Ledes from the Land of Enchantment

Pandemic boom leads ABQ baker to expand

Roxanne “Roxy” Sanchez and her husband, Malcolm McCain, inside Roxy’s Cake Studio at Coronado Center. The new bakery offers a selection of cupcakes, cake pops and ready-made cake. (Liam DeBonis/Journal)

An Oreo cake at Roxy’s Cake Studio, located in Coronado Center at 6600 Menaul NE. The bakery sells cakes, cupcakes, cookies and other sweet treats. (Liam DeBonis/Journal)

Cake pops for sale at Roxy’s Cake Studio. (Liam DeBonis/Journal)

Roxy’s Cake Studio at Coronado Center. (Liam DeBonis/Journal)

A trip to Coronado Center may just be a little bit sweeter with the opening of a new bakery on the mall’s north side.

Roxy’s Cake Studio, located at 6600 Menaul NE, opened July 17.

The new 2,400-square-foot bakery, housed inside a former Wise Pies location, offers customers a selection of cupcakes, cake pops and ready-made cakes along with other treats designed to satiate a sweet tooth.

Originally started in a home kitchen in 2018 by Roxanne “Roxy” Sanchez, Roxy’s Cake Studio has since grown into a storefront bakery with a dedicated following.

Sanchez said her business truly gained a following during the pandemic, since many grocery store bakeries had closed down leaving fewer options for customers.

“I don’t know if that was it, I don’t know if there was just nothing else to do, but I think everybody was eating a lot more,” she said.

This is technically the second location for the bakery since Roxy’s Cake Studio originally opened in 2020 in the Sawmill area north of Old Town.

But after nearly two years operating out of the 600-square-foot space, Sanchez said her business was ready to grow, and she started seeking out a larger spot to rent.

Sanchez said the new Coronado location gives her not only more space, but more of a presence since customers can easily find her store and there is a lot of foot traffic — two things the previous location lacked.

Sanchez, who has been decorating cakes for the last 14 years, said she fell into her profession by accident.

After becoming pregnant with her first child, she sought out a job that could support her and landed at a local Baskin-Robbins.

Soon, Sanchez said she discovered a talent for decorating ice cream cakes and became the store’s go-to person for all things cake-related.

At one point, Sanchez spent her time traveling between different Baskin-Robbins locations solely to decorate cakes, though after six years she made the move to a bakery by working for ABC Cake Shop & Bakery as the wedding cake decorator.

There, she built her skill and started to tackle harder projects like a five-tiered wedding cake and 3-D cakes.

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Both of these skills, she said, are part of what makes her stand out as a baker.

Though Roxy’s Cake Studio has many ready-made treats available, customers are still able to order specialty custom cakes.

Sanchez said she would also like to resume holding cookie-decorating classes, which she conducted at her previous location, in the near future.

Roxy’s Cake Studio is open from 11 am to 8 pm Monday through Thursday, 11 am to 9 pm Friday, 10 am to 9 pm Saturday and 11 am to 7 pm Sunday.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/roxyscakestudio/.

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