Sweetly Designed Confections: Butler County’s local custom bakery
“I had a lot of friends and family asking me to do cookies and cakes for their friends or for their kids’ birthday parties … In 2023, the business just kind of happened.”
Nine years ago, Kayla Ziegler wouldn’t have described herself as a baker. In fact, like many people, she burned much of what she tried to make. Now, she operates a bakery stand and custom cake business, all because she asked herself one question: “Why not try it?”
Starting a business wasn’t Ziegler’s initial goal. She began decorating cakes nine years ago as an artistic outlet.
“I had a really strong artistic background,” she said. “I’ve always liked art and I kind of incorporated that into doing cakes. I started doing them for my daughter when she was one year old.”
She added cookie decorating to her repertoire a few years later in 2020.
Ziegler is entirely self-taught, crediting YouTube and TikTok as her main sources of inspiration.
“I (watched) a lot of YouTube videos when I started doing the cookies back in 2020, because I knew nothing about decorating sugar cookies,” she said.
When Ziegler lost her job, she began baking more frequently.
“I had a lot of friends and family asking me to do cookies and cakes for their friends or for their kids’ birthday parties,” Ziegler said. “In 2023, the business just kind of happened. I was persuaded by a lot of family and friends to do it and jump into it, and I did, and I’m glad I did.”
She now sells her custom cakes and cookies through her Facebook page, Sweetly Designed Confections.
“In my eyes, (the name) has two meanings: sweetly designed, like they’re … sweet confections, and then sweetly designed like they’re cool designs,” she said.
The work isn’t easy; Ziegler spends at least eight hours a day baking or otherwise working on the business, plus time on the weekends.
“I’ll get up at like four o’clock in the morning to try to get some stuff done before I have to get my kids up and ready for school. Then I drop them off, and I come back, and I just keep at it until I’m satisfied with what I’ve done for the day,” she said.
In May, Ziegler added a new element to her business: a roadside bake stand. The pink wooden structure sits at 818 Millville Oxford Rd. and is open most Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Patrons of the bake stand are bound by an honors system – they take an item, fill out the check-out sheet to indicate what they took and either leave cash in a money box or pay virtually via Venmo.
“I was really nervous about (the system), and we have a camera that records when it’s open, but everyone’s been honest,” Ziegler said.
The bake stand is mostly stocked with Ziegler’s own creations, though occasionally her friends will sell their baked goods. Her daughter also makes beaded keychains and bracelets to add to the mix.
“I know I call it the bake stand, but I always have something in there that’s not baked,” Ziegler said. “I try to do different things, things that are just unique in my own little way.”
