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Years after receiving her doctorate in nonprofit management, Rhonda Waller never forgot the hot summers spent helping her mother prepare wedding cakes, a memory she now brings to life through her own business.

"I enjoy stuff that tastes good, not just looks good," said the former executive director of the Healthy Babies Project in Washington, D.C. "I want people to taste the quality and realize there's much more to cupcakes than mass production."

Waller, 40, of Greenbelt, left the nonprofit in 2006 to start her own businesses: Adura, a nonprofit consulting firm, and Rhonda's Cupcakery in 2008.

The culinary venture — part of a growing interest in cupcakes that is sweeping the nation — features gourmet cupcakes such as red velvet and pineapple upside-down cake, along with traditional varieties, and offers them for basic delivery or cupcake decorating and baking parties. Twenty-five percent of Waller's consulting income supplements her cupcake business, allowing her to deliver about 40 dozen each month. She said she often uses butter instead of shortening in her decorating, as the latter tends to stick to the roof of the mouth.

Waller did not disclose her revenues but said she is making a profit. Her cupcakes range in price from $18 per dozen for regular deliveries to $24 per dozen for custom orders and $30 per dozen for gourmet.

Cupcake businesses are doing better than most bakeries during the recession because smaller treats always tend to sell better during hard times, said Paul Sapienza, vice president of operations for Retail Bakers of America in McLean, Va.

"People like to award themselves with little treats that don't cost much," Sapienza said. Cupcake businesses — particularly boutique bakeries — are popping up all over many major metropolitan areas, including Washington, New York and Los Angeles, he said.

While Waller has seen some of the trend with cupcake shops opening throughout Washington, her path to the business was much more personal.

As a girl, Waller was surrounded by bakers, from her teacher-mother, who prepared cakes as a summer job, to her brother, who later became a chef.

Having baked custom cakes for friends and family, Waller had long been in search of the perfect cupcake in the Washington region. After years of "disappointment" from chains that favored mass production over "quality," Waller said she finally decided she could do better. Allying with a friend and a fellow Rhonda, Rhonda Pope, Waller began selling her own brand.

Armed with gum paste flowers, fondant frosting or just creatively shaped frosting nozzles, Waller and Pope bring messy delights to parties of all ages.

"We want her to do [a party] for moms only," said Belinda Coleman, a Lanham business owner who recently hired Waller to entertain at her daughter's 11th birthday party. "It was the easiest party ever, and the kids had a blast." Coleman and Waller met each other through their involvement on the board of the Women Business Owners of Prince George's County.

Unlike many aspiring cupcake entrepreneurs, Waller does not have her own site and makes most of her sales online, working out of a contracted commercial kitchen. She said wants to wait until the economy stabilizes before opening a location. Her long-range dream is having a dessert bar.

A single mother, Waller lives with her daughter, Kai, whom she often wrangles into being an assistant. The two often travel to beaches and plan on going to Barbados soon. Waller also tries to involve herself in as many volunteer projects as possible.

"Everything eventually revolves back around children. I love anything I can do with children," she said.

Waller grew up in Atlanta, where she received her bachelor's and master's degrees before earning her doctorate at Howard University in Washington.

"I never saw myself going into business at all. I saw myself in nonprofits. That's where I thought I was going to be," she said, adding that she hopes her experience teaches people that they can make money from pursuing their passions. "People always go toward things that will make them lots of money and forget about things that make them happy."