Episode 2228 - Big Flavor, Mini Loaves: Chelita’s Desserts

When passion, family tradition, and artisan craft come together, you get something truly magical. On this episode of The Ash Said It Show, we sat down with Lisa, the visionary founder behind Chelita’s Desserts, to explore how she transformed cherished family roots into one of Suwanee, Georgia’s most beloved cottage bakeries.

Chelita’s Desserts isn't just about satisfying a sweet tooth—it’s an invitation to experience authentic Puerto Rican heritage through every bite. Born from a deep love for tradition, Lisa crafts small-batch, handmade treats that bring rich Latin flavors to the local community.

Leaving mass-market shortcuts behind, every recipe is infused with genuine nostalgia, magnetic presentation, and the kind of personal care that makes every single order feel like a gift from a dear friend.

While her entire menu turns heads—featuring creative twists like Strawberry Crunch and rich dulce de leche—there is one absolute showstopper that stole the spotlight during our chat: her famed Tres Leches Mini Loaves.

Perfectly balanced, exquisitely moist, and never too heavy, these mini loaves have earned a massive local following and stand as the ultimate must-try for any first-time buyer. You can catch Chelita’s Desserts next at local metro-Atlanta pop-ups, community markets, and by ordering directly online.

Web: https://www.chelitasdesserts.c...
Follow: @chelitasdesserts07
Call: 973-216-4767a

Bio: Chelita’s Desserts is a premier woman-owned, family-operated cottage bakery rooted in Suwanee, Georgia, specializing in authentic Puerto Rican-inspired small-batch sweets and luxury dessert creations.

Built on a foundation of authentic family traditions, cultural pride, and heartfelt hospitality, founder Lisa created the brand to preserve and share the vibrant flavors of her Latin heritage with the Gwinnett County community and the broader Metro Atlanta area.

Bypassing mass-market commercial shortcuts, Chelita’s Desserts relies on handcrafted, small-batch techniques using fresh, high-quality components to ensure every bite delivers a nostalgic, homemade taste experience.

The bakery's undisputed signature showstopper is its lineup of Luxury Tres Leches Mini Loaves, celebrated across North Georgia for achieving the perfect balance of rich, decadent moisture without ever feeling overly dense or heavy.

Alongside classic caramel-infused Dulce de Leche recipes, Lisa innovates with creative, trend-forward flavor variations including Strawberry Crunch, Cookies & Cream, Pineapple, Coconut, Red Velvet, and Lemon Pistachio.

Beyond exceptional flavor profiles and magnetic presentation, Chelita’s Desserts stands out for its high-touch customer service and deep community connections, making its personal-sized mini loaves and custom treats the ultimate choice for local Gwinnett County pop-up events, dessert gift boxes, teacher appreciation, corporate catering, and family celebrations.

#ChelitasDesserts #SuwaneeGA #GwinnettEats #PuertoRicanDesserts #TresLechesMiniLoaf #GABakery #LatinaOwnedBusiness #AtlantaFoodies #CottageBakery #SmallBatchSweets #DulceDeLeche #GwinnettCountyFood #SuwaneeEats #AtlantaDesserts

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🔆Why the Community Rises with

Speaker 1: What it is, what it dos cyber world. It is

your girl, the one and only Ash Brown. And this

is the Ash set of Shell. Over twenty two hundred

episodes since twenty fourteen. I can hardly believe it. Seven

hundred thousand plus streams globally. None of this is possible

without you, guys, So thank you, so so very much.

The shares, the cares, It makes a huge difference. Today

I'm joined by a local entrepreneur, another one of my

Gwenette County buddies, has an amazing business that I heard about,

and I said, I gotta hear the story. We gotta

get the background all this great things. So welcome Lisa

from Chilita's Desserts. Hey Lisa, Hi, Hello, Hello.

Speaker 2: Hello, how are you? I am doing well, so very

blessed for being on this call right now.

