Lena’s Custom Desserts

Lena recently catered my wedding (30 people) and my reception (200 people). Not only was she able to make a gluten free Tres Leches cake that was to die for — it was so good the non-​GFers ate it without complaint.
We had a chocolate raspberry cake, lemon bars, magic bars, apple tartlets, pumpkin empanadas, assorted cookies, brownies… so much food, beautiful attention to detail, and everything was fresh. Over 500 pieces of homemade sweetness – at Costco prices. I can’t recommend her enough, I wish she’d cater my life.

Oh my gosh. Just… oh my gosh. Have you ever had a pastry that you just know is made with all of the love in someone’s heart? I have. I have had it with my aunt’s macaroons, my grandmother’s Russian tea cookies, my mother’s zucchini bread and Lena’s red velvet cake and her chocolate cake.
We hosted an event, and Lena made our wonderful cake. We had red velvet, which was the most moist, delicious, perfect red velvet cake of my entire life. She created a cream cheese frosting with white chocolate shavings.
The next part was a chocolate cake with raspberry cream and raspberry filling. It was absolutely perfect. The chocolate cake was moist with rich flavors, and the raspberry aspects were not too sweet, and had the taste of real raspberries; no artificial tasting anything in this cake.
I would one hundred percent recommend Lena to anybody looking for a beautiful, delicious, well-​priced cake. Seriously, though, she could have charged us double and it still would have seemed fair. Not even to mention the sumptuous desserts she has in her display case.
I’m sad that they are closed for a few weeks this summer, but sadly they are. They are moving right now, so I guess we should all stay posted as to where we can obtain the most delicious treats of Lena’s concoction.

We ordered a cake from Lena’s for my uncle’s wedding. The cake was gorgeous, exactly what the bride wanted! Lena delivered it on time and even added baby’s breath around as a finishing touch. The best part came when we got to eat it!!! It was so delicious! Usually wedding cakes look great but tastes bland. That was not the case for Lena’s cake. It was moist and the filling was perfect and the buttercream was nice and smooth. It was amazing! We will definitely be back for our next special occasion!

The quality of Lena’s desserts is superb. Her cake is what a cake should taste like, not like that styrofoam frosted with lard passed off as cake I have had elsewhere. I recently brought one of her butterscotch tapioca cakes in to work, and people were commenting on how amazing it was for days afterwards. And her sugar cookies — wow! Soft, flavorful, fantastic. My only quibble is that she does not have much in stock, so your best bet is to order ahead. But really, it is totally worth it.

An oasis on Craycroft near Fort Lowell Park. This delightful, warm and friendly café welcomes those who walk into their doors with a smile and bright hello. The desserts are made professionally from an owner who really knows what she is doing. I ordered a banana birthday cake from there with seven minute icing and my husband went to pick up that cake and I told him it was like the one I made from scratch. it was SUPURB! They know how to make specialized desserts, good for birthdays to weddings to private parties or catering. This little café may be easy to miss on the road past Grant and Craycroft, but once you find them, you will be glad you walked in there!

We ordered 3 dozen miniature desserts for a Christmas party and told Lena to give us a variety of her favorites. At the party there was a large table with many different desserts that others brought. At the end of the evening the box of miniatures was empty while most of the other desserts were barely eaten. Lena’s is awesome, thank you!

I dropped in on Lena’s to get a couple cupcakes for a birthday surprise for my mom. The Orange cream and lemonade were Delicious but the mini pumpkin tarts were marvelous.

Lena’s Custom Desserts offers some of the best cupcakes that I have ever tasted — and I probably have the biggest sweet tooth in my family. They are incredibly helpful and nice over the phone and were eager to get me exactly what I needed. The quality of the desserts are amazing, and I will definitely order through Lena’s again in the future.

I was looking for something different for a birthday. I read the reviews and saw someone had noted the cupcakes were the best they had bought at a bakery. I agreed, that I’m not typically a fan of cupcakes from bakeries, so I had to try! Lena and Vince were very nice, and the pastries were AMAZING! We got a mix of cupcakes, cannoli, and brownies. Everything was as good as if it came from my kitchen! We don’t live in Tucson, but I will definitely make the drive to Lena’s next time we’re throwing a party in the Old Pueblo!

I have been to Lena’s many times and the pastries and desserts are ALWAYS «to die for»! Her decorated Holiday sugar cookies are the best in town! Not only are they beautifully decorated but also delicious! (You know how some iced cookies are pretty but don’t taste good?) Not here!
Locally owned and snuggled into a nondescript small strip mall. Well worth the stop!

