All the Right Ingredients: Baking grad having her cupcakes and eating them too

Posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2018

Baking was a part of Claudia Arizmendi’s life long before she emigrated from Mexico to Canada more than two decades ago. But turning her passion into a successful business took vision, determination, and a diploma from Algonquin College.

Arizmendi is the woman behind Ottawa’s Cupcake Lounge, a popular specialty bakery with outlets in the Byward Market and Westboro. She has won awards for her entrepreneurship, and a loyal following for the sweet confections she bakes each day.

Algonquin, she says, “was a big, big part of all of this”

In Mexico, Arizmendi worked as a half-day kindergarten teacher. The other half of her day she prepared fresh baked goods to sell out of her home. She dreamed of something more.

When she first came to Canada, Arizmendi had small children and not much time to pursue her dream. But when her youngest started school, she decided it was time to get serious. That mean enrolling in Algonquin’s Baking and Pastry Arts diploma program.

“It was a very practical program. Two days of the week it was just practical (courses in baking),” she says. “All day on your feet in the kitchen, no stops, not too many breaks. It was very real. It gives you an idea of real life as a baker.”

But the course went beyond the kitchen, she says. “The job management class teaches a lot about how to run a business and, if there are any issues, how to solve them. The course really gets you through the day-to-day routine” of a baking business.

“When I finished the program, I was really set on what I wanted to do,” she says. “It is very important when you’re opening any kind of business. It has to be something you believe you can be recognized for.”

Arizmendi’s idea was to make gourmet cakes, using only the best ingredients — real vanilla, butter rather than lard, high quality cocoa, locally sourced fruits — but sold in single-serving portions.

“The Cupcake Lounge came alive,” she says.

Arizmendi’s offerings have diversified to meet customer demand. Her shops now sell full-sized cakes by special order, cookies, and fruit and milk frozen treats on a stick, that are inspired by Mexican paletas.

But it is her cupcakes — from recipes created during a year of experimentation between her graduation and the opening of her first shop — that bring customers back. Using innovative ingredients such as Mexican chilies and green tea, her creations surprise and delight.

While a success baker, Arizmendi is also proud of being a successful businesswoman. She was named Latin American Entrepreneur of the Year in the National Capital Region in 2012. Three years later, in 2015, her business was named Best Small- or Medium-Sized Enterprise of the Year by the francophone business association, Regroupement des gens d’affaires, in 2015.

Arizmendi is equally pleased that after being welcomed by Canada as an immigrant, she now provides jobs to other Canadians.

“Sometimes I wake up in the morning and wonder if I am living another person’s life. Another language, another country — I’ve changed a lot … It’s nice to wake up in the morning and come to your own place, for sure.”


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