This Bakery Makes The Cutest Pop Culture-Inspired Pastries

There’s nothing I love more than a cup of coffee and pan dulce. The sweet bread comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, but the most popular one is the concha. Topped with sweet ridges, the pastry resembles a seashell, which is what concha means in Spanish. The topping is usually pink, yellow, or white, so when I came across a bakery’s custom conchas decorated with intricate designs and characters from pop culture, I had to learn more.

From Star Wars and baseball team logos to the late Tejano singer Selena, the Chicago bakery Homemade With Love crafts one-of-a-kind conchas featuring your favorite pop culture references.

“Baking is where I kind of get lost in time,” said Yesenia Ramirez, the owner of Homemade With Love. Before she stated the business, the mother of two would make treats for her kids’ birthday parties and soon began experimenting with decorating conchas.

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She started giving conchas to her friends and family, and her home-based business eventually took off. Just last month, Homemade with Love opened its first storefront.

Most of Ramirez’s orders are for customized conchas, which she decorates by hand, all herself. In a recent three-day span, she decorated about 30-dozen conchas.

“It’s really hard on your hands. It’s really hard on your back. It takes a lot of concentration,” she said.

Depending on the design, a dozen conchas can cost anywhere from $36 to $84. The most popular request the bakery gets is for pan dulce decorated with a traditional Mexican floral design.

mexican floral conchas

While it’s not often advertised, Ramirez’s family concha recipe is naturally vegan. “A lot of people think that if it’s vegan it might not be as good or it might be different, but it’s not something that we specifically made that way,” she said. So unless you’re ordering gourmet conchas stuffed with ingredients like Nutella, they’re vegan-friendly.

Ramirez isn’t hiding her talents, but rather sharing them with the community. At least once a month, she offers a beginners class where she teaches fans how to make and decorate conchas.

“I’ve had a few of my students that have their own businesses and they’re really pushing the conchas, the decorated ones, because it’s something so unique and it kind of puts you apart from everybody else,” she told me.

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For those looking to start their own business, Ramirez’s main piece of advice is to not give up. “It’s very difficult, but just like everything else, having patience or being very persistent will get you to your goal.”

Customers can place orders online, through social media, or over the phone. Conchas and beverages are also available at the storefront in Montgomery, Illinois.