BRUNSWICK – Dark. Dense. Finely decorated, sinfully rich.

Simply Divine Heavenly Brownies is launching a Maine mother-daughter team into the national spotlight.

“We never knew it was going to explode like this,” said Trina Beaulier, the mother, as she worked up a frenzy packing orders.

Around her, boxes of brownies towered on shelves, on counters, on tables, waiting for the mail. In the old Brunswick mill space – which seemed huge two years ago but is already too small – workers cut, baked and frosted, while volunteers (old college friends, mostly, and friends of friends) bagged the latest corporate mega-order and answered the ever-ringing phone.

Oscar included the brownies in its celebrity goodie bags to Hollywood’s biggest stars. The Home Shopping Network has been begging for more to sell, while Bloomingdales would love to start. Al Roker’s “Roker on the Road” and the Food Network have already been by the shop to film.

But Thursday was dedicated to holiday orders, corporate customers and walk-ins. Oh, and prepping for their Tuesday appearance on the “Today Show.”

“I have goals,” Trina said. “My goal right now is to get through today.”

It was fall of 2004 when Trina and her family came up with the idea for Simply Divine. Trina, a daughter and a friend were driving to New York and stopped at a quaint bakery along the way. The desserts were beautifully decorated, mouth-watering. But looks weren’t everything.

“They tasted like cardboard,” Trina said. “I said ‘We can do better.'”

A newly retired elementary school teacher, Trina was anxious for something to do. Baking always came naturally to her. So a bakery seemed natural, too.

Trina started the business in her kitchen. She used her own brownie recipe, fine-tuned after taste-test parties with friends. Friends and neighbors were her first customers.

She named the venture Simply Divine Heavenly Brownies after her mother’s lifelong conviction that a good dessert “is simply divine.” The business took off.

Less than two months after it opened, Simply Divine had to move out of Trina’s home in Mount Vernon and into a larger space. The Beauliers leased part of the second-floor in Mill 2 of Fort Andross in Brunswick. Friends thought the business could never use so much room.

A year-and-a-half later:

“We’ve used every horizontal space there is and as much vertical as people can reasonably reach,” said Meggen Beaulier, the daughter of the mother-daughter team. “It’s crazy.”

With eight or nine employees using 3,600 eggs and 450 pounds of butter from local farms, Simply Divine makes 15,000 brownies a week. They started with six kinds and now offer 30, including Merry Cherry, CocoNUTS Over You and Peppermint Peace. They’ve added 36 shapes, including a star topped with 24-carat gold food luster. Prices range from $3 for a brownie bought at the shop to more than $100 (plus shipping) for a dozen special-shaped brownies ordered online.

Word-of-mouth has turned the business into an overnight success.

“Every day we say ‘This is the busiest we’ve ever been.’ And then the next day we’re busier,” Trina said.

Some high-profile, high-volume customers have helped. A movie star – they won’t say who – ordered $4,000 worth of Easter bunny-shaped brownies last spring. One New York customer recently had dozens of brownies shipped overnight express for a large dinner party. A local water company ordered 5,900 water drop-shaped ones for gifts.

Last year, Simply Divine’s big order was for 72.

“We’d jump up and down and cheer,” Meggen said.

Joyce Austen of Damariscotta is one of those loyal customers. She ordered 20 dozen brownies as gifts for the holidays last year. So far this year she’s up to 16 dozen, and on Thursday she brought some Massachusetts friends up to shop.

She likes watching the business grow. She loves eating the brownies.

“I pretend they have no calories,” she said with a chuckle.

Although business has skyrocketed, Trina and Meggen still don’t draw a paycheck. Of Trina’s five children, three work or volunteer for the business. Friends and family constantly help out, often for free. Trina’s husband, Meggen’s father, pays the household bills so the team can feed any profit back into the business.

They hope that can change soon.

Their brownies have been featured in multiple magazines, including Better Homes and Gardens and Working Mother. The Home Shopping Network is selling the desserts on its Web site and has asked the women to pitch their products live. “Roker on the Road” showed Simply Divine in an episode, and Food Network’s “Unwrapped” has filmed the shop for an episode to air next spring. The “Rachael Ray Show” is talking about bringing the brownies on a show after the New Year.

NBC and the “Today Show” came calling after sampling some Simply Divine desserts. At 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, Trina and Meggen will show Al Roker and his viewers how to bake, cut and decorate holiday brownies. The Brunswick shop will hold a small “Today Show” party that morning, complete with “Today Show” promotional brownies.

The show is the latest big deal in a long line of big deals for the little brownie shop. But the owners say there’s something that means more.

“The biggest deal to us is when people say ‘These are the best brownies we’ve ever had,'” Trina said.