RICHLAND -- Cindy Roberts didn't intend to open a bakery. Yet you can find her in the kitchen of Fudgies Bakery, mixing spoon in hand, hours before sunrise.

"I love it," she said. "I wanted to do this 25 years ago but became a nurse instead. After working as a nurse for 30 years I figured I was too old and too tired to do something like this. I was wrong."

Roberts' desire for a bakery of her own was rekindled earlier this year by her daughter, Jamie Roberts.

"She was living in Ohio and had been laid off from the bank where she'd worked. She was out of work for months," Roberts said. "Jamie told me about a friend who was going to culinary school and said she'd love to open a bakery."

A week later, someone told Roberts about an empty storefront in Richland's Uptown Shopping Center, near Woo's Teriyaki.

She checked it out, then went home and sketched the layout of Fudgies on a piece of notebook paper. She showed it to a contractor and soon was in the middle of remodeling a former pet store into her dream bakery.

"My goal was to create a job for Jamie. To give her an income," Roberts said.

Jamie Roberts left Ohio in July to lend a hand getting the bakery set up and running. Three weeks ago the baking duo opened Fudgies Bakery.

"We've turned a profit from day one," said Cindy Roberts.

Every cookie, cupcake, turnover is baked is from scratch.

"We buy ingredients, not mixes. We do it the old-fashioned way. That's our slogan: Old-fashioned taste at an old-fashioned price," said Cindy Roberts. "We try to keep our prices really low. Other places charge $4 for a cupcake. That's ridiculous. Ours are $2.25."

The two bakers also emphasize freshness. Everything in the bakery cases was either made the night before or that day.

Roberts learned to bake by watching her grandmother.

"She lived with us and baked every day. Sandwiches in our school lunches were on homemade bread," Roberts said.

She also uses some of her grandmother's recipes at the bakery. The cinnamon bombs -- cinnamon buns baked in muffin tins -- are from an old family recipe.

"I just changed the name, and call them bombs after the Richland Bombers," Roberts said.

She also copies her grandmother's way of mixing.

"I do it by eye. I don't use measuring spoons or cups," Roberts said.

In addition to baked goods, you can also get a quick soup and sandwich lunch to go or eat in at one of the bright red and chrome tables.

Hours are from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays, and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

The phone number is 509-420-4734.