Speaker 1: Thank you so much, so so starting off from the top,

you know, Chilita's Desserts is built on family tradition. What

is the story behind the name and how does your

Puerto Rican heritage inspire some of those recipes?

Speaker 2: Okay, so I'm gonna make this kind of short because

it's very long story. But so my whole point of

you know, starting the business was because of my mom.

So I was three years old when my mom and

my dad legally adopted me.

Speaker 3: And what I remember as a kid when.

Speaker 4: I legally got adopted was everything was about family. And

all I remember was my mom being in the kitchen

and cooking.

Speaker 3: And baking and family coming over.

Speaker 2: So you know, my mom was a foster mom, so

I always remember, you know, family being in the house

and different kids being in the house. So that is

what I grew up in that type.

Speaker 4: Of environment and seeing my mom doing that, which was

her showing her.

Speaker 2: Love and her gratitude and giving back.

Speaker 3: To the community.

Speaker 4: And also you know, seeing that through my dad, like

at church events, you know, my mom would be cooking

or she'll.

Speaker 2: Be doing stuff, and that just kind of.

Speaker 3: Like stood in me.

Speaker 2: And it's growing up. When I got older, I always

like imagined, you know, you know sometimes they say kids

they kind of daydream and stuff. So I would day

dream and I would always day dream of, you know,

being the homeless. I know it sounds weird, but no,

that doesn't sound that.

Speaker 1: You have a huge heart, and I mean that's what

everyone should want to do, is like to help if

you've in a good situation or whatever. If you see

someone that's less fortunate, why not extend a hand to

help them? No, I think that's your yeah.

Speaker 2: Yes, yes, And it's just like always been my like

my desire because I'm going to try not to get

emotional because every time I talk about my mom, I

you know, I get like that. But she she just

like put that. That's like my memory of her, like.

Speaker 3: Always remembering that.

Speaker 4: And as I got older and becoming a young adult

and then becoming a parent, I always either did stuff

at church which.

Speaker 3: Was given back to people at the church, or give

back to the community.

Speaker 2: I worked doing education, so that was also my way

of giving back. But either way, even.

Speaker 3: If I you know, even though.

Speaker 2: I did those things, I still put some type of

my cooking in it.

Speaker 5: So it was like I.

Speaker 2: Always bought some type of dessert or I always bought

some type of food, and everybody would saying, oh my god, Lisa,

can you bring this? Can you bring that?

Speaker 4: So I always did and it's something that I, like

I said, I loved and recently kind of making a

short a year ago my mom she passed away in

two thousand.

Speaker 2: And twenty or which was exactly the day right after Christmas.

Speaker 3: Wow, and the holadays was like a very big thing

for my mom and for us.

Speaker 2: Because that's what we grew up doing.

Speaker 4: Like my mom was a host for everything.

Speaker 2: So it was like she would bring family over and

for that Christmas, I just felt like, Okay, I can't

bring mom home, I can't do Christmas dinner, I can't

do this, and I can't do that. But at the

same time, I knew that's not what my you know,

my mom didn't want me to be sad.

Speaker 4: About it, and I know she wanted me to keep

on the legacy.

Speaker 2: And do what she taught me. So even though she

passed after Christmas, you know, we still did something in memory.

Speaker 4: Of her, and I try to keep that memory and

that legacy of Mom, which is you know, still with the.

Speaker 2: Cooking and giving back to the community. So that is

what I'm doing now and I'm just I love it.

Speaker 3: That's actually my peace.

Speaker 2: It makes me happy when I do it, and I'm

trying to think what else because.

Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean and you know it's also when.

Speaker 2: I say family legacy. Also it's because I try to

do that with my girls, and you know, they see,

oh mom.

Speaker 3: Loves to cook.

Speaker 4: They knew that ever since I was since they were babies,

like mom loves to be in the kitchen.

Speaker 3: They remember visiting and.

