People

Tasting Joy

“Baking has always been a big part of my life. I come from a family of bakers, and to this day, if you go to my mom’s house, you’ll always find lemon bars, cream cheese brownies, or of course, lots and lots of bundt cakes!”
Words by Sandy Lindsey | Photos by Antonio Eli | March 29, 2021 | People

At her core, Mariolga “Mo” Calderon is a creative. This translated into her ability to imaginatively promote brands as a Marketing Director for over a decade and most recently that inventiveness shines through in her role as Founder & “Chief Creative Baker” for Mo’s Bundt Cakes, creating the branding and testing new flavors and recipes for their delicious selection of cakes. “It means a lot to me to be able to honor the women in my life by recreating their recipes and sharing them with our customers,” she says. “To me, these bundt cakes are nostalgic and they bring me joy every time I make one. It’s very fulfilling for me to give the gift of that joy, especially now, because I’ve always associated these cakes with happiness. People are always happy to see you when you bring treats.” One of her most unforgettable memories is the first time she baked a large quantity of cakes for her brother’s wedding 10 years ago. She had to bake 200 cakes in a small oven in her apartment with only two pans. “Let’s say there was a mess everywhere,” she says. “That was the first time I really started playing around with different sizes and mass production and experimenting with creative packaging. I believe it was a moment that really started to shape the earliest identity of what Mo’s Bundt Cakes would evolve into.” Her daughter is her biggest critic. “She’s got a marketing-savvy mind (I like to believe she got that from me!) and she loves to weigh in behind-the-scenes,” she says. “She’s the one who helped us come up with our two most recent flavors — the Lemon Cake in January and the Hershey’s Kisses in February.” Future plans include her first brick-and-mortar store and, in the meantime, the company has expanded beyond delivery services to selling the cakes in partnership with key retailers in the travel and gifting industries; MosBundtCakes.com.