){kind=icon}
If you scroll through TikTok as often as I do, there’s a good chance you’ve stumbled upon the viral fruit-shaped mousse cakes made by bakeries around the globe.
The desserts are shaped and decorated like strawberries, peaches and mangoes. The outsides have an ASMR crunch. The insides are soft and creamy, filled with fruit, mousse and cake.
When the sweets first came on my TikTok feed, I knew I wanted to try them. But when they came on Tricia Olvera’s TikTok feed, she had a different thought.
She wanted to recreate them.
“I made them for Easter for my family. I made a carrot cake one and I made egg-shaped ones with berry mousse cake,” Tricia says. “My family loved them and they were so fun to make because they’re so creative.”
But now it’s not just Tricia’s family who gets to enjoy the viral mousse cakes. Through Tricia’s home bakery Crescent Moon Cottage Bakery, she’s making them for the rest of us, too.
Two freezers, four hands and hundreds of cakes
Tricia has been baking since she was a kid. Growing up, her parents owned party stores in Tucson where they offered after-hours cake decorating classes. Tricia loved them.
“My sister and I took those classes and I always loved the creativity of them,” she says.
Tricia has long loved to bake for her family, but four years ago, she received her license for the Cottage Food Program, which allows bakers in Arizona to sell certain homemade foods from their own kitchens.
Her specialties at the time were gourmet cookies — cookie butter, raspberry cheesecake, peanut butter fluff — all of which she continues to make today alongside her mousse cakes. (Her favorite cookie is a classic chocolate chip.)
Tricia paused bakery operations as she cared for her late mom, then reopened Crescent Moon Cottage Bakery in May. Because the bakery is run from her home, website preorders are required and she offers two weekly pick-up dates.
“When I decided to open my bakery back up, I started to offer the mousse cakes and they’ve sort of been the focus,” Tricia says. “For the most part, it’s the mousse cakes that are the stars of the show.”
Tricia makes the mousse cakes for all our favorite fruits — banana, peach, cherry, orange, apple, mango, lemon, blueberry, strawberry, coconut and even prickly pear. There are also mousse cakes that aren’t an homage to fruit, including coffee, peanut butter, Dubai chocolate and red velvet.
While the cakes aren’t difficult to make, they’re each made from scratch, requiring a lot of steps and even more time.
And because of their popularity, Tricia has to limit her weekly orders. If you order today, her next available pick-up dates are Aug. 21-22.
“It’s wild. I feel guilty having orders that far out. At first, I wasn’t adding dates that far out but people were messaging me and asking for dates farther out,” Tricia says. “I try to make as many as I humanly can. It’s a lot of work, but it’s fun. I only have so much freezer space too. I’m currently using two freezers.”
Tricia — with help from her pastry chef daughter-in-law — makes about 250 mousse cakes every week.
“I just hope people enjoy them,” Tricia says. “I had one person come to me and say one of my triple chocolate mousse cakes reminded them of the cake their grandma used to make and it was nostalgic for them. Stuff like this can bring out emotions in people.”
Tricia also sometimes hosts porch pop-ups, where you can pick up the mousse cakes in person instead of preordering them in advance.
“Talking to people is fun and it just makes it a little more accessible when I have the preorders so far out,” Tricia says. “It’s really fun to see people get so excited.”
So far, the mango, lemon and prickly pear mousse cakes are the favorites among customers. Tricia’s favorite is the coffee bean, which she says tastes like tiramisu. There are gluten-free options on the menu, too.
“I like coming up with new flavors. I just did a peanut butter one and I actually just made a new one today which is like a mangonada with chamoy on the inside, mango mousse, the fruit and, when I dipped it, I put Tajín on it. I haven’t tried it yet,” Tricia says. “Probably my favorite part of this is coming up with new flavors.”
🍓 Crescent Moon Cottage Bakery is a home bakery located on Tucson’s east side. Pastries must be ordered in advance. Mousse cakes are $8-$9 each. Cookies are $24-$26 for half a dozen. For more information, visit Crescent Moon Cottage Bakery’s website or Instagram. 🫐
This is an ad :)