Zoary Rodriguez wants cake perfection

By DANIEL GUY

Zoary Rodriguez runs her kitchen and her business like a one-woman army. The owner and sole force behind Rico DeliCake works alone to preserve her high level of quality.

“Every cake that is going out this door needs to be perfect for me,” she said.

She works hard to serve each of her customers with the highest level of service. And also, like many chefs, she feverishly protects her techniques and recipes.

“People think that we are a bakery. We are not a bakery. We are a custom cake shop and we cater too,” Rodriguez said. “We can prepare any kind of cakes — 2D and 3D cakes — in buttercream and fondant.”

She was the child of a missionary growing up; She got the opportunity to be exposed to many different cultures at an early age. Her father’s ministry as part of the Church of God took her family to Argentina, Venezuela, Honduras, Peru, Columbia and Spain.

Later in life, while her husband, Humberto Rodriguez, was deployed in in the military (in Bosnia and Kosovo) Zoary was living in Germany with their 1-year-old son, Gabriel. She said she was bored and looking for something to channel her free time into, and her pastor’s wife was baking cakes for the needy families in the area. This prompted Zoary, who grew up around a baking mother, Sara Maldonado, to begin her baking adventure while in Germany.

Unfortunately, she said, her husband was wounded while serving with the Army’s Special Forces, and the two decided to return to Puerto Rico. She continued to take classes in Puerto Rico seeking to learn how to create more sophisticated cakes. Ultimately, Humberto’s condition worsened and the family decided to move to the United States around 2007.

“There is only one VA (Veteran’s Affairs) clinic in all of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands,” Rodriguez said. “That’s when we decided to move to the United States. My father was a missionary from the Church of God. So, we knew about Cleveland,” she said.

Once she was in Cleveland, she was only making cakes for friends and family. As her clientele numbers rose, she began getting questions about her academic background and whether she had any formal culinary training. On a trip to the VA clinic with her husband, she saw an advertisement for the Virginia College in Chattanooga, and this led to her pursuing her culinary degree at the college. She spent 3 months completing her internship back in her native Puerto Rico at the InterContinental Resort in San Juan, serving in an Italian and Puerto Rican restaurant before her graduation.

Once she completed her degree with Virginia College, Rico DeliCake was born. Established in 2014, Zoary’s business has seen continuous growth every year.

Chef Rodriguez has also placed in her share of baking competitions. In 2012, Zoary won First Place & Most Creative and Second Runner-Up in Competitions with her Winter Wonderland cake, and she won 1st Place in the Couture Wedding Cake Competition in Atlanta in 2013.

She is a leader for the Worship Team at Peerless Road Church of God of Prophecy. She is also working with her sister, Shady Hernandez, with VIVE, which seeks to “help immigrants and refugees establish safe, productive lives in the United States.” Currently Zoary’s family has opened their own home for the past 3 months to a family with two children who were victims displaced by Hurricane Maria last September.

Chef Rodriguez has aspirations of creating a baking summer camp for special needs children, which would include baking cookies and cupcakes and decorating items. Zoary spends her free time with Humberto, who's a disabled veteran, and her two sons, Gabriel and Adrian.

Rico DeliCake, Fancy Custom Cakes & Catering is open Wednesday and Thursday, from noon to 6 p.m.; Friday, from noon to 5 p.m.; and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It's closed Sunday through Tuesday. Rico DeliCake is located at 3110 North Ocoee St., Cleveland TN 37312. The phone number is 423-790-0636. Visit their Facebook page for more details.

For those interested in visiting each restaurant featured in Taste the Nations, it's not too late to pick up a "passport." The booklets are available at the United Way of the Ocoee Region, Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce, Museum Center at Five Points and all participating locations. Participants have until May 21 to get their passports stamped and enter the drawing to win one of three gift baskets worth over $150.

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