From Bogotá to Miami: How Chef Malka Espinel Built Malka Delicious

Long before Malka Delicious became her own business, Malka Espinel had already spent years building a name in South Florida's culinary scene.

The Bogotá-born pastry chef worked in restaurants including Grove Isle and 1220 at The Tides before joining chef Johnny Vinczencz at several of his projects, including Johnny V's in Fort Lauderdale. She later designed desserts for Miami Beach institution The Forge. Her career also brought national recognition: StarChefs listed Espinel among its 2008 Miami Rising Stars in pastry, while Food Network featured her on "Sugar Rush," where she created an edible jewelry box made from cake and sweets.

But after more than two decades working across restaurants, hotels and culinary education, 2020 pushed Espinel toward a different chapter: building something of her own.

Building a business during an uncertain moment

Malka Creative + Delicious, better known as Malka Delicious, was officially established in Florida in 2020, at the height of the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For someone whose career had been closely connected to hotels and restaurants, it was hardly an obvious moment to launch a culinary business.

"The hotel and restaurant industry was suffering tremendously due to COVID-19," Espinel told Miami Context.

At the same time, however, something else was happening. Private clients were increasingly reaching out for custom cakes.

Espinel saw an opportunity inside the crisis.

"As I began receiving more orders from private clients looking for personalized cakes, I decided to take the step, register the LLC and consolidate my business under the name Malka Creative + Delicious, or Malka Delicious for short," she said.

Today, the brand focuses on custom cakes and desserts, with services that have included wedding and special-occasion cakes, boutique dessert tables, pastry instruction and dessert consulting for restaurants.

Colombian roots behind the flavors

Even after decades in the United States, Colombia remains central to Espinel's culinary identity.

"I am a Colombian woman and chef who is very proud of my roots, and my heritage deeply influences my work," she said.

That connection shows up through ingredients including Colombian coffee, chocolate and cacao, along with tropical fruits.

Her relationship with food, however, began long before professional kitchens.

Espinel grew up spending time cooking and working on her family's farm in Colombia, surrounded by fresh ingredients and alongside her mother, whom she remembers as an exceptional cook.

Her family influence has remained a constant throughout her career. Espinel has previously credited her parents with inspiring her entrepreneurial ambitions and her mother, Rebeca, with encouraging her to pursue cooking and helping establish the work ethic behind her career.

Her Colombian background has also long been visible in her approach to pastry. Throughout her career, Espinel has explored ways of combining Latin American ingredients with traditional American and French pastry techniques, particularly through tropical fruits and flavors connected to her upbringing.

Today, she continues looking toward Colombia for inspiration.

Espinel says she follows the country's new generation of chefs closely, paying attention to the ways they reinterpret local products and ingredients. Dining at several of those restaurants, she said, has been both creatively inspiring and a way of remaining connected to the evolution of Colombian cuisine.

More than 20 years behind an overnight business

Miami has no shortage of bakeries, pastry chefs and custom cake businesses. Espinel believes the foundation that allowed Malka Delicious to find its place was built long before its 2020 launch.

"My business has grown organically, client by client, thanks to consistent quality and more than 20 years of hard work in the hotel and restaurant industry," she said.

That experience gave her something difficult to manufacture through marketing alone: relationships.

Espinel describes her clientele as a network built gradually through repeat customers and word-of-mouth recommendations.

Her restaurant background also became another part of the business model. Beyond creating cakes for private customers, she has worked with restaurants on dessert menus and supplied cakes to local establishments.

Teaching is another pillar of her career. Espinel has worked as a baking and pastry instructor and has offered instruction in pastry techniques and breadmaking.

For her, sharing that knowledge is not separate from entrepreneurship.

"I think the keys to finding my niche have been my tenacity, my restaurant experience and my background teaching pastry," she said. "As an educator, I consider one of my greatest strengths to be my complete willingness to share my knowledge with others."

From Miami restaurants to building her own name

Espinel's career in South Florida predates Malka Delicious by years.

Her professional path included work at Grove Isle, 1220 at The Tides, Johnny V's and The Forge, placing her inside Miami and South Florida's restaurant scene well before she launched her own company.

She was also recognized among StarChefs' 2008 Miami Rising Stars in pastry, an acknowledgment that highlighted the creative work she was already doing in the region.

Those experiences now sit behind a company whose identity is far more personal.

Malka Delicious is not simply the continuation of Espinel's restaurant career. It is where her professional training, Colombian roots, teaching experience and relationships with customers converge.

What comes next for Malka Delicious

Asked what makes her proudest today, Espinel does not begin with an award or a particular cake.

She points instead to independence.

"I am extremely proud to be an independent businesswoman and to have a successful business that allows me to support my family," she said.

She also values the customer base she has built one person at a time.

"I know almost all of them personally, and I'm very excited about the idea of meeting many more," Espinel said.

The next stage, she says, will involve scaling parts of Malka Delicious without losing that personal connection.

The company plans to expand its wholesale business serving restaurants and grow its wedding cake operation, while continuing to make custom cakes for existing and new clients.

It is a plan that brings Espinel's career full circle: from growing up around food in Colombia, to professional kitchens and pastry programs, to Miami restaurants and eventually to a business carrying her own name.

More than 20 years into her career, the next step for Malka Espinel is not about discovering her identity as a chef.

It is about taking that identity — Colombian, entrepreneurial, deeply connected to hospitality and built around pastry — and bringing Malka Delicious to a larger audience.