An award-winning bakery from Flower Mound is expanding into downtown Dallas: Called The Flour Shop Bakery, it just made its debut in the AT&T Discovery District at 308 S. Akard St., where it's serving cupcakes and other portable sweet treats.

The Flour Shop Bakery is owned by Cara Vasquez, a pastry chef who opened her first shop in 2011 in Highland Village before later relocating to Flower Mound.

"We were looking for another opportunity," Vasquez says. "When this one presented itself, we thought it would be an awesome way for us to be able to get into a new market in Dallas."

The Flour Shop Bakery consistently wins "Best of Denton County" and "Best of Flower Mound" awards for their cakes, pastries, and cookies. Its arrival is a coup for the Discovery District, which has undergone some big changes since its management was taken over by Legends Hospitality in August 2023.

Diligent and dedicated, Vasquez attended culinary school at El Centro College in Dallas, then worked for the the Bread Winners chain for 10 years, as a baker and bakery manager at two of their three locations. But her dream was always to open her own bakery.

“The expansion is big for us, especially from being a 13-year-old company,” she says. “I never thought about expanding, because I'm particular about what we do. But this allows me to still have my hands on all the baking.”

At Flower Mound, she serves a wide selection of sweets and pastries, including pies, cupcakes, quick breads, brownies, cookies, and cheesecakes. There are whoopie pies and cinnamon rolls, plus coffee drinks and lemonade.

The menu at the Discovery District location is smaller, with a focus on "walkable" items, such as cupcakes and bars that can be consumed on-site. Prices start at a reasonable $4 for a cupcake, and she rotates flavors in more than 30 varieties such as:

• Gingerbread — a gingerbread cake with cream cheese frosting, topped with a miniature gingerbread man
• Creme Brulee — a vanilla cupcake filled and topped with Crème Brulee icing, then dusted with sugar that's torched for a crackly topper

"Our cupcakes are kind of a big deal, most of them have fillings or some kind of surprise,” Vasquez says.

At the Flower Mound location, Vasquez hosts dessert workshops and events and plans on doing them in Dallas, as well.

"Our desserts are delicious, but it's also about nostalgia — desserts bring back memories of childhood," she says.