Meet Nalani Dacara of Ono Bakes in Cerritos

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nalani Dacara.

Nalani, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
As a little girl, I always loved being in the kitchen, when your grandma would be cooking, I’d be around watching her. She would bake but not as much and I would ask if she would make random things but she never really baked as much. But as I got older, my mom would buy boxed mixes and I would make then with my own twist. As years gone by, I would Experiment in the kitchen more and let my family try what I would bake. Fast forward to 2015/2016, I was making cookies, cakes and more that people would tell me “you should start up a business”. In 2017, my butter flan cake became a huge hit that family would always order and I figured that I need an official name, and with the help of my uncle he came up with “Ono bakes” Ono means delicious in Hawaiian. With the support of my husband and my family my small business continues to bring smiles to people’s faces.

Has it been a smooth road?
There was a couple of bumps in the road, when I had my daughter, I stopped for a while to focus on her. Then when my grandpa passed, I lost a little motivation to continue my little baking business. Only cause he was my number one supporter, he always sat there and ate everything I experimented and always told me that it was good even when I knew it probably tasted horrible. But now my daughter helps me with all my baked goods and my family always reminds me that Ampa (grandpa) is always proud of what I’m doing.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Ono bakes – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
There are a lot of competition in the bakery community. I try my hardest to make up new recipes and make things different from what’s out in the market now. Ono bakes in a small bakery business. My business may have a lot of common treats but once you’ve tried them, everything is homemade and fresh. From the Ube Halaya in our Ube cheese Pandesal to the fresh coconut shavings in our Buko Pandan Cookies. Ono bakes is known for the butter flan cake, which is a moist butter cake with a Filipino Leche Flan baked right on top, garnished with chocolate-dipped strawberries. It makes me happy to bring smiles to people’s faces when they take first bite into my baked goods. I think what makes Ono Bakes different from other bakeries out there is the passion and love I have that I put into each cookie, each cake. When you really love doing what you’re doing, the taste of your baked treat is twice as amazing and you can taste it in each bite.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the diversity in LA, and that everyone is willing to try new things. Also, that people here support small business frequently. There isn’t much to not like about LA it’s a beautiful city, you just have to look in the right places.

Contact Info:

• Email: nalani.dacara@yahoo.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/ono_bakes

Image Credit:
Ronel Pesigan

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