Fast forward to my senior year of high school and that same bakery was hiring for part time help. It wasn’t quite the glamourous job of a cake designer. Instead, I mostly ran the front store and took cake orders, except for Thursdays…baking day! No, they did not let me bake cakes. By the time I got to the store on Thursday afternoons, the cake pans, measuring tools and decorating gadgets were piled to the ceiling! I would spend my entire 5-hour shift doing the dishes and if I was lucky, I got them done before leaving for the night. There were a ton of dishes! It wasn’t too bad since I got to spend the evening in the kitchen watching the cake decorators. While at this bakery, I took full advantage of my 15% discount to begin stocking up on cake supplies and I even signed up for a cake decorating class. I loved decorating cakes, but the following year I left the bakery to attend college and begin my teaching career.

While I never worked in a bakery again, I continued to make cakes and other sweet treats for family and friends. As I got married and my family grew, I loved making creative cakes for my kids. The many different activities they were involved in also gave me the opportunity to bake for others. If there was a bake sale happening, I was in! I really started taking my baking skills to the next level when my daughter was in color guard with the West Shore Marching Band. When they needed 14 dozen cupcakes for a competition, I signed up for all 14 dozen! My younger son is in the band now and during his first year I made hundreds of cupcakes for 2 competitions and a band banquet. With more people than ever encouraging me to start my own bakery and my second child about to leave for college, I decided to take that leap. In June of 2023 I officially became a licensed home baker and Sweet Temptations began to take form. While my favorite thing to make is cupcakes, I also make cakes, cookies, brownies, cake pops, cakesickles and more!

I am married to my high school sweetheart, Scott, and we have 4 amazing kids. Lizzie is a graphic design major and creator of my website, logo, and all other Sweet Temptations branding. Jake is my hockey player and future doctor. Emily hasn’t met a computer she doesn’t want to take apart and figure out how it works. Matt is my trombone playing youngest. While I love baking, I consider it to be my second passion. My first passion is teaching. I have been a teacher for 23 years and an elementary reading specialist for more than half of those years. I have no plans to leave teaching right now, but don’t be surprised if you see a Sweet Temptations food truck rolling by in the coming years.