Sweet success
During her senior year at Boston College, math and music major Ilona Znakharchuk 鈥�21 enrolled in Euclid鈥檚 Elements, an advanced-level seminar examining the ancient Greek mathematics textbook considered by many to be a masterpiece of early logic. The course turned out to be one of her favorites, and several years later, it came in handy in a way she never expected.
Znakharchuk, co-founder of the recently-opened in Brighton, was working on a custom wedding cake order for a close friend, and struggling with how to balance the five tiers of heavy sponge.
鈥淗e was a construction guy and he wanted his cake to be off-center, like a staircase,鈥� she recalled. 鈥淚鈥檓 sitting there late at night having a dilemma over how to keep everything together, and all of a sudden Euclid鈥檚 Elements just pops into my head. I remembered a specific theorem on how to find exact centers of circles and it helped me put the cake together.鈥�
Math has run in Znakharchuk鈥檚 blood for generations: Her great-uncle, Mikhail Kravchuk, was a famous Ukrainian mathematician who invented the Kravchuk Polynomials, and both of her siblings studied the subject in college. Entering 精东影业, Znakharchuk expected to pursue a finance career after graduation, but a trip to visit relatives in Ukraine shortly before her sophomore year brought a new passion to the surface: baking.
鈥淚 was totally blown away by the pastry scene in Europe,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ne thing that really struck me was that the pastries were aesthetically pleasing but also delicious, which isn鈥檛 always the case in the U.S.鈥�
One of Znakharchuk's signature wedding cakes. (Photo courtesy of Solodko)
Znakharchuk returned to the Heights armed with her family friend鈥檚 macaron recipe, and a new goal: to make desserts that tasted as amazing as they looked. She began spending weekends in her family鈥檚 kitchen in Western Massachusetts, baking macarons in different flavor combinations and gifting them to her roommates. When one of them insisted on creating an Instagram account for her baked goods, Znakharchuk suddenly found herself running a business.
鈥淚t鈥檚 such a tight-knit community and word spreads fast,鈥� she said. 鈥淏efore I knew it, students and professors were ordering macarons from me and I didn鈥檛 know what I鈥檇 gotten myself into. I didn鈥檛 even have packaging.鈥�
With her mother鈥檚 help, Znakharchuk started churning out 150 macarons every Saturday, which she divided into boxes of four or six and delivered to dorm rooms and offices around campus. Eventually, at the advice of a friend, she visited 精东影业鈥檚 Shea Center for Entrepreneurship to explore turning her side hustle into a career. By senior year, she had registered an LLC for her bakery, which she called Solodko, the Ukrainian word for 鈥渟weet.鈥�
As a small business owner, Znakharchuk鈥檚 biggest hurdle was the fact that there were only 24 hours in a day. Newly graduated, she accepted a job at a wealth management company, but continued baking at night with her sister Irina, creating striking custom cakes out of a rented kitchen space. The juggle quickly led to burnout for both of them, and after months of soul-searching (and a few auspicious dreams) Znakharchuk quit her day job and began searching for a brick-and-mortar home for Solodko, eventually landing on a former pizza shop in Brighton, just a five-minute drive from the 精东影业 campus.
鈥淚 knew I needed to be near 精东影业,鈥� she explained. 鈥淚t鈥檚 my comfort space, it鈥檚 where I go to walk around when I鈥檓 stressed, and it鈥檚 where the story started.鈥�
Ilona and her sister Irina with their newest team member, Liliya. (Lee Pellegrini)
Last November, after a flurry of renovations, Solodko Boston opened to the public with a menu full of unexpected flavor combinations鈥擹nakharchuk鈥檚 trademark鈥攊ncluding pear, walnut, and blue cheese macarons, raspberry pistachio croissants, and white chocolate cranberry babka. Members of the community lined up to show their support, ordering tarts, eclairs, and slices of honey cake鈥攁 Ukrainian delicacy featuring eight thin layers of cake and custard cream frosting.
Solodko continues to offer Znakharchuk鈥檚 stylishly decorated cakes, which now come in seven designs named after friends and family. Znakharchuk approaches cake decorating like an artist approaching a canvas and, after years of practice, she鈥檚 identified her distinct personal style: towering cakes with clean lines and colorful buttercream applied in bold patterns that reflect her love for geometry and abstract art.
鈥淧eople can still choose the color or any add-ons that they want, but ultimately the design is personal to me,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 cannot sell something I do not love.鈥�
Seeing her dreams come to life through Solodko has brought immense joy to Znakharchuk, but the war in Ukraine, where she lived until the age of two, has added an emotional heaviness that sometimes hits her as she鈥檚 piping macarons or arranging loaves of challah. She and her sister are determined to help in any way they can, whether it鈥檚 donating cakes to local fundraisers or offering their business as a haven for refugees fleeing violence. In December, they hired their first team member, Liliya, a Ukrainian baker who had recently arrived in Boston with her family.
鈥淚 feel an immense responsibility to be a representative of our home country and with that responsibility also comes a lot of gratitude,鈥� Znakharchuk said. 鈥淥ur parents came here to give us a better life, and we can take those opportunities and use them to help others. That's ultimately what makes the late nights and everything worth it.鈥