Speaker 2: Going to Puerto Rico and seeing my mom making cakes

and cooking and doing all that stuff. So I know,

you know, when they become moms, they are going.

Speaker 3: To do the same.

Speaker 2: So I'm just trying to keep that legacy of my

mom that I love to do.

Speaker 1: I love it. Beautiful, beautiful story. But the word around

is that your translatch is mini loafs are They're the

fan favorite. They're going about everybody. It's posting about them.

Everybody wants them. What is the secret to getting that

perfect rich moisture level without the cake being too heavy?

Speaker 2: How do you have pay for that balance? Oh my goodness,

it's funny that you say that not being so heavy, Huh.

Speaker 4: I would say, well, starting off, I don't do just

the plain classic that's lid chick cake. So I've done

all different flavors of the met chi cake.

Speaker 2: So if you want your chocolate flavor, I do your chocolate,

I do strawberry, I've done pistassio, I've done lemon, so

I you know, put all the good delicious milks in it,

and while I'm making it, I'm pulling all that love

into it as well to make it tasty even better.

And you know, they're they're loaf cakes.

Speaker 4: They're they're just I'm just surprised that.

Speaker 2: You just said that it can I got people tell me,

But I'm like, are you just telling me that to

make me feel good?

Speaker 1: No, I've heard things about those. I'm like, Okay, that's

all my list of things I need to try next.

Speaker 2: That's all yes, yes, yes, yes, But those are actually

my biggest sellers because you know, I have other stuff

that I make, you know.

Speaker 3: Because everything is mini size or loaf and those.

Speaker 2: Are my biggest sellers. Everybody wants dress lichen cakes. And

I've I've noticed, Okay, so I'm jumping from all over.

Speaker 3: The place.

Speaker 2: What I've noticed coming from because I'm originally from New

York but also lived in Puerto Rico. So coming from

Puerto Rico and then from New York, you've tried food

from all different places, you know, states, countries and stuff

like that. And when I moved to Georgia, I've tried

press lichen, I've tried different Spanish food, and to me,

it was not the same, like when I lived in

Puerto Rico, Yes, but I always tried, Like when I

started the dress Lich, I tried my hardest to make.

Speaker 4: It and put all the ingredients that my mom showed

me into cakes. And then I just kind of added

a little bit of extra stuff into the tres legit

to give it more of that flavor and to make

it tasteful.

Speaker 3: And moist and all that other stuff.

Speaker 1: But yeah, that sounds really good. Okay, So from the

strawberry crunch to you, you offer some incredible flavor twist.

How do you decide what do flavors to add?

Speaker 3: Oh, that's a good one.

Speaker 2: How do I decide?

Speaker 3: I guess.

Speaker 2: So what I do is usually like for the week,

I'll promote different flavors, and I have a taste tester,

which is my daughter, and she would just tell me like, yeah, Mom,

this one is really good. Why don't you tell it

to this person?

Speaker 3: Or just make this one for this day? And then

I've said so many people just taste est so.

Speaker 2: I will just kind of like throw it out and do.

Speaker 3: Samples and ask people like.

Speaker 2: Hey, which one do you like the most? And do

like this flavor? And it just it just really pops

up in my head. I don't look at recipes or

think of, you know, like looking up stuff anything. It

just literally just pops up. I'm like, let me add.

Speaker 3: This to it.

Speaker 2: Like even when I started doing the leche, I added

some extra cinnamon to it.

Speaker 3: And I remember one of my girlfriends.

Speaker 2: Told me, oh my god, Liza, this tastes like a

cinnamon crunch.

Speaker 3: Dres leche cake.

Speaker 2: And I didn't even think of it, and I was like, Wow,

that's actually pretty good.

Speaker 3: That's a good one. I think I'm going to do that.

Speaker 2: But yeah, and as far as the strawberry crunch, I

would see like online because I'm always like, you know,

also looking at people's videos and stuff, and I noticed

people were doing a lot out of strawberry crunch cake.

