Dawlcakes are for Everyone

By Karilyn Prisco

As a gay mom and flamboyant home baker, Joanne Spataro is proud to live in the West Village, where Pride began. She and her wife Lara love living in this inclusive historic neighborhood with their growing toddler. Living and working here has allowed Joanne to fully be herself and tap into her creative outlets. Enter her love for baking doll cakes to commemorate special and everyday occasions. Originally a way to entertain her child, Joanne created a colorful, delicious line of bespoke mini doll cakes called Dawlcakes. They’re “dawls” because that’s how Joanne and her daughter both say doll.

Joanne Spataro Baking in kitchen.

For the month of June Joanne is rolling out a line of Pride Dawlcakes, which can be custom-ordered to represent many of the LGBTQIA+ flag colors, as well as a diversity of dolls. She’s given the dolls campy names and elaborate backstories: Red Velvet Rodney, Cannoli Connie, Rainbow Princess Pride, Marzipan Mary, The Pinky, and Patricia “Don’t Call Me Patti” Pride. The Dawlcakes will also be featured in Cowgirl NYC’s Pride window display on Hudson and West 10th Streets.

Patricia.

Rainbow Princess Bride.

A lifelong baker, Joanne rediscovered her love for all things sugar and frosting late last year. Her daughter’s 3-K class was celebrating 50’s Day for the 50th day of school and asking parents to bring snacks for the celebration. She decided to make a Baked Alaska, but not just any Baked Alaska: A Doll Baked Alaska. Joanne froze three layers of ice cream, baked a vanilla cake, and covered it in homemade Italian meringue. That morning before school, her manny (male nanny) Colin set it ablaze with his blowtorch. Don’t worry, no dolls were harmed in the making of this cake.

“I never knew why Colin had a blowtorch hanging around his house, but I was grateful for it,” Joanne said with a laugh. “When we walked into my daughter’s classroom, the kids gravitated to the doll cake. It was like a celebrity entered the room. That’s where the spark for Dawlcakes started.”

Joanne wanted to make a smaller doll cake, but didn’t know how to do that when she only had regular-sized dolls. One night while she was scrolling on her phone, Joanne found small pans and little dolls to match. She ordered the vintage set immediately. “It was the best 44 bucks I ever spent,” she said. “I was tracking the package every day.”

Joanne Spataro at Gay Street.

Since that time, Joanne has been featured at bake sale pop-ups around the neighborhood. She has delighted customers at Kismet, Eva Joan, and, on June 24 from 12 to 4:00 p.m., the children’s clothing boutique Pink Chicken. What makes Joanne’s day at one of her bake sale pop-ups? Telling her a story about your own doll cake growing up.

“Hearing people’s stories about doll cakes makes me so happy,” she says. “I love seeing that a cake can live on in people’s memories, as if they’re a relative or dear family friend.”

Rodney.

Dawlcakes, Joanne likes to say, are for everyone. At her local made-in-the-West Village business, she’s created different flavors, looks, and designs out of marzipan and buttercream. Her taste-testers are often her friends at the local coffee shop, other parents at the playground, and, of course, her daughter and wife. Family, whether chosen or related, is what drives her to stay creative.

Joanne is also planning a “cake”-starter for Dawlcakes—an online crowdfunding campaign so she can create her own line of dolls for cakes that represent a rainbow of diversity and inclusion. “My goal is to delight people with the cake itself, and have them see the dolls and say, ‘This looks like me,’” she says. “A little boy can have a Dawlcake for his birthday. A little girl can enjoy a Dawlcake at hers. A child or grown-up can have a Dawlcake, or two or three, for any occasion. No matter what, you can celebrate with your very own customized Dawlcake.”

Join Joanne Spataro for Dawlcake Decorating at Pink Chicken on Saturday, June 24th from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST. Register here. Visit www.dawlcakes.com or email lookitsjoanne@gmail.com for more information.