THERE was a time when people dreamed of cakes.
It was last year when the trend has gone high for layered cakes packaged in a tin can and dusted with cocoa powder. Along with the hype, a couple in Davao City took advantage and started building their dream to have a business of their own.
Cultural performing artists Neil Camacho and Lovelia Jimenez, both 27 years old, ventured the business industry by selling home-made dream cakes online. Lovelia is a self-taught baker who is planning to pursue a pastry chef career soon. Neil helps in packaging and delivering orders. Due to the viral sensation of dream cakes in Davao City, Neil resigned from his work to focus full-time on their growing business. They sell dream cakes in different flavors like chocolates, matcha, red velvet, and charcoal. There cakes are price between P300 to P440.
“Dream cakes are desserts with different components and our own version has six components, densely special syrup, moist cake base, thick smooth fudge, another moist cake and ganache that you can certainly get lost in,” Neil said.
“But before you can dig in, you have to crack the thin shard layer sprinkled with powder depending on its flavor,” he added.
However, just like any other trends in the society today, the excitement for dream cakes slowly fizzled out. This did not stop them as the couple was eager to keep what they started. Instead of closing shop, they expanded to home-made cakes, macaroons, chewy cookies and sweet station catering services.
Neil said there are still people who order dream cakes today but not as often as before. He said selling other baked products indeed sustained their business and continually started to get known by the Dabawenyos.
“We are still trying our best to penetrate the market. The competition was hard but getting good feedback from our clients, which motivated us to further improve our products. It is also important to be updated on the trend to attract more clients,” he said.
Among their products are the French macaroons, a sweet meringue-based confection for P200 to P350 per dozen; chewy chip cookies in four different flavors, chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, matcha and red velvet for P220 to P350; molten cake only served during Christmas season for P450 to P480; and other customized cakes for different occasions with price varying on its size.
“We also cater sweet station for a very affordable price, this package includes our table equipment, stands, plates and utensils. You can choose five different pastries from our menu and we also have add-ons on chocolate fountain, French macaroons and other pastries,” Neil said, adding that it will cost the clients around P4,000 to P6,500.
Neil said there may be a lot of commercial cakes and pastries available from around the city today, but a lot of people still appreciate the taste of home-made cakes and pastries.
The couple plans to launch their official business name this year, Dulcis, a Latin word for sweets.
For orders, clients can reach them through directly messaging their Facebook accounts Neil Camacho and Lovelia Jimenez, or contact 0919-384-0261.