Cupcake News
Fort Worth sweet shop to open with custom cakes and freeze-dried candy
Eduardo's watermelon cake
There's something sweet in the works for the River Oaks neighborhood in west Fort Worth: Called Eduardo’s Pastry Kitchen, it's a bakery and candy shop opening at 5950 River Oaks Blvd., in a former T-Mobile shop.
According to owner Eduardo Chavarin-Arreola, the shop is slated to open in July.
Chavarin-Arreola previously operated a cottage bakery, selling pastries and sweets from his home for a growing clientele, as a side business to his career in social work. This will be his first storefront location.
"I began baking during college more than 15 years ago as a way to pay for tuition," he says. "After COVID started, I started doing more baking — for coworkers, and then their families and friends, and it just kept growing from there."
His signature is decorated sugar cookies, but he also does cupcakes, Mexican sweet bread, cookies, crème brulée, cake pops, and custom-made cakes to order.
He also plans to rotate in dessert specials that'll give him a chance to try and introduce new items such as cheesecake.
"My hope is to do a dessert of the month; so on Fridays I'll have a special dessert like tiramisu," he says. "Not just your average dessert that you can get out of your local bakery — I want out-of-the-box stuff."
Chavarin-Arreola will also fold in his other side venture, a candy shop called Black Gato Candy Co. which he started in 2023, selling buzzy freeze-dried candies at markets and vendor fairs, including skittles, jolly ranchers, peach rings, and sour crawlers.
Freeze-dried candy is an increasingly popular category in which water is removed from the candy, resulting in a candy boasting a concentrated flavor and a light snappy crunch.
Since signing the lease for the space back in April, Chavarin-Arreola has documented his journey of preparing the space for opening, much of which he's done himself.
"When I started this, it started off with friendships, so I hope to stick to that," he says. "I want to build relationships with my customers like I do now, basically extend my family. I put a lot of care and love into the products I make, and this isn't just a business to me. This is my passion, this is something that I truly love."
