Editor’s note: In honor of Juneteenth, the Journal is highlighting Black-owned businesses in Albuquerque.
For Queneesha Meyers, owner of Q’s Cakes and Sweets Boutique, baking has been a part of her life since she made her first batch of chocolate chip cookies when she was around 10 years old.
“There was a recipe on the back of a bag of flour at my grandmother’s house and I took my allowance and got the remaining ingredients and made chocolate chip cookies and took them to all of the kids in the neighborhood,” she said.
Since then, baking remained a hobby while also giving her a creative outlet when she baked cakes for her children and friends and blogged about the experience.
Her baking eventually caught the eye of Albuquerque city officials, who warned her that she needed a permit to sell her baked goods – something she wasn’t doing at the time.
Meyers said she was then encouraged by the person who contacted her about needing a permit to pursue her hobby as a profession.
“I told her I was just doing this for fun, and she said ‘you have really good work, here’s some information on … (taking) classes, getting licensed,'” she said.
Soon after, Meyers started cooking out of a professional kitchen and selling her cakes.
Her company was even named a top bakery by Albuquerque The Magazine in 2013, all without having a storefront.
Now, Meyers has graduated from her blogging past and embraced the world of professional baking with her brick and mortar location in the University area.
Q’s Cakes and Sweets Boutique, at 2720 Central SE, sells cakes, cupcakes, French macarons and pastries – all made from scratch in-house. Her core line of products includes “comfort cakes,” which are cakes flavored to taste like other sweet comfort foods like red velvet cheesecake and horchata.
In addition to selling sweet treats, Meyers also hosts baking classes several times a month. She says her previous career designing instructional courses for the Air Force and Sandia National Laboratories helped give her the experience to teach baking techniques like frosting and decorating.
“I always joke that I get to use my degree when I teach classes here,” she said.
