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Cake Lady serves up creative cupcakes at new bakery

Date: 8/30/2013

By G. Michael Dobbs

news@thereminder.com

HOLYOKE – Her friends loved her cakes. Her family loved her cakes and now the public has discovered the baking skills of Rosa Burgos, who has opened The Cake Lady bakery on High Street.

Opened for the past four months, Burgos said with a smile she has been “surprised to get the feedback I’m getting.”

She added, “I’ve been amazed.”

The Holyoke resident explained that after the birth of her son nine years ago, she was looking for something to do so she took some night classes about baking. The results were that for the last nine years she was the designated baker for her family.

“They would ask, ‘Can you bake for me?’” Burgos said.

She decided to open her own shop – her first business – and wanted to find a location in Holyoke to support the city. She chose 123 High Street, which for many years was the location of Holyoke Lock. Burgos said she and her family undertook an extensive renovation of the shop, which included installing a kitchen.

She specializes in custom-made cakes for various occasions as well as offering a wide assortment of cupcakes, as well as cannoli, macaroons, and sandwiches and soup for lunch. The bakery is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

She is careful to bake her cupcakes in small batches, she explained to insure the freshness of the product. Her top sellers are an Almond Joy cupcake with the frosting tasting like the candy bar – and a section of a bar used as a garnish – and a guava cream cheese cupcake. Other flavors include a mint chocolate chip, a Heath bar and a raspberry cupcake that featured a raspberry-filled cake.

She will seek her customers’ help in selecting a new cupcake to offer by offerings samples of new flavors.

She recently baked 200 cupcakes for an event at CareerPoint and said the reaction was encouraging.

Burgos especially enjoys creating cakes for all occasions and working in fondant icing. Her specialty has been what she called “3-D” cakes in which she makes sculptures out of fondant. On her Facebook page (www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cake-Lady) there are examples of characters from “The Lion King” that adorn a child’s birthday cake.

“It takes a lot of time, Burgos said. “I enjoy seeing the finished pieces.”

Although she hasn’t yet done an official grand opening, she said that word of mouth from customers has helped her. She hopes that in the future to add some chairs and tables for people to eat in.

For now, though Burgos is happy with what she and her staff have accomplished.

“I love what I do and I take pride when I see my cakes walks out the door,” she said.