So that's what made me think about, hey, let me

try a strawberry crunch dythlectric cake, right and do it like,

you know, put that special stuff on it and everything

and make a taste even better. So yeah, that's how

I kind of come up with the different flavors and.

Speaker 1: Ideas as a small batch cottage baker. What has been

the most rewarding part of bringing your treats to the

local community.

Speaker 2: Oh, The most rewarding part to me is just seeing

people's faces smiling and them being happy with my with

my cakes, Like just them telling me, oh, thank you

so much, I love this. This is so good that to.

Speaker 3: Me is like it means a lot. I had. It

must have been maybe a month ago.

Speaker 2: I actually did wasn't well, it wasn't June, but yeah,

almost two months I did a pool party event and

I just you know, I did sample the stuff and everything,

and people were just coming back and coming back for

more and coming back for more. Because this was my

actual first to be honest, my actual first event doing

something outside.

Speaker 3: Like I've done stuff where I've.

Speaker 4: Seldom to people and they've like text me or called

me and hey, we're having this party, can you make me.

Speaker 3: This this this amount of cakes?

Speaker 2: But this one was actually one of my biggest events.

And I had people just reach.

Speaker 4: Out and say, oh my god, I'm going to call

you for this party or I'm going to do this,

or can you bake this for this day? And you know,

even the kids, the kids were coming back and bringing

their parents and like, oh, we like the chocolate.

Speaker 2: Cake, mom, can you know we order from her next?

Speaker 3: You know, stuff like that. So that and I love.

Speaker 2: To see the kids' faces.

Speaker 3: Like seeing their faces and smiling makes me happy.

Speaker 2: That's the best part, to be honest, I love it.

Speaker 1: Now listen, if people want to get some more information

and of course put in their orders and book you

for events and all the good things, what is the

best way for them to reach you?

Speaker 2: Okay, so let me see.

Speaker 5: I just got my business number, but as far as

it g it's Telita's Desert which is c h E

l I t A S deserts oh seven.

Speaker 4: And then my email is Telita Deserts which is c

h E l I t A d E S s

e r t S zero seven at Gmail, and the

same thing for Facebook.

Speaker 3: I'm at Talita Deserts.

Speaker 2: And for my phone number, I have two phone numbers

you can take six three one nine three three four.

Speaker 3: Seven sixty seven. I also just started my website. It

just came up about a few weeks.

Speaker 2: Ago, and that will be ww Back to bed Desert.

Speaker 1: I love it much more success to you and your team,

your your taste testers over there post making great stuff.

I would love for you to come back. I know

there's going to be new flavors, there's going to be

announcements and stuff. I would love for you to come

back and share with us.

Speaker 3: Definitely, definitely.

Speaker 2: Just can I just let you guys know there's a

huge event. I know this is probably gonna be out

maybe tomorrow, whatever, but there's a huge event doing tomorrow

and it's going.

Speaker 3: To be at the park.

Speaker 2: And let me see a which park gets up?

Speaker 3: But it's a day at the park.

Speaker 2: So it's actually Patterson coming to Atlanta. They always do

this every year.

Speaker 3: So I will be.

Speaker 4: There tomorrow And the name of the park is Parkins Park, Indiana,

Sol's Road.

Speaker 2: Got it? Got it.

Speaker 1: We'll be sure to put all of that info in

the description of this show. Again, Lisa, thank you so much.

We appreciate you, and I appreciate each and every one

of you guys. Thank you so much for all of

your love, all of your support. It makes a huge difference.

Keep in mind, anyone to tell you that you can't

do what you want to do, you look them square

in the face, you tell them, don't believe me. Just

watch watch what I do, Watch me make it happen.

Watch we make history. That's what we're doing this for

the history books. Social media is nice, but real life

is so much better. Until next time you guys,