Katie Stymiest has been baking since she was a young girl — but it wasn't until she was a new mom in Fort St. John that she really started to hone her cake craft.
"I just started baking so I could put her on her chair in the kitchen and we could do it together. ... And it just turned into something I love to do," she tells PrinceGeorgeMatters. "That was seven years ago, and now I have two more daughters, who are five and three."
After years of making cakes for family friends, friends and friends of friends, Stymiest finally decided to pursue a business in 2016. She began taking orders online and baking at home.
She says she loves that it allows her to balance work and family.
"My two oldest are in school so I do cakes in the morning, and until pickup from school, I do prep and stuff, and then am able to be a mom when they get home. I make three to four cakes a week, and a couple dozen cupcakes and cookies a week. I think, overall, I've made about 100 cakes."
The self-taught baker adds she enjoys making cake because it adds to the happiness of a special occasion.
"I love that when there's cake involved, it's usually a celebration and it's a gathering of friends and family. I love that, in a small way, I get to be part of that."
Stymiest says that some of her favourite cakes to make have been for her family's Sunday dinners.
She envisions bringing the heavenly aromas of her home to her very own storefront bakery.
"Where, when you open up the doors, it smells like warm butter and vanilla," she says. "And then you could get pastries and bread, and get a piece of cake and read a book with coffee."
Prince George Faces is an occasional feature PrinceGeorgeMatters does, featuring people we meet in the community in random ways. If you know someone who has a story, email us at info@princegeorgematters.com.
— Jordan Tucker is a freelance writer for PrinceGeorgeMatters
