ToquiNotes: Recalling the Legacy of Sweetness on the Personal and Professional Front of Mariann Mooney
By Jeff Toquinto on October 04, 2025 from ToquiNotes
Early last month, one friend of mine made a social media post and another contacted me via social media about the passing of an individual. As soon as I saw the name, pleasant memories filled the air and my mouth watered.
For weeks, I waited to see the obituary, and it never came. Finally, earlier this week, it showed up – although with limited information.
The individual who I am talking about is Marianne Mooney. She was 82 years old when she passed away about a month ago on Sept. 6.
Some folks, like me, know the name instantly. Others may have to reminded that she was the owner and operator of Mariann’s Bake Shop in the Stealey section of Clarksburg. My friends at Google tell me that it was located at 413 Davis Street, right at the intersection of Duff Avenue.
Although I had not been by there or had someone purchase me something from there for years, getting something from the “Bake Shop” was a big deal to me decades ago. Before today’s wave of extremely talented individuals on the pastry and baking front. Mariann Mooney was THE rock star.
If I got a cake, from my 20s into my early 40s, and it was a special occasion, my first question was the same. “Is this a Mariann Mooney cake?”
The question was a simple one. The answer was yes – or it should have been to avoid disappointment. Everyone in my family and close social circle knew I not only loved her cake, but that she had jelly in the middle of it with my preference being raspberry.
I imagine she was not the first to do this. I do know hers was the first I ever had, and the measuring stick I use going forward for any flavored centers, with real jelly or something flavored, and there are some good ones out there (right Renee Torchia and Olivia Romano and I am sure plenty of others).
The odd thing was that I never once recall stepping foot in her shop. I knew it was in Stealey and remember driving past it several times when visiting my friend Andrew Banko and his family when he lived in that neighborhood.
As I got older and my pants became tighter, I stayed away from cake as much as I could. It became easier to do because most of my friends, and myself, usually did not have cake at our parties barring a 40th, 45th, 50th or some milestone birthday.
Her name last came up a few years back. My nephew Camron, according to my brother, would go to Mariann’s Bake Shop to get something sweet as she made many things beyond cakes – although that was her specialty.
My brother Tim told me the same thing I saw eventually on other social media posts and comments under her obituary. The comments were about her kindness.
If you were a neighborhood kid and you headed into Mariann’s Bake Shop to get one piece of pastry, you were not leaving with one piece 
of pastry. Instead, as my brother told me the other day when I inquired about it again, my nephew would walk away with a whole lot of homemade sweet treats. He said it happened every single visit, and that Camron was not alone in getting the goods.
of pastry. Instead, as my brother told me the other day when I inquired about it again, my nephew would walk away with a whole lot of homemade sweet treats. He said it happened every single visit, and that Camron was not alone in getting the goods.
As noted, several comments under her obituary and on social media platforms much said the same thing. Her cakes were as sweet as she was.
There was one other thing that I read, and I cannot confirm, on a few Facebook posts by friends was that as much as she was known and beloved by many for her kindness and sweets, that she had no immediate family. If she does, I apologize.
The obituary, which has been up for several days with just a few paragraphs and a note that arrangements are incomplete at this time, is at the Davis Funeral Home Web site. Whether true or not, I felt that all the joy she brought others for decades should not fade into the past because she brought joy to people.
That is no small feat.
Mariann Mooney was making cakes for weddings, birthdays, holidays, and all kinds of special occasions in an era when few did it. And she was doing it in the unique manner so common today at a time locally that even fewer – if any – did it.
Chances are good if you spent most of your life in Harrison County, you have had one of her cakes or a piece of one – or some other confectionary creatin. Chances are even better her treats left you with a smile on your face and pleasure in your stomach.
Rest in Peace Marianne. Your work here is done.
Editor's Note: Top photo, from Google, is of the store front taken in 2021. Second photo is from the obituary, while the cake is from her Facebook page.
