Baker Lydia Carter is known for her cupcakes, but she’s also getting noticed for making an often mispronounced French cookie.

Her business, Celene’s Confections , makes macarons, French cookies with crisp shells and soft, chewy fillings. They’re not to be confused with macaroons, spelled with an extra “o,” which are chewy coconut cookies. (Celene is her middle name as well as that of a daughter and granddaughter.)

Carter, who works a full-time job in the financial industry, has had a side hustle as a baker for a few decades. Most of that time she has sold her baked goods by word of mouth or through celenesconfections.com . The website shows some of her best-selling cupcakes as well as her cakes and macarons. Treats include Boozy Cupcakes, made with alcohol such as cognac, bourbon and rum, “for the mature adult.”

Lydia Carter’s personality is ‘extra’ just like her French macaron cookies

She’s only been baking macarons for a few years, but she has a passion for the cookie that is challenging to make. Unlike with cupcakes or cakes, measurements have to be precise or Carter could end up losing a batch of macarons. (This could be costly, since egg whites are a major ingredient.) After she bakes the cookies’ crisp shells, she has to let them “mature” for 24 hours before filling them with things such as buttercream, ganache, or fruit preserves. If macarons were people, they would be finicky.

Many would view the intricate process with anxiety, but one senses delight in Carter’s voice when she speaks of it.

“My personality is extra,” she said. “I like pretty things, really pretty things, and a macaron is a pretty cookie. They’re not for everyone because they can be sweet. They match my [business] tag, which is exquisite sweetness.”

The small, round sandwich cookie-like sweets come in an assortment of colors, including pastel yellow, pink and green. Because she’s “extra,” you’ll never see Carter selling her baked goods in-person wearing a white apron. That’s too blah. She’ll have on a special outfit, often one with “colors that accent my skin tone.”

“Everybody who knows me knows that I will not step out of the house without some lipstick on,” she added.

Carter wondered if macarons and cupcakes sell well at Fairfax Market?

The residents of Cleveland’s Central neighborhood received a flyer more than a year ago announcing the opening of nearby Fairfax Market. The supermarket focuses on carrying the products of local entrepreneurs. When she visited the store and spoke with some of the vendors, they encouraged her to apply to get the market to carry some of her products. Carter is one of the Fairfax Market vendors Signal Cleveland is highlighting as part of our coverage of the market’s program mentoring local entrepreneurs and selling their products.

At first she was unsure. She had never sold her baked goods at a supermarket. More than 20 years ago, Carter had quit her job to open a storefront bakery. She had to close it after a few years, during an economic downturn. She questioned whether her products would do well at Fairfax Market since the store already sold many bakery items.

Then, she decided to make an appointment to get the store to carry one of her products.

“I pitched the macarons first because I wanted to set myself apart,” she said, adding that the store now also carries her cupcakes.

Carter is glad she overcame her initial hesitation.

“I tell everyone you must learn to pivot,” she said. “That’s exactly what I did last year when I decided to go into retail. I pivoted my business, not knowing what the end result was going to be.”

It was a good business move.

She sold cupcakes and macarons at the market around Valentine’s Day, wearing a red sweater and matching lipstick. The red velvet cupcakes were her best seller by far, but she sold plenty of macarons.

Carter has been in business since 2001, and she said this was her highest-selling Valentine’s Day.

Fairfix Market

Economics Reporter (she/her)
Economics is often thought of as a lofty topic, but it shouldn’t be. My goal is to offer a street-level view of economics. My focus is on how the economy affects the lives of Greater Clevelanders. My areas of coverage include jobs, housing, entrepreneurship, unions, wealth inequality and pocketbook issues such as inflation.