Baking has been in the Reese family’s DNA for generations. Diva Reese, who co-owns Encore the Dessert Bar with her mom Tashona, recalls how her great grandmother worked as a wedding cake baker for a living. This passion rubbed off on Tashona who started creating famous banana pudding recipes while always having baked goods ready for kids entering the house. Diva, who has Chrohn’s disease, first took the family’s talents to a new level when she would bake for her teachers to apologize for missing class so much. “I was always really sick throughout middle school and high school, so my teachers worked with me a lot, and I basically just bribed them with cupcakes.”
After graduating high school, Diva decided to pursue her love of food. She quickly excelled and became a restaurant manager at the age of 19. A few years later, Diva was ready to branch out to form her own business and had the perfect partner in mind - her mom. Tashona’s famous baking recipes combined with Diva’s management experience was the perfect combination. It also helped that mother and daughter are close. As Diva puts it, her mom “is my absolute best friend in this whole world” going on to describe how Tashona is affectionately called Mambo by Diva and her friends.
The dynamic duo started 6 months before their official launch to perfect their menu, build a website, and start promoting their business. They officially launched a week before the pandemic began, which brought a lot of variables for any business - let alone a brand new one. Fortunately for the Reese’s, Encore’s strategy of preparing the desserts in a commissary to be delivered on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, fit into the new normal of ordering home-delivered food.
It also helped that the sweets are on a top tier of deliciousness. The options are presented in “stacks” - cups that provide a convenient, mess-free method of delivering desserts. One of the top sellers is called Sploosh (menu items are named after pop culture references, this one to the classic movie and book Holes). This is a homemade bourbon peach cobbler cheesecake, which is just as good as it sounds. The top is covered in spiced whip cream, and each layer below enhances the flavor experience. The Hollaback Girl, inspired by the previously mentioned famed banana pudding recipe, is another customer favorite. Dirty Diana and The Clifford are two other top sellers, but every item on the menu is worthy of a tasting.
In addition to dropping off orders, Encore the Dessert Bar also sells two desserts at Jinsei Sushi Bar and Lounge. This includes a warm, butter cake with a strawberry coulis and vanilla ice cream, as well as their famous crownie (a deep dish chocolate chip cookie/brownie hybrid), which is served warm with vanilla bean ice cream. They also routinely schedule pop-ups with local businesses and appear at a variety of markets, including the weekly Unity Market in the Highland area every Thursday from 4-7pm.
Ever the entrepreneur, Diva has another business named Paintnics that centers around fun art events for Birmingham restaurants. “I’ve been drawing since I could pick up a pencil,” shares Diva. “I’ve always drawn. Drawn on the walls. Drawn on my clothes. Drawn on everything. I always said I wanted to be an artist when I grew up.” Now she gets to share this passion with others! She’s been able to combine her two businesses for some exciting events since the world opened back up, including a “Paint and Pints” night at Ghost Train every other Tuesday! She’s also started a social group called “The Hob” that lets Birminghamians try out different hobbies while making new friends, and baking is sure to be one of the nights’ themes.
At the end of the day, Diva hopes her businesses help people “get in the vibe of being a tourist in your own city. It’s gorgeous out here. Beautiful things to do, lots of creative people, gorgeous artwork, great food. We have our own culture. We’re kinda a small town with a little bit of the big city feel,” states Diva, and she’s ready to show Birminghamians the beauty of the city that we call home.
And to those who’ve supported her so far? “I can’t even express the immense amount of gratitude that I have that I get to wake up and live my dreams every day, and that is solely because of the people who buy my products or share a post.” And we’re thankful to have such tasty treats just an order away.
Lead photo: Armani Reese
