EASTHAMPTON — A new member of the Small Oven Bakery family has opened its doors in Easthampton. Darlings Bar and Cafe offers an array of rich new desserts and savory snacks from the Small Oven staff alongside a selection of handcrafted cocktails.

Small Oven and Darlings owner Amanda Milazzo said that the new bar and cafe not only serves as a space for community members to gather in the evenings, but has been an outlet for herself and her Small Oven staff, who get to explore new creative avenues when making the complex desserts available at Darlings.

“Before I had opened the bakery and I was just working in service places, I always thought it was a really sweet idea to open a dessert bar,” said Milazzo.

When she found out that the space at the corner of Holyoke Street and Fairfield Avenue in Easthampton was available, she knew it was time to realize that dream. With the help of some friends, Milazzo transformed the space into the moody, relaxed dessert bar that has already been drawing crowds each night.

Milazzo said she has been working on making Darlings a reality for about a year now, and that renovating the bar to fit her vision was an “intense” process that began in July and only recently wrapped up.

“I’m a baker, not really like a building person,” Milazzo said. “As we were doing the renovations, we wanted to lean into the building.”

Like Small Oven, Darlings prioritizes local ingredients in its offerings. From its decadent cakes to its bread and butter, everything on the menu is made from scratch in the Small Oven kitchen. While the desserts at Darlings aren’t offered at the bakery, Milazzo said that the flavor profiles at the dessert bar will be familiar to patrons of Small Oven, as they are “light, herbaceous, and have lots of lemon.”

Between Small Oven and Darlings, customers from Easthampton and beyond will have access to the tasty creations of Milazzo and her staff both morning and night.

“The stuff during the day is very much bread and pastries… Here, it’s all about the plating and the composition on the plate,” Milazzo explained. “The desserts are tailored toward what we love to eat.”

For example, Milazzo said that the Darlings House Tiramisu will always be on the menu, as well as the Panna Cotta, which is her “favorite dessert of all time.”

Patrons of Darlings can choose to sit and chat at the bar or take advantage of a full-service dining area. Eventually, Milazzo said she plans to open the space as a “quick pickup coffee spot” as well. Additionally, Milazzo said she envisions Darlings being used as a gathering place for future community events.

Already, Milazzo has felt support and excitement from the community, which has backed her throughout her business endeavors.

“You can feel it,” she said. “It feels like a community space.”

Throughout the process of opening Darlings, Milazzo said her “creative, responsible” staff at Small Oven has been incredibly helpful, especially as the bakery approaches the holiday season.

Darlings is currently open Tuesday through Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m. and is located at 40.5 Holyoke St.

Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.