You can tell a cinnamon roll is doing its job when the host worries he’ll forget how to interview.

That’s where Big Ben Kennedy landed.

Moreover, he shared The Bake Lab’s soft, maple-forward Charleston Cinnamon Rolls with Kiersten and Adrian on Snackin’ & Yakkin’.

The Charleston Cinnamon Rolls accompanied fresh rolls and seasonal ideas.

Their business had grown faster than they’d expected.

Their story started with a smaller plan: earn some extra money for Italy.

The Bake Lab began in January, with travel money as the goal for Charleston Cinnamon Rolls. Adrian already baked for fun. Kiersten encouraged him to try selling what he made.

He wasn’t immediately convinced. They agreed to give it a month, without committing to anything bigger.

Then people kept asking for rolls. So they kept baking.

By their conversation with Ben, they had event tables, coffee shop partnerships, and more plans taking shape. Kiersten compared the feeling to a pot about to boil. Things were happening, and they felt good about where it was headed.

Early possibilities included “Swirls by Searles.” Adrian’s favorite was “Broken and Battered,” a joke about broken eggshells and baking batter.

They bought the domain and started building the website. Then a search brought up a nonprofit associated with the phrase. That ended that experiment.

“The Bake Lab” fit Adrian’s technical background and love of trying things out. It was simple, and it left room for more than cinnamon rolls. Ben also loved the clean logo, which appeared on their packaging.

The rolls looked firmer than they felt. Ben touched one and immediately discovered how soft it was, outside included. These had been baked that day.

He settled on “gooey” as the description. Then Adrian explained how they got there.

Adrian makes a milk-bread-style dough. Before mixing the dough, he cooks flour and milk together on the stove. He explained that this helps the rolls hold moisture through baking.

He said they stay soft for at least three days. They’d even tried a four-day-old roll that was still soft, with a short microwave warm-up.

How short? Fifteen to eighteen seconds.

Ben appreciated the precision. You could hear the developer in that answer.

Ben liked that Charleston Cinnamon Rolls didn’t require a heavy covering of icing or syrup to have flavor. Additionally, the maple came through clearly, and the cinnamon didn’t overwhelm it.

“It’s like amazingly soft French toast.”

Kiersten described Adrian’s attention to balance. He considers how much of each flavor belongs in the recipe, rather than relying on more sugar.

Customer feedback mattered, too. When several tasters mentioned sweetness, Adrian made small adjustments and tested them. He kept the changes gradual instead of replacing the whole recipe.

The original maple roll was the tasting centerpiece, but Adrian had been busy experimenting with seasonal flavors:

• Sweet potato cinnamon rolls have sweet potato in the dough.
• Butter pecan rolls include pecans inside and butter pecan sauce.
• Apple pie cinnamon rolls grew out of Adrian’s tradition of making apple pies for Christmas and other holidays.

Ben’s mouth was watering before he’d tried any of them. Sweet potato had a particular advantage: after moving to Charleston and discovering sweet potato pie, he’d largely abandoned pumpkin pie.

He was perfectly happy with the maple roll. He also made it clear he’d be hunting down those other flavors.

Smaller rolls and holiday baking packs

The mini rolls are about one-third the size of the full-size version. Kiersten and Adrian showed a ready-to-bake pack containing 12 minis, with instructions inside.

Customers had asked for smaller portions. Minis also gave them something easier to share with family or serve at events.

They were planning holiday preorders in both mini and regular sizes, including take-home options for people traveling for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Ben had initially wondered whether the couple needed to bring so many rolls. Halfway through his first one, he understood Adrian’s confidence that they’d disappear faster than expected.

Adrian works as a developer downtown and was also attending culinary school. Making rolls in class gave him more techniques to bring back to his own baking.

Classmates started asking for his opinion on their cinnamon rolls. He still approached school as a student.

“I’m here to learn,” was his attitude.

Kiersten is a music therapist who had worked in hospitals, schools, and homes before working for their church. She also sings there. A church anniversary celebration had left her voice tired when they joined Ben, but she had no regrets.

The couple described several ways customers could find them: online ordering through The Bake Lab’s website, Charleston-area events, and local coffee shops. Bloom downtown was one of the shops carrying their rolls.

They also discussed expanding event preorders. Their appearances included Greenway events, conferences, corporate gatherings, baby showers, and a birthday party.

Weddings were another area they wanted to enter. A cart or micro truck was under consideration as a mobile bakery setup, rather than something already operating.

Their Instagram handle is @bakelabchs.

One early community outing was the Charleston Bridge Run. Adrian ran wearing a Bake Lab shirt, with an offer for other participants: tap him on the shoulder during the race, then collect a free cinnamon roll at the finish.

People took him up on it.

Friends and family helped hand out rolls. A poster showing a cinnamon roll identified the group, while Kiersten and her sister danced and drew attention near the finish area.

The response made them want to keep showing up.

They also talked about a brewery fundraiser involving firefighters. Events that bring people together or support a cause were the kind they wanted to join. Ben volunteered to help, possibly dressed as a dancing cinnamon roll.

Their collaboration with Off Track Ice Cream downtown was already happening. Adrian made 115 pounds of cinnamon rolls over three days for the project.

The rolls were flash-frozen and mixed into salted maple ice cream, with substantial chunks of roll in each serving.

They’d also done a fall-flavor photo shoot with Metro Studios. A picnic-related collaboration was still in progress, and they were working on adding more coffee shop partners.

Kiersten liked that these connections involved other Charleston businesses. Ben shared that enthusiasm: introductions could lead to another partnership, another event, or another reason for local businesses to know each other.

The maple flavor sent Ben straight into chicken-and-waffles territory. He imagined a flatter cinnamon roll with fried chicken on top: salt, crunch, and that gooey base.

This was a suggestion, not an announced menu item.

Adrian did say they’d been considering savory rolls for a future season. Ben was ready to return with his fork. He even joked about getting the Bake Lab logo engraved on it so the fork would be prepared for its next assignment.

Kiersten wanted The Bake Lab to become a familiar local choice when someone wanted dessert.

She thanked their family for helping with setup, marketing, and events. Her mom had helped with marketing materials and stickers. Olivia received a shout-out for designing the logo.

That support showed up at markets, too. Family members encouraged people to sample a roll, with a warning that they’d probably want more.

Ben’s wife, Kerri, finished hers while he was still interviewing. There was the feedback.

The Bake Lab’s rolls gave Ben plenty to talk about, right up until taking a bite made talking less appealing. The softness and balanced maple flavor were what kept winning him over.

A one-month travel-money experiment had become a growing Charleston business with family support and local connections. Ben called it the start of a “very tasty, gooey friendship.”

Always more episodes to read about on the SnackYakk Almanac!