Everything Michelle Mercer bakes is flavored with laughter and love. These magical ingredients come from this pastry chef’s warmest childhood memories - standing next to her mom in the kitchen, helping mix something heavenly for the oven.
“For my birthday, she would make these insane cakes,” Michelle recalled, describing the castle cake her mother made one year for her birthday. It came complete with a carriage, and was almost as tall as Michelle herself.
“I’ll never forget it. It was amazing and beautiful. To this day, I can smell the cake cooking. I can smell the frosting. I can feel the joy I felt when I woke up that morning, knowing someone had made that cake just for me,” Michelle said. “That was love.”
But when Michelle was only eight years old, her mother passed away, leaving a young daughter who soothed her grief by touching the handwritten recipes in her mother’s recipe box, then recreating the tastes, smells, and textures that made her mother feel close. Cooking became a comfort.
“It’s a nurturing thing,” Michelle explained. “I don’t just throw something together. My mother didn’t, either.” Instead, Michelle, like her mother, sifts the fundamental act of caring into every recipe. “To me, that’s pure joy.”
Today, Michelle’s daughters, Martika and Aaliyah, cook by their mother’s side. In fact, it was these vibrant young adults who nudged their mother to launch a cottage bakery. Like all the Mercers’ best ideas, this one grew with each family member. It was Aaliyah who, during COVID, suggested the family make hot cocoa care packages. Michelle, always baking, thought adding cookies would be nice. Martika saw a business blossoming, and Doce Mercer was born.
“Doce” (pronounced DOUGH-say) is Portuguese for “sweet.” It’s a word that envelopes not only the family’s heritage and the flavor of baked goods, but also the feeling evoked by perfectly presented chocolates, cream-filled cookies, almondy biscotti, and moist, rich muffins. “Doce” also describes Michelle’s irrepressible delight watching customers’ knees go weak when they bite into her creations.
“Mom’s an excellent cook. I do not miss dinner,” Martika laughed. “And she spreads love wherever she goes.”
“She gets flown to the other side of the country to provide baked goods,” Aaliyah added, referencing a California wedding Michelle recently catered. “So yah. We’re bragging.”
Using their first year in business to test products, the trio rented a booth at the Westfield Farmer’s Market to gauge public reaction. In preparation for their first day, they loaded a six-foot cooler with confections. Everything sold in the first hour.
“Now we have two coolers,” Martika said.
“We might have to get a third,” said Aaliyah.
“We actually have a fanbase. People come back looking for us,” Michelle said. “Or they’ll buy something, walk away, then run back and say, ‘Oh my god, this is so good!’”
“It’s just so…” Michelle put both hands on her heart and paused. “I think I cry a lot at the farmers market,” she laughed.
“It’s just so exciting,” Aaliyah said, stepping in for Mom. “Everyone loves sweets. Even if you think you don’t, you do.”
Doce Mercer’s bestsellers are Michelle’s soul-tickling chocolate chip cookies, her flaky scones, and her signature shortbread cookies. “I can’t keep those in stock,” Michelle said. Customers also love Doce’s gluten free “scookies,” a light, lemony celebration of food that doesn’t taste like a sad substitute for what you really want.
While the farmer’s market snoozes, all Doce Mercer products - from brunch boxes, to homemade jam, to heart-shaped whoopie pies - get hand-delivered locally. They’re also shipped nationwide. Future fans can find order information at DoceMercer.com.
“I would do anything to be able to bake again with my mom,” Michelle said, “so what a gift it is to have my kids in the kitchen with me. My girls are amazing people. I have the dream team.”
“All my happiest memories are of us together in the kitchen,” Aaliyah affirmed.
“That’s love,” Martika said, the counter behind her resplendent with baked goods. “That’s what it is.”