You might recognize the shape of a strawberry or a mango before you realize what you are looking at. At Melody Bakes in Broken Arrow, some of the most intriguing treats resemble pieces of fruit—or even a peanut. They are not what they first appear to be.

The pastries are examples of trompe-l'œil, a French phrase for art that tricks the eye. In a recent TulsaPeople profile, writer Jared S. Gleaton describes chef-owner Nagam “Melody” Hanoun's versions: a delicate chocolate outer layer, cake, whipped white-chocolate ganache and a center that might contain fruit, caramel or another flavor. It is an edible illusion, but making it involves very real precision.

Hanoun's inspiration came from tasting a similarly crafted pastry at an Oklahoma City patisserie and deciding to learn the method. According to TulsaPeople, a single design can take as long as three days. The fruit filling is prepared and frozen; ganache rests overnight before it is whipped and piped. Then come the shaping, freezing, unmolding and chocolate finish. The playful result depends on steps that leave little room for a rough edge or a hidden air pocket.

But the most interesting thing about the bakery is not simply what the desserts resemble. It is the road its owner traveled before opening a storefront.

Hanoun grew up in Mafraq, Jordan. She studied French before training at the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts in Amman. TulsaPeople reports that she graduated in 2019, worked at the Four Seasons Hotel Amman and later served as an assistant chef to Prince Hamzah bin Al Hussein. She and her husband, Ammar “AJ” Jebreen, moved to Tulsa in December 2019.

Her next chapter in baking did not begin with the bakery on South Ninth Street. Hanoun started Melody Bakes from home in 2021, making custom cakes and pastries. She and Jebreen later operated a Mediterranean food truck before closing it in 2024. The retail Melody Bakes shop opened in June 2026 at 800 South Ninth Street, Suite C, in Broken Arrow, according to the same published profile.

These details matter because the fruit-shaped pastry can make artistry seem effortless. In fact, the finished shell sits atop years of training and changes of direction. The bakery is a new chapter in a longer practice, and its most eye-catching products demand patience behind the scenes.

The next flavor of that story may connect even more openly to Jordan. The October profile says Hanoun plans to introduce halawet el jibn, a sweet cheese-and-semolina dessert filled with cream. That addition is a stated intention, not a currently verified menu item.

For someone exploring the Tulsa area, the discovery is the unusual treat. For someone curious about the person who made it, the discovery is a baker who carried her skills from Jordan to Oklahoma and found a new form for them in Broken Arrow. The strawberry is not a strawberry. The craft, however, is unmistakably hers.