What's Happening in Westlake, OH…

Valerie Tovar and her mother Laura Gigante have combined forces and opened a shop that should be most welcome—it serves cupcakes.

The duo opened the shop just over a month ago, calling it Dulcelicious Cupcakes and More. The name combines the English word ‘delicious’ with the Spanish word ‘dulce’, meaning sweet. Both Tovar and Gigante grew up eating both American and Mexican food, and decided combining the two could create some prize-winning desserts. One typical treat is ‘dulce de leche’ cupcakes, with ‘leche’ being Spanish for ‘milk’.

Gigante credits her mother, and her Mexican family, for being her inspiration. She says she watched her mother switch from baking the Mexican sweet bread known as concha to making the American staple, cherry pie, and came to love both types of desserts.

Neither Gigante nor Tovar had ever owned a business, nor had they worked in food service, before they launched their current venture. The whole thing began when Gigante took cake and pastry classes at Polaris Career Center. She asked Tovar to join her, and by the end of the course the two had hooked family and friends on their cupcakes. Their baked goods were so popular they decided to open a shop.

The mother and daughter could consider working with a flyer printing company on a handout for distribution just before Valentine's Day, to increase traffic to the shop