I was responsible for dessert at a dinner party so I stopped in Lena’s one early afternoon to take a peek at her displays. I am not sure if I came on an off day or what but there wasn’t much in the way of pastries and mini desserts. After wiping away my expectations I quickly decided on a package of truffles. Oh dear. They were a hit! We’d decided to leave them on the counter whilst we ate so by the time we got to them they were gooey and divine.
Also, Lena wasn’t present the day I stopped in so her father helped me. He is the sweetest man. I remember thinking how obvious it was that he was incredibly proud of his daughter’s business. He was very thorough about everything and took great care to ensure that I was familiar w the policies should I place an order in the future. I will certainly return, I just hope there are more options next time!

Left us hanging hours before a surprise engagement party with no cake. Very unprofessional! Will never do business there again and will continue to tell others to stay away.

I have been to Lena’s before to try some delicious desserts. Being gluten free and having a diabetic family member makes it difficult to find options !! She always has a good selection or will make some items upon request for you.
Went in on Saturday with a special request for my Real Estate open house and was amazed. Not only did she make everything last minute, she did all on my budget and dietary guidelines. Desserts were amazing!
Highly recommend the gluten or sugar free eclairs and the chocolate torte!
Great prices compared to other speciality shops.

I have driven by this place quite a few times. Finally stopped by. Very glad I did. Lena had a good selection of different desserts. I had trouble choosing only one so I bought three different ones. Each tasting better than the last. This is where I will be getting any cookies, cakes, or desserts for any events I have in the future. She does a really good job on all her items that I’ve tasted. I definitely recommend the Maple Cookie, upside pineapple cake and Éclair!
I also appreciate her throw back to Mama Llama’s! She serves dessert Empanadas!
I highly approve and recommend!

Last week I stopped to order a cake for my friend’s birthday. I paid for it in advance. I asked if I could pick up the cake about 7:30 am the next morning.
I was running late & picked up the cake at about 9:45, at which time Vince Lena’s father, who works the counter informed me not once but twice, that Lena was «hurt» that I didn’t pick up the cake when I said I would. OK, so the bottom line is the cake was not special after all that, and I won’t be going back again, to avoid any further emotional damage to Lena.

I went and checked Lena’s out yesterday, and was quite impressed! Her menu is extensive and everything look/​sounds AMAZING!
She had a good variety of goodies ready to go (dine in, or take home), and welcomes special orders — AND she is open to discussing gluten free/​sugar free options for people with special dietary needs.
Before Lena’s I hadn’t found a good cupcake place in Tucson… but now I have to go back and try MORE flavors! She offers both filled and un-​filled, in over a dozen flavors. I tried an un-​filled chocolate/​chocolate buttercream cupcake, and my friend had an un-​filled vanilla/​vanilla buttercream cupcake. I really was impressed with her buttercream frosting… so often it is too heavy and cloyingly sweet… not Lena’s! It was just right. And the cake was moist with a nice texture.
I also took home a small assortment of items for my family. Including a cinnamon+Kahlua bread pudding, a lemon bar, and very generously sized peanut butter sandwich cookie with chocolate filling. The family all agreed that everything was delicious, but the bread pudding was the crowd favorite! My entire box of goodies was under $ 13, and for the quality of her products I feel that was a very reasonable price.
We will definitely be going back to Lena’s, and I will recommend it to everyone I know.
EDITED TO UPDATE REVIEW, ¹⁰⁄₂₀₁₃:
I’ve been back to Lena’s several times, and also ordered cupcakes (2 flavors, both crème filled — Chocolate and Lemon) for my dad’s birthday. My family is relatively full of «chocoholics» and we all liked the chocolate cupcakes (so good!) but every single person at the table made a point to rave about the lemon cupcakes. As usual, Lena’s icing was ridiculously good. I can honestly say it’s the best icing I’ve ever had. NOT something you scrape off because it’s overly sweet/​generally «bleh» like what some grocery store chain bakeries would put out. I don’t know how she does it… but she’s GREAT at it!
Now my own birthday is this month and I will definitely be ordering a cake from Lena! I just have to decide which one to try… everything on her menu sounds delicious. From cookies, to cupcakes, to bread pudding, to fruit empanadas, to napoleons and back again… everything my family and I have tried has been fabulous.

I was curious about the new business at the location North of Grant on Craycroft. It is called ‘Lena’s Custom Deserts’.
Anyway we picked up some sample deserts from their display case and spent some time talking to Lena and her father Vince who was there as well.
The deserts we picked up included a brownie that was more like a piece of fudge (but wonderful), a butterscotch tapioca tart, and a chocolate éclair. They turned out to be delicious.
While I was there talking with Lena and her father, Lena said she would make custom emapanadas in small batches.
So I ordered 6 empanadas made with green chile, pork, onions, etc. I had discussed the large size and the small size… I could not remember which I picked. Anyway, when I went by they had made the small size and they made extra to try them selves and perhaps sell to me. I took 9 home.
They were wonderful. I think I’ll go back and get the rest tomorrow!