Cakes and cupcakes are popping up with a timely message in Pawtucket

Pop-ups are all the rage in the food and dining world. Specialty restaurants and other food artisans plan for unique dinners or events. It offers the public something exclusive and special. It also means less grind for chefs and owners. They can harness all their talent and energy for an attentive and eager audience.

Eboni Silva may not describe her Cakes by Eboni as a pop-up, but it's closer to one than a regular bake shop. She opens two days a week in her shop at Lorraine Mills in Pawtucket. You go online or call to order what becomes your custom cake or cupcake. It makes it all the more special.

She's been a winter regular at the Providence Flea (coming up March 17 and April 21 at the Farm Fresh Hub on Sims Avenue) and at special events like PBS' Uncorked fundraiser (April 12).

A mother of two, Silva grew up in Providence and knew she wanted to bake from the time she was 4 years old. She recalls her days of preschool at the John Hope Settlement House. They would do dress up and she always chose the same costume, a chef.

"It never changed," she laughed. She earned her Baking & Pastry Arts bachelor's degree at Johnson & Wales University in 2012.

But her education started at home, where her mother and grandmother were both good cooks and bakers, she said. "They did everything themselves."

For her third birthday, her mother made cupcakes inside wafer cones and decorated them with sugared Happy Birthday letters.

"That intrigued me," she said. "I was always there to lick the spoon."

Silva started making banana bread and cheesecakes for her family when she was but a child. Her skills evolved and she began making cupcakes, cookies and cakes.

Though she started Cakes by Eboni right out of college, she officially launched the company in 2019 when she began cooking at Feast & Fettle's kitchens in East Providence.

Right from the start she focused on mostly event cakes for birthdays, weddings and anniversaries. She also makes mini desserts. Customers go online at cakesbyeboni.square.site to see the menu and order and pick up.

She has what she calls "pop-ins" once a month and this month that happens on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14 from 1-5 p.m. at 560 Mineral Spring Ave. in her Unit 2-161. The old mill building is a maze of hallways and businesses, and often customers have to call her business phone (401) 442-8084 to find her space.

For Black History Month, Silva started making cupcakes a few years ago with an easy way to start conversations. Each one has a themed topper of an important person. They range from the historic, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman and Malcolm X, to the contemporary, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Maya Angelou. Maybe a cupcake lover doesn't recognize the photo of Zora Neale Hurston. Then they can look up more about the author of "Their Eyes Were Watching God," published in 1937.

The cupcakes are available all month: $20 for a half dozen and $40 for a dozen. In each package, you get chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream, vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese buttercream. Orders placed by Thursday can be picked up Saturday.

Her menu changes monthly but two of her most popular items are pretty constant. One is her Red Velvet Cake, which Silva describes as having the perfect balance of cake and frosting. The other is her Nutella-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies. "Warm them up and put ice cream on them," she suggested. "Delicious."

Details: Cakes by Eboni, 560 Mineral Spring Ave., Unit 2-161, Pawtucket, (401) 442-8084, [email protected], and cakesbyeboni.com.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Cakes by Eboni, specialty treats in Pawtucket, are worth preordering