InTucker Magazine

Business of  the Month – Cococakes

To Nicole and Corey McDonald, their work is more than just work; it’s personal. Corey learned to bake from watching his mother and grandmother. In fact, as a college senior at Lincoln University in Missouri, it was his mom who suggested he begin selling cakes to make some extra money. That was in 1991. By 1996, Corey was here in Atlanta baking, as he recalls, for the Dream Team at the Olympics. The year 2010 is where the story starts for Nicole.

“I was celebrating a milestone birthday and went in [to the Cococakes, then located in Stone Mountain] to get a birthday cake,” she recalls. “This white chef’s hat started peeking around the corner. He walked from around the back and presented me with a warm sample of caramel cake.”

“He” ended up being Corey. “He” eventually would become her husband. The couple now work together out of the Cococakes location on Hugh Howell Road, where they opened in 2015. One of the quirks of the business is they sell cakes by “the chunk” rather than by the slice. They say their biggest sellers are caramel, German chocolate, juicy lemon pound and butter cream cakes. They have designed their business to be truly grounded in the Tucker community, complete with a part-time staff comprised mostly of students from Tucker High School.

“Tucker has been fabulous,” Nicole says. “We have employed so many Tucker High School students that come back and help us over the holidays. Our location, you can’t beat it. We are right in the heart of Hugh Howell Road….We are loving this location [and] our customers are loving it.”

They love the location so much that Nicole reports they’ve just signed a new five-year lease to stay in their building at Tucker Station. You can visit Cococakes at 4404 Hugh Howell Road, #26 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays or find them online at www.cococakesbycoco.com.