SCRANTON— What started as a challenge from one of her friends to recreate something she saw on TikTok has changed Genesis Vega’s life.

The owner of 3 Tiers Bakery in downtown Scranton has recently become popular for selling the viral TikTok fruit mousse cakes.

Vega grew up in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, where she studied nursing in high school but soon changed to culinary after graduating. She received three culinary arts degrees, one in cooking and two in baking.

She moved to the United States in 2017 and to the Scranton area in 2020. She started her business out of her home, but soon moved to a storefront in Carbondale in 2022. Last year, she moved to her current location in downtown Scranton.

Despite being in business for multiple years, this year has been her busiest, partially thanks to her newest item.

The viral TikTok fruit mousse cakes have a hard outer shell with a light, fluffy mousse and fruit filling inside. The hyperrealistic mousse cakes often look like the fruits they're flavored after. Vega sells them at $10 each.

Vega made her first post sharing her fruit mousse on Jan. 24, announcing the green apple flavor would be available at her shop that day for a sneak peek and revealing the full menu for the Feb. 3 debut. Her post went viral, and she sold out the same day.

“Everybody was calling me asking me for the mousse. I thought this is something big.”

She initially planned to have the full menu available on the first Tuesday of every month, but with its popularity, she chose to offer the full menu every Tuesday.

“Daily, I receive over 80, 90 customers, new customers who travel from Hazleton, from Harrisburg. So, they travel from really far away from here just to come here and get the mousse.”

3 Tiers Bakery has a line out the door every Tuesday with customers waiting to try the mousse. On Valentine’s Day, she had customers lining up at 6 a.m. for a chance to try the mousse.

“People were waiting since 6 a.m. and I open at 10:30. It was freezing outside.”

Vega chose Tuesdays because they used to be the slowest day of the week, now it’s her busiest day. She said she also picked Tuesday because it’s a three- to four-day process to make her full menu.

“It’s really hard for me to have the whole collection every day. That’s why I just (decided) Tuesday, because we (are) closed Sunday and Monday, I start working with the fruit Friday night, so I can have them ready for Tuesday.”

There are select flavors, usually two, available on the other days of the week. Recently, Vega stopped offering the mousse on Saturdays and preorders.

“Saturday for us is really busy on custom orders, like cakes, birthday cake, wedding cake and other kinds of pre-orders, not specific for mousse cakes. So that’s why I have to stop accepting pre-orders for the mousse cakes and I also have to stop making mousse cakes on Saturdays.”

In May, Vega is switching to offer the full menu on Saturdays instead of Tuesdays, as it’s more convenient for customers.

“I decided to switch that because I know school is almost over, summer is coming, and they’re off during the weekend. … So that’s why I decided to do a Saturday … so families who have kids don’t have to worry about ‘Oh no, I have to pick up the kids’ or ‘I have to bring my kid to school so they can’t.’ They can just say ‘OK, let's go get the mousse.’”

Vega has plans for new mousse flavors, including seasonal and monthly flavors. She plans on bringing back the margarita flavor for Cinco de Mayo and plans to make a coconut passion fruit flavor in the shape of a bunny for April.

Vega incorporates her culture into her bakery. The bestselling flavor of the mousse cakes is mango, which is inspired by her hometown, which is often referred to the “town of mangoes.”

Vega often works seven days a week on her creations, but doesn't mind. She says that's what she signed up for when she started her business.

“I’ve been in this business since 2020, and this is the first year I feel that I’m seeing with my eyes the successful business. … But I feel this is the first year I can say, I feel proud of myself, because I’ve been doing all this just by myself, being a single mom without any support from any of my family members because I have no family here.”