Myesha Harris turned her grandmother’s 75-year-old recipe and a 1940s South Central house into a bakery with South Phoenix roots.
Decades before Myesha Harris opened a bakery, her grandmother’s red velvet cake had its own form of currency. If Thelma Lee Guyton needed the air conditioner repaired or work done on the car, people were often happy to accept a three-layer cake covered in cream cheese frosting and pecans.
“People didn’t even want money,” Harris said. “Just give me your famous three-layer red velvet cake.”
Guyton was born in Louisiana and later moved to Phoenix for the warmth, bringing her fabulous recipes with her. Within the family, her home became everyone’s gathering place, from baby showers to funerals, with her cooking at the center of it all. The red velvet cake was expected at holidays and potlucks, where it routinely disappeared until only crumbs remained.
“Food brings people together, and that’s what she did,” Harris shared.
Learning the Recipes Before They Were Lost
The recipe had been passed through the family for 75 years, although Guyton understood that traditions can disappear when no one takes the time to learn them. She repeatedly urged Harris to get into the kitchen.
“You’re going to have to learn these recipes,” Harris remembers her saying. “We’re going to lose everything.”
Harris finally had that time while on maternity leave with her first child. It was around the holidays, giving her an opportunity to cook alongside her grandmother, write down the recipes and gain an even deeper connection with one another in the process.
Harris had already come up with the name Red Velvet Recipes in 2009, although she had no clear idea where it might lead. She began baking for friends and family, then met local business owners interested in carrying her desserts at their coffee shops. Selling to the public required access to a commercial kitchen, so Harris registered the business, made the investment and watched the orders continue to grow.
A Home on South Central
The bakery’s location grew out of another investment. Harris had purchased a 1940s house along South Central Avenue as a piece of real estate for the future.
“There was no intention of putting a bakery here,” she said.
As more people encouraged her to sell her desserts to the public, the house began to look less like a distant investment and more like the place where Red Velvet Recipes could finally have a permanent home.
The location was personal to the family. Harris was born and raised in South Phoenix, attended schools in the Roosevelt School District and graduated from South Mountain High School. She still lives and works in the area, balancing the bakery with her career as a transportation engineer.
The South Central location also appealed to the engineer in her. Customers could arrive by car or bus, and the light rail would eventually run past the bakery. Construction along the corridor proved difficult for surrounding businesses, but Harris said customers continued showing up throughout it.
That support matters to Harris, who sees the bakery as part of a community that helped carry it through its early years. She also hopes her visibility as a Black business owner can encourage younger generations.
“Anything that I can do to be encouraging to another little girl that looks just like me, the better,” she said.
Grandma’s Cake Meets TikTok
Red Velvet Recipes marks its third anniversary this September, with a customer celebration planned at the bakery on September 11 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. In those three years, Harris has also learned that running a modern bakery involves more than perfecting one beloved family recipe.
“All I wanted [was] to come here and sell my grandma’s cake,” she said. “That’s all I wanted to do.”
Customers soon began asking for coffee, breakfast, and something salty to balance the sweets. Others walked in looking for desserts they had seen circulating online. A sprinkle-covered “dot cake” that went viral in New York found its way to Phoenix after customers began requesting it, while the dirty soda craze presented another unexpected learning curve.
“I never imagined I’d be making a dirty soda,” Harris said.
Keeping up requires watching social media closely and acting before attention shifts again. Harris estimates that some dessert trends may hold customers’ interest for only 60 to 90 days. Red Velvet Recipes has responded by expanding into brunch and lunch, along with specialty drinks and elaborate milkshakes.
The bakery’s 24-ounce drip shakes come in flavors such as chocolate, cheesecake and Cookie Monster, then arrive topped with an ice cream sandwich and a cupcake. Cakes and cupcakes have become more elaborate too, sometimes crowned with slices of pie or smaller pieces of cake.
Through every new addition, red velvet remains the bakery’s foundation. Guyton never planned to sell the recipe or build a business around it. She baked for her family, her church community and the people who showed.
“I get great satisfaction that my grandmother’s cake is on the public’s table,” Harris said.
Taking Thelma’s Table to the Park
On November 7, Harris plans to extend that table even further with Let Them Eat Cake, a community cake exchange taking place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Heritage and Science Park. Inspired by the cake picnics that have drawn crowds elsewhere, the event will invite bakers to bring cakes to share, with awards for decoration and unusual flavors, plus a category devoted to red velvet.
Harris hopes to gather at least 300 cakes and create what she describes as the Valley’s first large-scale cake exchange. In many ways, the event carries Thelma’s table into the park, only this time, hundreds of people may arrive carrying cakes of their own.
Visit Red Velvet Recipes Tuesday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. It’s closed Saturday through Monday. 6828 S. Central Ave., Phoenix, redvelvetrecipes.com
