WACO, Texas — Adeline Camarena went from being a travel enthusiast visiting world renowned destinations across the globe to opening her own bakery in Waco. Her journey towards being an entrepreneur was an uphill journey, but she says it paid off.
Before Camarena opened 'All Around the World Bakery' in Waco in 2019, she attended Texas State Technical College (TSTC) and received her Associate's degree in Culinary Arts.
"I got my associates, but I still felt like baking was still my thing," Camarena explained. "Not the food aspect, but the dessert aspect and after graduating. I felt like I just had a routine life and it was really boring."
That's when Camarena visited a friend in Europe and her perspective on life changed forever.
"I was there for over a week, I fell in love with everything like the people, the cultures, the food, everything was amazing," Camarena added. "So I booked another trip like two weeks later for seven months later."
From there, Camarena could not get enough of travelling around the world.
"It just became like this adventure, traveling and falling in love over and over every time I leave and go explore new places. I just find new things to fall in love with," Camarena said.
She then moved to Indianapolis, Indiana and decided she wanted to be her own boss.
After some time, she moved back to Waco and figured out that baking was her true passion. But she wanted to do more than just baking cakes, cookies, and cupcakes.
She wanted to incorporate everything she learned from travelling the world into her desserts and give the Waco community a taste of what other people enjoy in different regions.
"I started creating this menu, doing a lot of research, a lot of dessert trial and error and I ended up inside of the Union Hall back in 2019, and opened in April of 2020."
Unfortunately after the hit of COVID-19, her open date to her shop was delayed for two years.
Still, she did pop-up shops around the Waco area and gained a core customer base. After going through different contractors and making the shop look the way she desired, she opened 'All Around the World Bakery' at 119 N. 12th St., Waco, TX 76701 in January 2024.
"It's been really, really good and I've enjoyed the journey in the last seven months. It's made it seem so worth the wait."
The bakery has a plethora of different international desserts. Some include the tiramisu, banana pudding cheesecake, French salt pie, brigaderro, and nanaiomo bars.
She even does custom cakes for special events too.
"We put so much time, effort, and money into these things because they're our dreams and we believe in them. We want other people to believe and see what we're trying to bring to the community," Camarena explained.
The bakery has sugar free, gluten free, and other dietary options for customers. She is also always open to taking suggestions from customers to grow her menu even more.
"I do a lot of research. I don't just jump up on the first dessert that pops up like the first recipe. So I keep looking, I look at the similarities and I try to get as close as possible to the authentic or most real recipe for the item."
"I always ask for suggestions for different desserts too because I wanna be able to bring that to Waco."
While 'All Around the World Bakery' now has a store front, she is still open to doing community events, private events, and school events.
Camarena recently turned 29 years-old and plans to visit at least 20 countries by the age of 30.