Apple pie remains 4th of July favorite as Atlanta bakery works overtime during holiday rush

As Fourth of July cookouts and family gatherings take shape across metro Atlanta, one family-owned bakery is seeing one dessert rise to the top of nearly every holiday order: apple pie.

Inside Southern Sweets Bakery, employees are working around the clock ahead of Independence Day, preparing pies, cakes and other made-from-scratch desserts for customers celebrating with family and friends.

Southern Sweets has served metro Atlanta since 1992, building a reputation for scratch-made desserts, including cakes, cheesecakes, pies and gluten-free and vegan options. But when the Fourth of July rolls around, part-owner Patricia Smith says one dessert consistently stands above the rest.

"Our most popular dessert year-round, no matter what the holiday is, and especially for July Fourth, is the apple pie," Smith said. "You've got to have apple pie for July Fourth, right?"

The bakery says it made more than 3,000 apple pies last year, and preparing for the holiday takes days of work before customers ever walk through the door.

"We start getting here about 4 o'clock in the morning," Smith said. "We're here 24 hours a day baking right now to get all of our orders filled."

The bakery's staff still prepares its desserts the old-fashioned way, making everything from scratch and even cracking every egg by hand.

Part-owner Sanja Filipovic says the holiday display reflects what many customers are looking for this time of year, from patriotic cakes and cupcakes to cherry pies and the bakery's signature apple pie.

For many customers, those desserts are headed far beyond metro Atlanta.

"We have customers that come back from out of town. They're like, 'Bring the apple pie,'" Smith said. "That's the one thing from metro Atlanta that they miss."

For Smith, that's what makes the long hours worthwhile.

"When you just taste it, it tastes like home," she said. "It tastes like what you remember from your childhood when you have that dessert on your table every holiday."

As families gather this Fourth of July, Southern Sweets expects to stay busy filling last-minute orders, with apple pie once again leading the way as one of the bakery's most requested holiday desserts.