A Good Alternative to the Traditional Holiday Pie
by Melissa Bordow
If you're in the mood for a new sweet treat this holiday season, think outside the box--or in this case-- the pie tin.
A nice alternative to that holiday staple is Caketini's unique cupcakes, gourmet cakes, cheesecakes, and truffles.
Everyone at the SanTan Village store is busy decorating the unique, oversized cupcakes and cakes for the holiday season. says owner Cathy Monoscalco, a fifth-generation Gilbert resident and a third-generation baker who opened Caketini with her husband, Michael.
Her sister, Christy Vega-Gluch, is the "visionary" who artfully decorates the cakes, she says, making Caketini a local, family endeavor from top to bottom. It was Michael's family who built out the store, right down to the cake-colored paint, which is actually named "Chocolate."
Vega-Gluch has been creating cakes since 1990 although this is her first retail store. For years, she made them at home by appointment only. She has even appeared on TLC's "Ultimate Cake Off," Cathy says.
All that experience has culminated in Caketini, which is making a name for itself at SanTan Village with its special conconctions.
One unique specialty is Caketini's cupcake towers, which have a six-inch gourmet cake on top of a base filled with cupcakes. Each is specially decorated for any event: Hanukah, birthdays, weddings, graduations, you name it. "We can make it really festive looking." she says.
Choose from a variety of cake flavors, including red velvet, peanut butter, chocolate, coconut, vanilla, butter creme, carrot, and strawberry.
Chocolate lovers take heart: Caketini also makes specialty truffles. Each is made by taking fresh cheescake or gourmet cake, cooling it, crumbling it, then adding butter cream. They're then rolled in a high-quality chocolate ganache, and decorated.
