ALBANY — At the checkout counter of Coccadotts Cake Shop sits a platter of miniature cakes inside lidded pans. Each is covered in hundreds of tiny rainbow sprinkles, with a layer of smooth buttercream frosting beneath and a soft cake base in flavors like vanilla, chocolate, funfetti and strawberry.
The cake shop, located at 1179 Central Ave. in Albany, started serving the “dot cakes” last week. Since then, owner Rachel Cocca-Dott said the shop has sold about 100 of them, making new batches daily, replenishing its grab-and-go supply and filling custom online orders.
“Everybody’s mesmerized,” said Cocca-Dott, who has run her family business for nearly 20 years and competed in the Food Network show “Cupcake Wars” in 2011. “If anyone ever told me I’d be making dot cakes now, I’d say they’re crazy.”
The tiny desserts have become the latest bakery trend to take off online, with shops across the Capital Region and beyond putting their own spin on a concept popularized by Long Island bakery The Dotcakes. According to Food & Wine, dot cakes get their name from their spherical sprinkles — often called nonpareils — that coat the outside of each cake…