Pittsburgh’s own Master Chef Byron Bardy to name a few. In 1997, Steve decided it was time to pursue his dream to own his own Pastry Shop and found a small bakery for sale in Castle Shannon named Signature Desserts. It was the perfect fit. Over 25 years of baking, Steve and his wife, Linda have grown into a well respected company within the food industry, serving over 100 restaurants, country clubs, hotels, private clubs, not to mention Pittsburgh’s own Kennywood Park and The Gateway Clipper Fleet!

Today, Signature Desserts is a respected, popular pastry shop and bakery offering wonderful, fresh baked desserts, custom made cakes and wedding cakes, as well pies, cookies, brownies, all made from scratch, using old fashion techniques and the same ingredients found in most home kitchens today. Stop in and on most days you will see Steve still baking his recipes and Linda meeting with customers to design the perfect cake!

"All of our baked goods are still hand made using only the freshest and finest ingredients and most important of all, no preservatives, that's really important to our customers" boasts Steve. "Many customers swear that Signature makes a better pie than their own mother! Why don't you stop in and see for yourself? I give you my word, you will not be disappointed!"

Why not stop in and say hello, or call ahead at 412-882-9960 and order a favorite dessert.