In Greek mythology, ambrosia is the food of the gods. For Rita Magalde, owner of Sheer Ambrosia bakery, the name was the perfect choice for her Greek-inspired baklava.
While the pastry traces its roots to the Mediterranean, her recipes are infused with the flavors of her Southern upbringing, blending tradition with memories of her mother’s blackberry pie and peach cobbler.
“Baklava is an amazingly elaborate dessert,” Magalde said. “Mine is Greek and Southern-inspired, but it is a world dessert. It is not just Greek; it is Eastern European, it is Middle Eastern, it is Northern African. There’s baklava in Egypt, in Lebanon, in Morocco, in Bosnia, in Armenia, in Turkey, in Iraq and Iran — in all of those countries.”
Rita Magalde’s baklava at Sheer Ambrosia is a “love letter” to her family and community. The baklava was recently named Salt Lake City’s Best Dessert by Best of Salt Lake. (Tom Haraldsen/The City Journals)
Born in New York City, but raised in a small town in North Carolina, Magalde attended Appalachian State University near the Blue Ridge Mountains, studying history and Spanish. She moved to Spain to immerse herself in the language and culture and married a man from Santander, a city on the country’s northern coast. They moved to Utah for the skiing.
Following a divorce, Magalde wanted to offer the world something no one else could. She thought back to her first job in North Carolina, where she did babysitting for a Greek family who owned a seafood restaurant.
“I was in their house a lot and I learned how to make lots of Greek foods. Baklava was just one of them, but it was the one that really stood out to me because, for me, baklava is art,” she said. “It was really beautiful, and so over the years I just played around with recipes.”
The Draper resident has refined her process, creating 15 varieties of baklava, from traditional honey walnut to more exotic flavors like pistachio orange cardamom, butterscotch rum walnut and caramel cashew crunch.
With 45 layers of phyllo dough in every batch, Magalde’s baklava is a rich, dense, luxurious dessert that customers order from around the world. It was recently named Salt Lake City’s Best Dessert by Best of Salt Lake.
Magalde has built a strong following over the years. Following the George Floyd riots in 2020, she learned Sheer Ambrosia had been added to a list of Black-owned businesses that people could support. Orders started rolling in from all over the Salt Lake Valley.
She began filling orders but didn’t want to ship them, feeling it was too impersonal. She wanted to see the people who supported her and tell them thank you.
“I just couldn’t believe that all of those people wanted to support me in Utah,” she said. “So after I made all those orders, I hand-delivered every single one of them. I drove up and down the Wasatch Front and I knocked on doors and said, ‘I have your order. I’m here to look you in the eye and tell you thank you. Thank you for supporting my business.’”
That extra effort created devoted customers and coverage from news sources, including National Public Radio.
Magalde believes people are missing that human connection. She recently started The Hearth Letter, where subscribers receive a package in the mail with a letter, a recipe, a bookmark and inspirational thoughts.
“I learned that there is a resurgence of people who like snail mail,” she said. “We grew up receiving real letters in the mail. There’s a whole connection there, with people who want to go back to that.”
Magalde continues to provide exquisite baklava for weddings, corporate gifts and community events, while selling her products online and in her cozy Sheer Ambrosia storefront located at 1749 S. State St. For more information, visit sheerambrosiabakery.com.
“Baklava is connection,” she said. “I have so many amazing friendships that I have built through my business, and I’ve learned so many lessons from my customers and through running this business.”
