Monterey Meringues starts an Asian tour with a strange-but-true backstory.

Between doing schoolwork and learning Mandarin, 15-year-old Cayleigh Capaldi of Carmel spends time in a Watsonville kitchen piping meringues.

These are not plain and crumbly white pastries.

They're exotic, colorful and granted a rock-and-roll-inspired makeover by Capaldi’s parents, show business veterans/husband-and-wife team Domenick Allen and Leigh Zimmerman.

He’s a musician who has toured with Foreigner. She’s an actress who has worked onstage and in film.

Last year they relocated to Carmel and started Monterey Meringues, which has fast become a media darling for both its backstory and stylishly funky flavors.

The music is often cranked up while the family works in the kitchen together to create the desserts.

They come out looking like psychedelically-colored, fig-shaped dollops. Some have toppings or creamy fillings. Each have whimsical names that pay homage to a rock legend.

There’s the green and magenta striped meringue topped with dried rose petals and pistachio nuts named Nuts N’ Roses in tribute to the Guns N’ Roses, and an Oreo Speedwagon (chocolate and vanilla topped with Oreo cookies) for REO Speedwagon.

“The point of that is to get people talking,” Zimmerman says. “I’ve seen grandparents talk to their grandchildren about Jimi Hendrix because they are buying Purple Haze-lnut.”

The couple hopes that the treats get people talking about the arts and music education, a cause that motivated them to start the business.

“The arts have changed our lives and are changing our daughter’s life,” Zimmerman says. They want to ensure people continue to have access to them, and so are sponsoring and catering events like Wine. Dine. Jazz. at Hyatt Regency Monterey.

Now, thanks to the arts and her language skills, Capaldi’s life is changing again.

She discovered a contest to win a spot for herself and her family on the The Hangzhou Tour, an all-expense-paid, 30-day trip to China and Europe and act as ambassadors for the city of Hangzhou, China.

Capaldi shot and edited her video entry introducing herself and her family in Mandarin. She even sings in Mandarin while father strums his guitar.

Capaldi says in the video, “Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always been involved in Chinese New Year performances and cultural events, acting as the ambassador between America and China.”

But with the video finished, they hit a snag: The website would not accept the entry, and offered no contact information.

After a number of phone calls to Capaldi’s teachers, Chinese consulates and the Hangzhou tourism commission, they finally got in touch with the contest organizer who helped them resolve the issue.

Finally, the winner announcement came, and they had nabbed the spot.

They arrived in China today, but not before some intense anticipation.

“She’s bouncing off the walls,” Zimmerman says of her daughter. “She had a real sense of accomplishment, doing this from start to finish. And she was able to show her talents and language skills.”

Zimmerman believes that Capaldi’s social media savvy and her incentive to create a blog specifically for the trip set her apart from the competition.

The trip lasts until August 22. The family travels with two social media storytellers, a local Chinese family and film crews. They spend the first week in Hangzhou learning about the city and culture, and making stops to cook in the night markets and make silk in a factory.

Then they travel by camel to a desert oasis city Dunhuang, and from there fly to Athens, Greece and begin the European leg, visiting various cities acting as ambassadors for Hangzhou.

Video footage from the trip will be edited into an ad campaign for Hangzhou tourism to run on the Discovery Channel in Europe.

Zimmerman adds that the family will be sampling pastries and garnering ideas for Monterey Meringues while abroad. Expect flavors like wasabi and peach to appear upon their return, she says.

Follow the Capaldis’ account of the Hangzhou World Tour at capaldiadventures.weebly.com. For more on Monterey Meringues, visit www.montereymeringues.com.