Aurora Grace Wold's new cafe at 517 South Fifth St. is aptly called Aurora Grace, located in a space that has a history of female entrepreneurs.
"Previously (the space) was called the Little Bird Bakery, and prior to that it was Cookie Confidential, both actually owned by women themselves," she noted.
Wold said the cafe actually first began as an online Etsy chocolate store.
"That all culminated in us having a 20-quart mixer in our living room, an extra oven next to our couch; we had speed racks in our living room and work benches," she recalled. "We were looking at production space and then we came across this so we're like, there's no reason not to open a nice little cafe here."
A post shared by Aurora (@pastrychefaurora) on Jan 1, 2019 at 3:46pm PST
The main staple of the cafe is Wold's gourmet bonbons.
"It's an incredibly labor-intensive process to make them, beginning with the painting, which is truly done by hand," said Wold. "That means standing there with the mold and painting it with a paintbrush."
She literally creates food art.
"People say they look like little marbles or little jewels or gemstones."
A post shared by Aurora Grace (@auroragracechocolates) on Dec 16, 2018 at 4:28pm PST
While Wold admitted jumping into the role of business owner comes with its challenges, she's enjoying the ride.
"It's just really fun," she added, "a good way to make art with food and combine all my favorite things — science, art, food and pastry."