On the corner of East Pennington Street and Sixth Avenue inside Cafe Poca Cosa lies one of the best places to get cake in Tucson—Cup Quequitos, a vegan cupcake paradise, owned and baked by Shanali Davila.
With no storefront of its own, you may question if you are even in the right place when you walk through, but getting a cupcake is as easy as asking the hostess, who will delectably describe each of the cupcakes of the day you can purchase.
“[One night,] a regular customer asked me to make non-dairy dessert for them because they had an allergy,” Davila said. “It then exploded into more non-dairy desserts. I also thought that there was a need for more non-dairy desserts for people with the allergy.”
This led Davila to take it one step further and go full vegan with her cupcake concepts.
Customers can also choose from soy-free and gluten-free options for a small extra fee when they order cupcakes on Cup Quequitos’ website.
Coming in a wide variety of flavors, Cup Quequitos offers something different from the average bakery.
You’d be hard-pressed to find many cupcake places in town that can offer taste experiences similar to those present in Quequitos’ Choco Cinn Mole, Mango Dos Leches and Choco Lavender Almond cupcakes.
Beyond the taste factor, each cupcake’s visual design is simple and well-crafted. The quality of the cupcake designs almost makes you feel bad for eating them.
“The flavor just pops into my head,” Davila said. “They usually start as food and I try to see if I can turn it into a cake.”
Davila also cites her mother, Suzana, the owner/chef of Cafe Poca Cosa, as a big inspiration.
Cup Quequitos boasts 134 different cupcakes available for order online, and the bakery will cater a variety of occassions.
Since Cup Quequitos has no storefront home, the bakery relies heavily on word of mouth and social media for promoting the business.
“Customers who eat here often or people who walk in while doing stuff in the area tell other people,” Davila said.
Find Cup Quequitos on Twitter and Facebook, and stop in for a pretty Tucson cupcake experience.
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