The Story!


In 2017, Motor City Madeleines launched in a major way! The launch took place at the annual Belle Isle Art Fair. I was invited to be a vendor at the art fair after completing a workshop given by FoodLab Detroit called Launching and Running a Hobby Food Business. Through that workshop I gained the first of many opportunities to bring my product to the public. 

At the art fair Motor City Madeleines was featured on our Local4 news channel, which brought people from all over Michigan just to try our madeleines. We sold out both days of the fair and gained several new customers. We were later asked to have Motor City Madeleines in swag bags for a celebrity event and invited to be a vendor at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD). We truly hit the ground running!

When asked where did I get the idea for making madeleines as a business the answer was simple, I had a problem I needed to solve. No, really it was a me problem!

I really enjoy eating these little cakes and too often when I went looking for them they were sold out which to me kind of said maybe it’s not just a me problem after all.

I decided I could just make my own, so that’s what I did. While in the process of making the classic vanilla cake I thought, I should try making them in other flavors. Now my grandmother was a retired baker from the old Hudson’s Bakery on Woodward. Grandma always baked and sold cakes during the holidays, she made this lemon pound cake I loved with this lemon glaze. I worked on a recipe that would mimic that flavor for me, and that sparked the idea of a twist on flavors for this classic treat.

I know not a real glamorous story, just one thing that led to another that led to an idea that led to the start of a business allowing me to use my culinary training and experience to create something that not only I enjoyed but others just might enjoy too.