Everybody at Kristi Dellaria’s shop gets to have their cake and eat it too.
Dellaria is the owner of Dolce Cupcakery, which opened late last year in Schoen Place in the village of Pittsford.
“It’s a bakery that specializes in cupcakes,” she explained, noting that Dolce means “sweet” in Italian.
The inviting smell of the confections greets visitors as soon as they walk in the door. Then, they have the hard choice of deciding which kind of gourmet cupcake to pick. There are about 50 flavors with several cupcakes ready behind the glass counter, made fresh daily on-site and rotating on a daily basis. Dellaria is also open to suggestions on new flavors.
She said the shop is patterned after cupcakeries in New York City and Los Angeles, where they’re more common.
“I’ve always loved to bake since I was little,” Dellaria said. “I was in the finance industry, and I decided I wanted to do something more fun and creative. I wanted something whimsical and fun and something that, when people came in, would make them smile. All of our recipes are family recipes.”
In fact, several members of the family help out with the business, baking or waiting on customers. Dellaria also offers specialty decorating and will cater events and special occasions.
“We do a lot of weddings, corporate events and showers,” she said, holding a box of custom cupcakes with little peas in a pod on top of each. She also hosts parties where kids can decorate their own cupcakes.
Even the boxes are unique, in brown and pink colors to match the shop. They come in different sizes too: small enough to hold a single cupcake, or big enough to carry a whole bunch.
Dellaria, who grew up in Penfield, picked Pittsford as the site for her store because she loves the area and remembers coming out as a child to feed ducks along the Erie Canal.
“Everyone is so friendly,” she said. “All the other shop keepers are so welcoming.”
And with the warmer weather, businesses are welcoming more customers as Schoen Place has been filling up with lots of visitors.
“I hope they come out and take a peek and try some of our cupcakes,” Dellaria said. “Once they do, they usually come back a lot of times.”
She’s also a firm believer in giving back to the community and, at the end of the day, takes any unsold cupcakes to local shelters and organizations.
