It started as a side hustle.
13-year-old Joana made a batch of cupcakes from a boxed cake mix – and sold them, unfrosted, throughout the neighborhood for 50 cents a piece. She sold out. She made more, and sold out again.
The entrepreneurial seeds were sown.
Today, Joana Arenas is grown, married – and still selling cupcakes. Her confections have grown up, too. (Cupcakes are now scratch-made in a variety of flavors, fully frosted, with toppings worthy of winning any Food Network bake-off.)
This is the story behind Arenas Dream Cakes, a Westside bakery – and labor of love – that’s grown from childhood hustle, to home-based business, and is now a full-fledged business.
Arenas only just moved into her humble, Westside storefront last year, but from the pride-of-ownership and joy that lights up her face – as she shows us, lovingly, around the shop – we may as well be touring the executive kitchen at the Four Seasons.
It’s clear that enterprising 13-year-old is still very much alive in the heart of Arenas Dream Cakes, and as far as she’s concerned, she’s arrived.
JOANA ARENAS, BAKER AND OWNER OF ARENAS DREAM CAKES, AT 779 W. 19TH STREET #P IN COSTA MESA.
Photo: Brandy Young
“We do custom cakes, cookies, cake pops, cupcakes, all different kinds of treats,” said Arenas, from her immaculate work space in the back room of the bakery. “Right now, one of our most popular items is my tiramisu. I do mine with vanilla sponge, coffee, coffee frosting and then I dust it with cocoa powder. Our Tres Leches is really popular, too.”
Tiramisu and Tres Leches may be the most popular with her customers, but what does Arenas love to eat?
“Red velvet, of course!” she exclaims. “Red is my favorite color, and the way the cream cheese works with the chocolate cake in my red velvet, it gives it a nice touch.”
She doesn’t shrink from a challenge, either. At one point during our interview, she pulled out a tray of meticulously-crafted macarons.
“Try one,” she said, as she offered up the tray with a smile. We bit… they were confection perfection.
“My secret is that I use a whipped-cream filling instead of buttercream,” Arenas shared. “It keeps them really light, but still creamy.”
Is there anything this Costa Mesa baker can’t do?
NOT JUST CAKES: ARENAS OFFERS ALL MANNER OF ENCHANTING, SCRATCH-MADE CONFECTIONS.
Photos: Brandy Young
Arenas may be capable of doing any dessert, but her bread-and-butter are twofold: custom cakes and Grubhub orders.
The best way to see what Arenas can do with a cake is to follow her on Instagram @arenasdreamcakes. It’s an incredible, edible gallery of all kinds of custom cakes! One cake is an X-box console. Another cake is the spitting image of a tub of ice, with two bottle of Corona beer sticking out. She’s got cakes shaped like the Grinch – piggybanks, sharks, stilettos – and Jack Skellington, to name a few.
As beautiful as they look, that’s not quite good enough for Arenas. She’s not happy unless her cakes taste just as amazing, too.
“I’ve worked at a big bakery before,” confided Arenas. “I’ve seen how they work, how long those cakes sit on the shelf. It’s not good. If you order your cake from me for an event on Saturday, I’m not even going to bake it until Friday. I want it extra fresh. Your cakes will never be sitting in my fridge all week, drying out. Everything’s fresh.”
Her cakes aren’t just fresh, they’re award-winning. Her bakery is lined with ribbons she’s won from various OC Fair competitions.
Making desserts that taste as good as they look is how Arenas grows her business. Word of mouth is the best way, she says.
“Lots of people go to parties,” she said. “If you eat a slice of my cake and it tastes delicious, you’re going to ask the host, my client, where they got it. Then next time that guest needs a cake, they are going to come to me.”
The Grubhub orders are less about elegant events and more about midnight munchies. Arenas sells cake-by-the-slice, cookies, brownies, chocolate-dipped strawberries and caramel apples – all delivered right to your door.
CUSTOM CAKES – AND SINGLE-SLICE GRUBHUB ORDERS – ARE THE BREAD-AND-BUTTER AT ARENAS DREAM CAKES.
Photos: Brandy Young
If you don’t just love to eat desserts – but want to learn to make them yourself – Arenas offers classes out of her bakery space.
She started off with group classes, but found pacing was a problem.
“I discovered that people learn at different speeds,” she said with a knowing nod. “So now I mostly do private classes, one-on-one.”
Lessons are always on the table, and customized to whatever you want to learn. Call her up, or stop by the bakery, to schedule a time.
“Just say, ‘I really want to learn how to do this kind of cake,’ and I’ll make an appointment with you,” she said.
We asked Arenas if she had a good pro-tip to share with our readers, like her secret to making the perfect cake?
“With cake, it’s all about the consistency of the frosting,” she shared. “People believe a stiff frosting is best, but I like to work at a medium consistency. It makes it really easy to spread onto the cake. Then, if you want a very smooth finish, you need to heat your metal spatula in hot water. Once it’s super hot, wipe off the water and go around the cake. The frosting will be very smooth when you are done.”
Photo: Brandy Young
The BHAG is to one day grow into a bigger space. But for now, this Costa Mesa High School alumna is happy to spend her days baking away at 779 West 19th Street.
She’s content. Her bakery is just a stone’s throw from her home, and she loves that the movie theatre (at Triangle Square), the market, and the OC Fair are all close by.
“I spend pretty much all my time here in Costa Mesa,” said Arenas. “It’s beautiful. There are so many beautiful things to see. The beach is close enough for us to bike there.
“Everything is here in Costa Mesa. I am happy to work here and live here, too.” ♥
_________________
Follow Arenas Dream Cakes on Instagram @arenasdreamcakes and Facebook here, or visit her little bakery, in person, at 779 West 19th Street #P. Contact information and directions are also listed on her website: arenasdreamcakes.com
