Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Arakken.
Emily, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My story with cake honestly started way before I ever thought of it as a career. I was twelve years old, and my mom was taking Wilton cake decorating classes. She’d come home with all this equipment, piping tips, turntables, fondant tools, and I just couldn’t resist getting my hands on it. What started as me messing around with her supplies turned into something I genuinely fell in love with. Pretty soon I was making cakes and cupcake combos for every friend’s birthday and holidays.
After about two years of doing this just for fun, I got my first real order. It was a two tiered cake and 100 individually wrapped chocolate covered strawberries. I remember that day like it was yesterday, because that’s the moment my hobby officially became Emily’s Baked Bakery. Looking back, that was the first real turning point for me. It was the moment I realized this wasn’t just something I loved, it was something I could actually build a future around.
Four years later came a defining moment that truly shaped me as a baker. I landed my first job at a professional bakery, where I started at the very bottom, icing 10,000 cupcakes a day. It was humbling, it was repetitive, it was exhausting, but it taught me discipline and consistency in a way nothing else could have. I worked my way up from there, position by position, until I earned a spot on the wedding team. Which is the highest role you can reach in a custom bakery. That’s where I truly learned to perfect my craft, not just how to decorate, but how to problem solve under pressure, manage timelines for events that couldn’t be redone, and really understand what it takes to run a bakery from the inside out. Every skill I use today traces right back to what I learned on that wedding team.
A few years after that, I made the decision to go all in on Emily’s Baked Bakery myself, and that became the biggest turning point of my whole career. Today I’m running the business completely solo, handling anywhere from 100 to 200 custom orders a week. Every single one is unique to the person it’s made for, nothing is templated. For me, it’s never just been about the cake itself, it’s about creating a full experience. Cake is such a huge part of how people celebrate life’s biggest moments, and at the end of the day, people will always remember the cake.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Honestly? No, it has not been smooth at all. And I think anyone who tells you running a business is easy is just sugar coating it.
In the beginning, building clientele was rough. You can be really good at what you do, but if nobody knows you exist, it doesn’t matter. It took a lot of time, a lot of consistency, and a lot of word of mouth before people actually started trusting me with something as personal as their celebrations.
Then there’s the actual business side of things, and nobody really prepares you for that part. I had to teach myself time management from scratch. How to prep properly, how to fulfill orders without burning myself out the week of a big event, how to actually pace myself. That’s a whole different skill than baking and decorating, and I had to learn it the hard way.
Since everything I make is custom, there’s also room for miscommunication. Sometimes what’s in my head doesn’t perfectly match what’s in the client’s head, and that’s just the nature of creating something so personal. Something as small as a shade of color being slightly off can completely change the feel of an order, and in this industry, the little things are everything. It’s taught me to slow down, ask more questions upfront, and really make sure we’re aligned before I ever start creating. Custom work means there’s no room for guessing, and honestly, that attention to detail is what makes the final product so special.
But if I’m being completely honest, the biggest struggle has been work life balance. Funny enough, I left the 6 to 2 bakery shift because I didn’t want to work someone else’s hours, and somehow I ended up working for myself 24/7 instead. When you’re doing this solo, you’re not just the baker. You’re the social media manager, the bookkeeper, the customer service rep, the person packing every box. It’s all on you, all the time, and there’s no clocking out. It pushed me to get really intentional with my time, and now I genuinely feel like I give my best to my clients while still making time for myself, and honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Looking back, I’m genuinely thankful for every one of these struggles. There’s nothing that shapes you more than experience, and every hard moment along the way has made me better at what I do and more sure of why I do it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Emily’s Baked Bakery?
I specialize in custom cakes and desserts for any and every event, with a real focus on birthdays and weddings. My work ranges from custom cakes and cupcakes to full dessert tables, chocolate covered treats, and mini desserts, anything that brings a celebration together.
What sets me apart, I believe, is the experience itself. Detail is everything in this business, down to the smallest design element, and I treat every order with that level of care. On top of that, when you work with me, you’re speaking directly with the person creating your cake. That kind of personal connection isn’t something you typically get from a traditional bakery, and it makes a real difference. You’re not just placing an order, you’re collaborating with the artist behind it.
Brand wise, I’m proud of all of it, the custom work, the dessert tables, the relationships I’ve built with clients. But more than anything, I’m proud that I continue to grow every single day. Cake trends are constantly evolving and changing, and staying ahead of that, learning new techniques, new styles, new ideas, keeps this business and my craft from ever becoming static. I’m growing right alongside it.
At the end of the day, I want people to walk away knowing this brand is about more than dessert, it’s about the moment it’s made for. Every cake represents a real moment in someone’s life, and I take that responsibility seriously. From the first conversation to the final delivery, every client gets a fully personalized, one on one experience with me from start to finish. My goal is always the same, to make sure the dessert table is something people remember just as much as the celebration itself.
What does success mean to you?
Honestly, I don’t think there’s one definition of success. It’s personal, it’s different for everyone. Some people chase money, some chase recognition, but for me, success has always been simpler than that, it’s proof that you can build a life around something you’re genuinely passionate about.
Success is being able to wake up every single day and do what I love. Don’t get me wrong, on busy weeks I joke with my friends that I’m in cake hell, but in all honesty, I wouldn’t change a single part of it. I built everything I have from the ground up, with my own two hands, and when things get overwhelming, I remind myself that this is exactly what I used to pray for.
To me, success isn’t a finish line, it’s continuing to grow. It’s deepening the roots I’ve already planted in this community and building on what I’ve already created. I think I’m successful right now, genuinely, but I also believe the best is still ahead of me. There’s levels to everything, and I’ve still got a long way to go.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilysbakedbakery
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BfHxtfBvr/?mibextid=wwXIfr
