Savalina Starts

How have I never explained how I found myself the owner of a baking business? We are going to fix that. Right. Now.
So I guess there’s two parts to this – starting a business, plus how I got into baking in the first place.

Let’s start with the baking. I started dabbling in the kitchen as a kid, the way many of us did – a boxed mix and a little supervision from Mom or Dad. Much of it was good – those boxes really are designed to make things easy. But! There were also memorable errors! Like the time I tried to make powdered sugar because we didn’t have any… my dad had to tell eight-year-old me that he actually preferred a little grit in chocolate frosting. (Thanks, Pop, love you!) Around the same age, I also fondly remember baking at a friend’s house – her mom always gave us each a spoon of brown sugar to savor as we worked. Ah, if I close my eyes I’m back in that little kitchen in Oklahoma.

The decision to bake from scratch didn’t really set in till many, many years later, when the Big came along. We were those parents. We read the books, we bought the ‘in’ swaddle blankets, we recorded her every move. Yep, we were the ones who tasted the baby food (that I of course made by hand in tiny batches) and sampled a drop of the liquid vitamins she adored because I was adamant that we should know what she’s eating.

That also meant no more box mixes – I didn’t want to feed my kids ingredients I couldn’t pronounce! It didn’t help that someone told me that artificial raspberry flavoring came from the anal gland of a beaver and that red dye came from beetles. I know the dye one is real. The beaver one, I dunno but how gross! Just to be safe, I banned artificial flavors or colors in my kitchen.

That’s when I started baking. And cooking, really – I have this marvelous friend Lindsay. She shared some amazing recipes as we navigated toddler life . I still swear by some of the recipes she gave me! Anyway, I started out with chocolate chip cookies, and branched out from there.

A couple years later, when I was pregnant with the Little, I had a serious craving for pound cake. In retrospect, what I really wanted was shortbread. Somehow I rationalized that pound cake would be healthier, hah! I made my first pound cake, and it was terrible! My beloved New Best Recipe cookbook had failed me. I read more to figure out what went wrong and to search for a cake that would fill my craving. With every bake, I sent the rejects to work with the Husband. His colleagues came to ask, Hey, is your wife baking this week? This when I first heard the comment that I should sell my baked goods.

Fast forward a few years and a few moves – each time we had friends and the Husband’s coworkers suggest I sell my wares. It was 2016 and we had just moved to our current house near Chicago. When one of the Husband’s colleagues said, hey she should sell this, I guess I was just ready to hear it. 

With the Little in pre-K, it suddenly seemed reasonable to consider work that wasn’t mom or wife related. Plus bespoke baking fit my life perfectly – baking to order allowed me to keep my focus on my family and pushed me to grow and learn in a way that paid for itself and perhaps even a little extra. Shortly after I started entertaining this suggestion, I found myself chatting about it at an event with a new friend. By the end of the night, I had my very first order and Savalina Sweets was born!

Over the next few months and countless FB message marathons, Gina, the Husband and I discussed a business name and what we wanted things to look like. Then, my ability to make friends easily came in handy: a buddy in Missouri designed our logo and a local lawyer friend helped me set up the legal side of things. By the beginning of 2017, Savalina Sweets was official!

In the time since I embarked on this crazy adventure, I’ve kept pretty true to my plan – my menu is limited to recipes I feel really good about. I say no to things I don’t want to do (ick, fondant), and I know that limits the opportunities I’m gonna get. But really, I’m ok with that. My family life still comes first. I cover my expenses and earn enough to network and experiment with new recipes. And I definitely don’t eat ALL the cake anymore!

Best of all – I’ve really pushed way outside my comfort zone and worked at something new and a little unnerving. If I fail, or if I quit, I’ve shown the kids what it is to try. In the meantime, I think I’ll go have a cookie….and some bourbon!