It sounds like a Hallmark movie plotline: a big-city girl moves to a small town, buys a rambling Victorian house, and opens a bakery.

But in this version, the heroine is cookbook author, food blogger, and social media star Joy Wilson — better known as Joy the Baker. And the bakery is Texas Bakehouse, a monthly pop-up hosted behind her 1800s home in Bellville, just about an hour’s drive from Houston.

Photo by Alexander Irwin

Houston resident and cookbook author Joy Wilson has opened a bakery pop-up in Bellville, just an hour's drive from the city.

Wilson relocated to Houston in 2023 after closing the original Bakehouse in New Orleans, making the move to be closer to her now-husband. The pair settled in Rice Military and dedicated weekends to riding their motorcycles west, with Bellville quickly capturing Wilson’s imagination.

“One day we were having lunch out there and I said, ‘I'm going to move here. I think I'm going to buy a house and move here,’” Wilson recalls. “My husband was like, ‘Let's do it.’ And it was just as simple as that decision.”

Once a month, Wilson opens the doors to her backyard bakeshop for pre-ordered bakery box pickups. Each box includes four items anchored by a signature giant chocolate chip cookie, with the remaining pastries rotating seasonally.

The soft opening in November featured sweet potato pie, lemon poppy seed kolaches, and chai-spiced apple fritters. December followed with cranberry crumble galettes, cheddar and chive scones, and oversized Linzer cookies.

After taking January off to recover from the holidays, Texas Bakehouse is back in February with pre-orders open for pickup on Saturday, February 7.

This month’s Galentine’s Day offering is an eight-inch, heart-shaped chocolate cake filled with fresh raspberries and whipped cream, finished with Swiss meringue buttercream and a piped Drake lyric — a nod to Wilson’s viral Drake on Cake era. Buyers can choose between “No new friends” or “Nice for what,” with each cake accompanied by a locally made floral arrangement from Wanderlust and Wild.

Lemon blueberry biscuits and the bakery’s signature chocolate chip cookies will also be available for walk-up purchase from 9 a.m. to noon, served with a complimentary cup of Bellville’s own Interstellar Coffee.

For Wilson, the Bakehouse was always part of the plan.

“I knew that if I was moving out here, I wanted a house with a story, a place people would want to visit and experience,” she says. “I’ve been here about a year and a half, and it just took time to get a grip on the nuts and bolts of the house. But I always intended to have a little bakery pop-up here.”

The location also makes it an easy day trip for Houstonians looking to get out of the city. Texas Bakehouse sits just blocks from Bellville’s downtown square, where visitors can wander antique shops and explore the small-town charm before heading home.

“People can come here, pick up baked goods, have a visit, and then go experience the town and community, too, all on foot,” Wilson says. “That feels very special.”

Looking ahead, Wilson plans to expand the Bakehouse with intimate cooking classes, likely beginning in fall 2026, inspired by the small-group classes she once hosted in New Orleans.

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Texas Bakehouse is located at 310 E Palm Street in Bellville, Texas, about an hour west of Houston. Pre-orders and pickup details are available at shop.joythebaker.com.