Divinely Decadent Desserts

Baked goods made with love and inspiration

 BY MARY HENKIN

Mrs. Carlynn Fuller Jenkins describes her bakery at the corner of 12th and Evarts Streets NE as like the one in Friends, but on a smaller scale.

Brightly colored walls, artwork and couch seating make for a welcoming at-home atmosphere. Her menu, which features cupcakes, cakes and cookies, includes quirky names, and all the goodies are authentically homemade. “Many people don’t have time to bake and they miss what they grew up with,” said Mrs. Fuller Jenkins.

Each item on Divinely Decadent Dessert’s menu is named after someone who inspired Mrs. Fuller Jenkins. Aunt Ella’s German Chocolate, a “German chocolate cupcake covered with pecan and coconut frosting,” is named after Mrs. Fuller Jenkins’s aunt who taught her how to bake. Busy B’s Tangy Lemon, a “vanilla cupcake filled with a tangy lemon custard and frosted with refreshing lemon buttercream,” is named after a friend who asked for a lemon cake for her birthday. Other favorites are Damien’s Chocolate Drop and Mark’s Carrot Cake.

So which sells best, cake or cupcakes? “Older people like cake slices, younger people like cupcakes,” Mrs. Fuller Jenkins said.

Shows such as DC Cupcakes and Cupcake Wars have turned bakeries into the newest fad. Mrs. Fuller Jenkins sets her shop apart by baking in small batches. This ensures each batch is fresh. Her cakes also “taste like what you grew up with. It’s simple baking, a good product, good ingredients and God infused,” Mrs. Fuller Jenkins said.

Mrs. Fuller Jenkins’ bakery, located at 2701 12th Street NE, opened in June 2011. The journey to get there was anything but smooth, however, and included a number of fits and starts.

When Mrs. Fuller Jenkins lost her job in 2008 she began selling homemade cake slices at her church to help pay the bills. The cake slices were such a hit that Mrs. Fuller Jenkins was encouraged to open her own bakery—something she wanted to do but did not think was financially possible.

Mrs. Fuller Jenkins, who is an ordained minister, turned to God. She prayed, “If this is what you want me to do, I need someone to invest.”

Chris Flack was the answer to Mrs. Fuller Jenkins’s prayers. Mr. Flack, an old friend, offered her an office space he was not using on 12th Street. Mr. Flack also offered to be an investor.

Mrs. Fuller Jenkins’ dream became a reality when she opened Divinely Decadent Desserts in 2010 next door to her current location.

She named her bakery after how it was inspired: ‘divinely’ because God gave her a way to make her vision come true and ‘decadent’ because her baked goods are “sinfully good.”

Soon, however, Mrs. Fuller Jenkins ran into problems. The office-turned-bakery was small and did not allow seating for customers. There was no room for Mrs. Fuller Jenkins to bake on-site so she had to rent space from a commercial kitchen. This meant that she could not be at the bakery during the day, which was a precious part of her dream.

A number of events conspired to make Mrs. Fuller Jenkins close her café. However, she did not let that stop her from working. Her business spread by word of mouth and she continued taking orders by phone or through her website and working out of a commercial kitchen.

Mrs. Fuller Jenkins continued looking for a new space while working out of a commercial kitchen.

This time it was the Menkiti Group who answered her prayers. The Menkiti Group was moving their business across the street and offered Mrs. Fuller Jenkins their old office, which is much larger than the space she had been using next door.

She gladly accepted but knew that if she was going to be successful in her new space she would need to hire help.

While on Facebook, Mrs. Fuller Jenkins came across photos of Vincent Fleming, an old friend. Mr. Fleming was a baker and had pictures of his baked goods online. Mrs. Fuller Jenkins wrote Mr. Fleming about her business idea and the rest is history.

“If I had thought the plan all the way through from the beginning it would have been overwhelming. I had to have faith,” Mrs. Fuller Jenkins said.

Today, business partners Mrs. Fuller Jenkins and Mr. Fleming begin baking at 6 a.m. to be ready when shop opens at 11 a.m. Mrs. Fuller Jenkins is working on getting a sidewalk permit so people can enjoy a cup of coffee and a treat outdoors. She also envisions expanding her bakery so the community can use it for local performances or birthday parties where children can decorate their own cupcakes.