Then to Now
At the age of sixteen, I bought my first cake decorating set to enter in a county fair for my high school culinary course. If you believe in love at first sight, then that is the best way to describe what developed from this simple task. My cake was my Papa’s favorite-chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. I ended up winning too.
Over the next several years, I cultivated my passion both on my own and professionally by working at local bakeries as a cake decorator. There I honed my skills and my love of decorating deepened. I started making cakes for family events and in 2015 started making cakes for family friends but I was not fully committed to turning this venture into a full time gig.
Fast forward to March 2018 and my life was completely different from three years prior. I got married in July 2017 to a Marine and moved from everything I had ever known to Jacksonville, NC. In September 2017 we had our second child and working out of the home was looking like less of an option due to the cost of childcare. I had begun baking for unit bakes sales and multiple people on different occasions told me I should sell my baked goods. The confidence boost was nice, but it wasn’t enough to fully start. In March of 2018, I took a chance on myself and my dream of owning my own bakery. I remember sitting in the dining room of our apartment late on the 22nd of March setting up a business page on Facebook for my bakery. I contemplated different names, set ups, products I wanted to offer, pricing, etc. It was an incredible rush and overwhelming at the same time.
A few months after I made this decision, we packed up our home in North Carolina to move across the Pacific Ocean for my husbands new duty assignment. I became involved immediately with my husbands new unit as a volunteer and began baking for bake sales again. Through this, multiple people began to seek me out for custom orders. Over the next four years of being stationed in Hawai’i, my business grew more than I could have ever imagined. During my time on island I had the honor of creating birthday cakes, wedding cakes, homecoming cakes, unit cakes, the Marine Corps Ball cake, and even an international destination wedding cake! I think the first time I felt like I was doing big things was when I was walking in Target in the town right outside of base, Kailua, and two ladies local to the town recognized me from social media posts and from a cake a friend of theirs had not long before then. It was a literal superstar moment.
Today, five years from taking a leap of faith, I have my own bakery that travels with me across the country as my family follows my husbands career with the United States Marine Corps. My business began as an idea in March 2018 while stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC and came to fruition on the island of O’ahu later that year after our move. As of September 2022, Sugar, Spice, and All Things Iced operates out of Central Florida. While it has been difficult to start over entirely, I am proud of the determination I have shown to make this dream my reality. Several people have told me I am incredibly tenacious and they would have given up by now especially knowing our time in Florida is limited. I am beyond excited to be back in my husband and I’s home state for the next few years as we are just over an hour from our hometown and will be able to live a semi normal life with family. Having missed the last five years of family events and celebrations, I cannot put into words how grateful I am to be home. Even if it is only temporary.