Business & Tech

Savory Cupcakes Top Dia Doce Menu

The Cupcake Wars winners roll through town on a truck, offering jalapeno popper and bacon-flavored treats.

You may have spied the lime green Dia Doce truck rolling through a local farmers market, tailgate, private party or the West Chester University campus. 

Starting next month, you can indulge in a cupcake in an additional location off wheels: a new storefront coming to 100 High Street in West Chester.

Former fashion designer Thais Viggue rechanneled her creativity to found Dia Doce Gourmet Cupcakes two years ago. She began under tents at local farmers markets, purchased her mobile venue shortly after and will open her first bakery in Mid-August. Using a farm-to-plate mentality, Viggue bakes with more than 150 all-natural, sweet or savory recipes.

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From Seed to Baking Tin

Organic eggs, organic flour and raw sugar - obtained locally - account for some of the cupcake ingredients. Dia Doce also nixes artificial food coloring, using substances such as beet juice for the red velvet cupcakes instead. Through this approach, Viggue aims to both support local farmers and accommodate customers with gluten-free or vegan preferences.

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“The price point is way different,” Viggue said. “We don’t attract someone would want to buy a supermarket cupcake. We attract a different person.”

The attracted “person” is likely environmentally conscious, for Viggue operates primarily paper-free, utilizing the Internet and social media to post her menu, news and photos. The cupcake liners are also biodegradable.

She favored the green approach as “a personal thing” in hopes that her earth-safe initiatives establish something that “will last forever so our kids have something to grow up with.”

There are 17 year-round, daily flavors including black magic, white velvet, simply red and chocolate chip cookie dough. Some of the unconventionals include cereal and milk, maple bacon, salted caramel and lemon basil.

A Confectionary Artist

Viggue achieves many of her “lightbulb ideas” while dining out at restaurants, thinking of ways to sweetly tweak a typically savory dish.

“The whole reason that I loved fashion design was the raw art part of it. I think that transfers to cupcakes. It has to be aesthetically pleasing as much as it has to taste good,” she said.

“I’ve learned to take advantage of every stop we have because you never know who’s going to try the cupcake and think it’s the greatest thing they’ve ever had.”

In March 2012, Dia Doce Cupcakes were dubbed the winners of the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. The show produced a lot of publicity for the budding business.

A Virginia Tech graduate, Viggue lives in Chester Springs after spending five years in New York City as a fashion designer for SarahMax Intimates. Her typical schedule may consist of a 2 a.m. baking session followed by on-the-road selling during business hours and then administerial work after 7 p.m. Her college friend, Michelle Tong, helps with baking, driving the truck and working tents at farmers markets.


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