The sweet little bumblebees swirling around a birthday cake for a one-year-old catapulted Misty Walker into a new world of creativity.
Walker thought about purchasing the little bees online to add to the cake. The Blissful Bakery owner doesn't like shortcuts, though. She's carved out a reputation for making entire cakes from scratch.
The specialty custom order came from parents, who are beekeepers. A birthday cake with bees and honeycomb -- plus a little smash cake for the birthday child -- would be perfect, Walker decided.
So she created the little bees out of icing. With a perfectly created honeycomb look, the cakes came together.
Those details -- in addition to her real-life passion for creating cakes -- fuels the fire to help others celebrate with one-of-a-kind bakery designs.
Her family supports her creativity. "They say, 'It's cake time for mom!'" she said, laughing.
Walker, who also owns a cleaning business, is taking classes at the Crowder College-Jane campus. She and her husband have a blended family, with six children. Her busy schedule is filled with various activities, class, work and home life. The bakery confections offer her a respite in her newly remodeled kitchen.
"Sometimes, I will go into the kitchen to make a cake and it will be 5 o'clock. I'll get so busy that when I look up, it's 10:30 already."
Family First
Walker and her husband, Paul, are committed to their family. Together, they have two 19-year-olds, two 17-year-olds, an 11-year-old and an 8-year-old.
Walker first made her career in accounting, but juggling family responsibilities became challenging. She began her own cleaning company, Kingdom Kleaning, and launched her home-based Blissful Bakery in Anderson, so she could adjust her schedule.
The career change has allowed her a lot of flexibility to help others and balance her family-work life. She enjoys bringing happiness to others through her bakery confections.
"It's a passion of mine," she said.
Walker painstakingly creates her cakes from scratch. She prefers her homemade buttercream icing to fondant, which she rarely uses. "I taste everything," she said. "I take pride in what I do."
She decorates and ices cakes, bringing them to life as a multi-colored slime cake, a farm-themed cake, a beautiful cactus graduation cake and more.
This week, she has to make three birthday cakes, a wedding cake and five dozen wedding cupcakes.
Her bakery business has grown leaps and bounds, mainly through word of mouth. Many people taste her cakes at functions and parties and then reach out to her for a custom order.
The moistness of the cake -- in addition to her icing -- makes her customers devour and delight in the deliciousness.
"A person told me, 'I don't even like icing, but I like yours.'"
Another customer, celebrating her 80th birthday, thought the flowers on her cake were real, she said.
Her line of goodies extends to cheesecakes, including a pecan pie cheesecake and a salted caramel cappuccino cheesecake, which she said is divine.
"I call it my dynamic duo," she said, laughing.
The self-taught baker and cake creator enjoys making cobblers and breads as well, though cheesecakes and specialty cakes top her schedule this time of year.
Her family supports her endeavors. Her 8-year-old daughter is super creative and has helped her with different ideas, she said.
In between all of this, Walker is taking classes and hopes to start nursing school next year.
"I have a heart for helping people, to be compassionate and to empathize," she said. "When I was growing up, my dad and I used to play music and sing at the senior center. I like helping others."
Walker hopes to continue baking cakes even after she enters the nursing field. She believes she'll still make time to create beautiful cakes for others. Her career -- whether as a nurse or a baker -- can help brighten someone's day.
"I want to be the light for someone."
General News on 11/28/2019