Elevenses is a term commonly used in the U.K. to describe “a short break for light refreshments, usually with tea or coffee”—a respite between breakfast and the rest of the day’s drudgery.
Tampa is certainly a long way away from Middle-earth, but local baker and barista Jade Yelvington often draws inspiration from fictional worlds for her innovative beverages and pastries—from slow-paced, “slice of life” shows like "Gilmore Girls" to the fantastical realm of The “Lord of the Rings.”
Yelvington's brick and mortar Elevenses has been in a soft opening phase in V.M. Ybor for a few months, a decision that she described as a “leap of faith.” While the newly-acquired building—located at 1001 E Columbus Dr.—has mainly served as a space for her wholesale baking and custom cake orders, she recently announced expanded hours and is now open four days a week as a full-service cafe and bakery.
The cozy neighborhood bakery and cafe is now open from noon-6 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturdays, slinging artisan lattes, cakes by the slice and other exciting bakes.
“Instead of having a more traditional grand opening (since we just don't have the funds or manpower to go at a faster pace) we'll set more of a goal for a huge anniversary-type celebration instead,” 32 year-old Yelvington tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay while sitting inside of her pink and teal bakery. The cafe itself—which boasts massive vintage windows and local artwork—matches the pastel colors of her bakery case, with a bright purple door and vibrant storefront sign created by Tampa’s favorite cutesy artist, Jujmo.
Just a few of the creations that Yelvington has dished out of her new V.M. Ybor bakery include mango rice pudding pavlovas, cardamom-chocolate chip cookies, spiced sweet potato cakes with coconut cream cheese icing, and her beloved “cakies”—a pillowy, cookie-cake crossover that she created to utilize leftover cake scraps. While she specializes in a variety of baking techniques from tiered cakes, brownies and soft pretzels to savory galettes, pavlovas and cookies, she’s perhaps most known for her colorful, uniquely-flavored macarons.
She nailed the perfect macaron technique some time ago, and started going absolutely wild with the flavors. A rainbow display of macarons catches your eye as soon as you walk into Elevenses, each with a whimsical flavor like key lime passionfruit, pancakes, ube vanilla, Thai tea, black currant and orange creamsicle.
Yelvington wholesales her macarons to cafes and other small businesses across Tampa Bay, at spots like Teabella, Brookesville’s Mountaineer Coffee, Santoro's Pizzeria, Lakeland’s Concord Coffee and Book + Bottle in St. Pete.
Each week, she cranks out over 1,000 little macarons all by herself, and even perfected the recipe for a vegan macaron after tons of trial-and-error.
“For the vegan stuff that I do make, I put a lot of time into it and I'm really proud of everything since my vegan bakes are pretty much indistinguishable from my other products,” Yelvington explains. “I'm never going to put a vegan item on the menu that's not up to the standards of everything else.”
Although the Elevenses brand is most known for its innovative bakes—often popping up at events like Indie Flea before the brick and mortar was open to the public—Yelvington actually got her start as a barista several years ago, which eventually kick-started her love of baking.
A true Tampa native, Yelvington practically grew up in the massive pastry kitchen at Bern’s Steak House, where her mother, Kim Yelvington—who also owns Seminole Heights’ Chocolate Pi—worked as a pastry chef on and off for about two decades. She recalls drawing on the walls of the two-story pastry kitchen and venturing into the tiny room that held all of the restaurant’s chocolate. Kim even had the opportunity to helm its new cafe at the Epicurean Hotel in 2014, with her only daughter in tow.
While Jade had a longtime appreciation of sweets and baked goods from her mom, it was at The Epicurean’s cafe—the second iteration of Chocolate Pi—where she truly discovered her love of specialty coffee.
“I’ve been working with my mom off and on since I was about 14, but the Epicurean shop was the first place where I really realized, ‘this could be my career,” Yelvington tells CL. “I really wanted to focus on bringing a really cool drink program to match what my mom was doing, and that's kind of where I found my love for the industry.”
Elevenses doesn’t have an espresso machine just yet (since Jade would have to drop upwards of $20,000 for her dream machine ), but the cafe still cranks out colorful “cloud lattes” using an Aeropress, a handheld device that uses physical force to push fine grounds through a plastic filter.
c/o Elevenses Co.
One of Elevenses' cloud lattes with lemony espresso, strawberry milk and a blue-lemon cloud foam topping.
“I approach both baked goods and syrups for coffees with the same seasonal approach, so they kind of naturally pair well together,” Jade explains.
She created relationships with roasters around the country during her last few years being the lead barista at Chocolate Pi, and now carries their various bags of specialty beans at Elevenses.
“Our drink program is one of the things that I’m particularly proud of—our coffees kind of exist in this perfect harmony with the pastries,” Yelvington says. “I really like creating coffees with more of a mixology focus of really being thoughtful about the flavor notes of the beans, and then making syrups to pair with that.”
Inspired by nostalgia, her comfort TV shows, mystical realms and pop culture trends, Yelvington is finally taking hold of all creative reins and doing whatever the hell she wants with her small business—and her loyal customer base (literally) eats it up every time.
Although Elevenses has technically occupied its corner parcel on Columbus Avenue for about a year, it’s really just the beginning for Yelvington and her blossoming business.
Yelvington has nailed the art of balancing wholesale baking and custom orders, but the world of brick and mortar service will help Elevenses grow into the sweet Tampa powerhouse it truly deserves to be. And it’s bound to happen—one macaron at a time.
For the latest updates on Elevenses, head to its Instagram at @elevensesco. Since this V.M. Ybor cafe specializes in small-batch bakes, placing pre-orders on its Clover is highly recommended.
