About Me

Baking Sweet Memories began long before I sold my first wedding cake.

My cake journey started in 1992, when I moved to Isleham, near Ely, England. While living there, I met an older English cake artist named Phil, who cared for his seriously ill wife and created remarkable works of art from cake. One day, I saw him carrying a three-dimensional dinosaur to a child's birthday party. I did not realize it was a cake until I asked him about it.

That conversation changed the direction of my life.

Phil offered to teach me his craft because he wanted to pass it on to someone. For about a year, I spent three days a week learning traditional English cake decorating, often bringing my young son with me. He taught me royal icing, fondant, pastillage flowers, sculpted cakes, fruitcake preparation, and the purpose behind each technique. We used simple tools, patience, and careful attention to detail.

When I returned to the United States in 1995, I went back to working in my family's business repairing arcade games and installing pay phones. That business taught me lessons that would later become the foundation of Baking Sweet Memories: treat every person with respect, conduct business honestly, charge fairly, and build relationships that benefit everyone involved.

One of those lessons came from a man named Hugh, whose family owned Edwards Theatres. He first visited our shop dressed modestly and driving an older car, because he wanted to see how he would be treated. We treated him the way we treated everyone. That meeting led to years of work installing and maintaining arcade games and pay phones in theatres across California, Idaho, and Texas. Never judge a customer by appearance, and never take advantage of someone. Integrity matters even when no one is watching.

In 2000, I moved to Texas and began looking for a new direction that would let me spend more time with my children. Cell phones were quickly replacing pay phones, and I knew it was time to build something new.

That December, I entered a large cake decorating competition using the English techniques I had learned years earlier. My three-dimensional cake earned a runner-up placement among hundreds of entries. That gave me the confidence to turn a passion into a business. I named the company Baking Sweet Memories, started building a website, and sold my first wedding cake the following spring.

Over the years, I became part of many families' most important celebrations. Wedding cakes, birthday cakes, graduation cakes, milestone cakes. Some customers came back year after year, and I made cakes for their children from early birthdays through graduations and weddings.

That is where the name Baking Sweet Memories truly came to life.

Today it is built on the same values that shaped it from the beginning: craftsmanship, honesty, hospitality, fairness, and care. My goal is not simply to sell cakes and pastries. It is to create a place where people feel welcome, celebrations feel special, and memories are made around food prepared with purpose.

From a small town in England, to a family business, to a Texas bakery, every chapter has shaped what Baking Sweet Memories is today.