Cacao House: Dubbo coffee, sweet treat shop set to open

The doors to Dubbo’s newest business are about to open and sweet lovers are set to benefit. Meet the chef making her Cacao House dream come true.

An abandoned building in Dubbo’s CBD has been transformed into the city’s newest coffee and sweet shop, with customers set to get their first taste of a vast array of treats on offer from Tuesday when Cacao House officially opens.

Supplied Editorial Cacao House Dubbo owner Danielle Malcolm. Picture: Ryan Young

Talented pastry chef Danielle Malcolm has spent more than six months renovating the old house on Brisbane St, opposite the Dubbo RSL.

The new business owner said it was her experience working on the Sunshine Coast which sparked the idea of starting a new venture in Dubbo.

“After working on the Sunshine Coast and specialising in cakes and what not, I knew that Dubbo didn’t have anything like what I was doing up there and I really wanted to bring that to Dubbo,” Ms Malcolm said.

“I know it’s not offering savoury or meals, it’s a bit different but I think if I can just focus on what I do and do it well, then that’s hopefully meeting the demand.

“If you’re a sweet tooth we’ll have a different array of stuff everyday, my personal favourite is the cinnamon scrolls that get baked fresh every morning. I’ll do other things such as cheese cakes, lemon meringue pies and different flavoured cakes.”

The Cacao House was previously an abandoned house. Picture: Ryan Young

Ms Malcolm told The Dubbo News she also plans to bake for special occasions when customers request cakes for events like weddings and birthdays.

“I’ll use a lot of cacao in my products, a lot will be chocolate based as well,” she explained.

“Cacao is similar to coco but it’s a more natural, in my opinion, better, version of what coco is.

“We’ve got cacao Jaffa drink and cacao Minty, which is chocolate and mint together as like a hot chocolate. I’ll also do a lot of healthy smoothies and some fresh cold pressed juices everyday.”

Cacao House Dubbo owner Danielle Malcolm has been busy baking ahead of the grand opening. Picture: Ryan Young

Renovating the building the Cacao House now calls home was the most challenging step in opening the business but Ms Malcolm said she was proud of how the shop had turned out.

“This place was abandoned, it hadn’t been rented in three years so it was very dusty and different to what you see now,” she said.

“Because we had to do so much work on the building, I think the hardest thing was being persistent and coming in everyday and chipping away at what needed to be done.

“I’m not a renovator but just to be here helping with that, I found it challenging but very rewarding now looking back.”

One of the dining rooms inside the Cacao House Dubbo. Picture: Ryan Young

Ms Malcolm said most of what customers would see when they entered the Cacao House would be “upcycled” materials builders managed to make use of from the old building.

“There were so many materials to work with. Even the skirting boards came out of a back room, we ripped them up and re-placed them,” she said.

“I wanted to give the place a unique, kind of rustic feel and we wanted to respect such an old building and quite a beautiful building too.

“We had some fantastic builders, including my dad work on the place, and they just transformed it completely.”

The Cacao House opens to the public from Tuesday.