Jose Barajas always wanted to work in the kitchen. His mother, a cake decorator when he was young, he began his journey by starting as a dishwasher, and grew a passion for cake decorating and pastry making. Born in Tijuana, his mother was from Santa Monica and his father was from Mexico City and the family moved to Chula Vista when he was 6-years-old. Little did he know at that time, that his passion would lead him into the world of extreme cake decorating competitions where he created his brand. Growing up on Third Avenue, Barajas said he always dreamed of having his own bakery, and the middle of a pandemic, his dream became a reality with the opening of Mmm…Cakes, at 284 Third Ave.
Barajas attended the San Diego Culinary Institute for pastry baking right after high school, worked in many bakeries, at a wholesale bakery in La Mesa that specialized in wholesale desserts for hotels, high-end restaurants, Petco Park and the San Diego Convention Center.
“While I was doing that, I was doing custom cakes on the side for friends, family all from home,” he said. “I left the wholesale bakery to keep doing my own thing with custom cakes because I started getting a lot of attention, many over-the-top designs.”
Barajas entered his first cake competition in 2014 on TLC’s “Next Great Baker,” and that was the beginning of his competitive career. He went on with his competitive streak on Sugar Rush (2018), La Familia (2018) and Holiday Gingerbread Showdown (2018), Winner Cake All (2018), Cake Wars (2016).
“After the cake competitions, I began working behind the scenes,” he said. “I was working in production and moving from the front of the cameras to the back of the cameras, doing guest judging on ‘Chopped Sweets.’”
Barajas also worked in culinary production for Netflix’s ‘Sugar Rush’ and HBO Max’s ‘Baketopia.’ So, it has been a crazy ride,” he said. While competing on television, Barajas continued to “hustle” his custom cakes on the side.
“Little by little it was me doing it in my home kitchen to taking up a room in my house and making it my own cake studio,” he said.
Barajas said he also worked in Chula Vista at Standlee’s Inc. in Chula Vista since he turned 18, a wholesale baking supply company.
“I was running around like a chicken with my head chopped off,” he said. “I grew up on Third Avenue. I saw how the Avenue was at night, with robust businesses, and when the economy crashed all the spaces became rental halls.”
Then, in a middle of a pandemic, he opened Mmm…Cakes with his brother Miguel, and his sister-in-law Stevie as partners. Barajas said the bakery is a true family business with his parents investing a large amount to get the business on its feet.
“With the bakery, I kept to my original name of my business Mmm…Cakes,” he said. “People are always curious why I named it that. I am horrible at naming businesses. I am an incredibly huge fan of “The Simpsons” and I love how Homer says, ‘Mmm…Donuts,’ so that is where I got the name of the business.”
Barajas said the part of the inspiration of the bakery is his love of “The Golden Girls.” He said, “If Blanche was alive, this would be her place with a fun, sexy kind of feel.”
Although Barajas’s strengths are custom cakes, he also wanted the bakery to be an inviting atmosphere for people to sit down and enjoy pastries, but also wanted to give them a “piece of the cakes” for which he is now so well known.
“My cakes are extremely expensive, and many people wanted to just have a slice of one of my cakes that I make, so we offer pieces of the cakes by the slice, and it is still the same cakes I offer with my custom cakes that people can enjoy at a better cost without breaking the bank and having to buy a huge custom cake,” he said.
Barajas said they offer coffee and breakfast pastries in the morning, something of which they are proud.
“Everything from the Danishes to the croissants are made fresh and from scratch.,” he said. “Even the fillings we make inhouse. Everything we have in the case we make that same morning. It is incredible because we can be that high-end bakery that Chula Vista has always wanted.”
Barajas said that opening during the pandemic was extremely hard. He did not want to over hire or under hire, so they are still “testing the waters.” However, he said they do have future plans for the business.
“We are asking all our customers to be patient, but we have been getting a really good reaction to everything so far,” he said. “But in time, we plan on offering more with a food menu. We are planning to do more savory pastries. We want to add cheese, bacon, and have fun with it all. We are planning on getting our beer and wine license so we can pair our desserts with wine and champagne and make it classy, so people can come here after they have had a nice dinner at one of the great restaurants on the Avenue, then come here and dine with us.”
Barajas said this is going to take a while, but hopefully by next summer the bakery will be able to offer these new options for customers to enjoy.
“One of the cool things is during the pandemic I had orders canceled left and right because there were no events happening, so throughout the year I teamed up with the breweries on the Avenue doing themed popups,” he said. “That is something that I want to keep alive with all the other businesses. For Halloween, we did one with Chula Vista Brewery where we had Beetlejuice desserts while they offered three exclusive beer flavors to pair with our desserts. It was fun. People were waiting in line with them, then waiting in line for us.”
Barajas said the bakery is 18 years in the making and he has now reached his ultimate goal, but his vision of evolution is to make the bakery fun, a special place for the community. He said growing up, working at Standlee’s, her remembers the plaza where senior citizens hung out with their sandwiches and drink, and now with the many breweries on the Avenue, there is simply few places for seniors to hang out.
“It is important to us, so we invite them to come over and hang out. We have a senior citizen discount, and we want them to feel this is a safe place for them,” he said. “But now, it is about keeping it alive and growing with time. The community has been very helpful. We tell people that if they have a suggestion, something they might think needs tweaking, we take everyone’s opinion seriously. We want this to be their bakery and something ideal for the entire community. We all deserve it.”
