First Blog Post!

Alright, so here goes! I am not much of a "writer" at all...but I've had a few people tell me that I should start a weekly blog in addition to my website www.countrygirlcakes.org, so I thought I'd give it a shot :) Basically what I thought I would do, is to write a blog each week, featuring either one of our favourite cakes from the week before, a new fav recipe or something new and exciting coming up in the world of Country Girl Cakes! If there's something you would like to see us talk about, don't hesitate to ask! We're always up for something new :)

For our first blog, I thought I would start by introducing myself and the company. So to start, my name is Miranda Kenney-Pellett, and I am the owner of Country Girl Cakes. Country Girl Cakes is located in Cardinal, Ontario - a small community on the beautiful St. Lawrence River, just 45 minutes south of Canada's capital, Ottawa! Country Girl Cakes started just over 2 years ago, when my "hobby" of cake decorating started turning into more of a local business (much to my surprise). The name was based on the fact that, well, I'm a country girl at heart :)

 I've lived in Cardinal for the majority of my 26 years, with the exception of 6 years spent in Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario, where I attended Wilfrid Laurier University, graduating with a degree in Psychology. After 6 years in the city, I knew the country was where I needed to be :)

After doing cakes out of the basement in my house for a year, we decided that we needed to start thinking about the possibility of opening a retail location, but weren't too serious about looking for anything as we weren't really busy enough to cover such finances as overhead, utilities, etc. We attended the Ottawa Bridal Show in Spring 2011 as a vendor for the first time (which was mind blowing to say the least), and after booking 20+ wedding cakes at that show alone, we knew it was the right time. That weekend after we unpacked the vehicle from the show, we called up our real estate agent, and bought a commercial building a few days later. We now call that commercial building, the home of Country Girl Cakes :)

We had our grand opening here at the shop July 31st, 2011, where we had a large group from both the community and surrounding areas show up for a great BBQ, lots of cupcakes, and a ribbon cutting ceremony, which was attended by our local mayor, MP, MPP and a representative from GCFDC! It was a very proud moment in my life, as I NEVER expected to be someone opening up a business, let alone a cake decorating business. We accomplished a lot in a little amount of time, and life has been a whirlwind ever since!

We were featured on the SLICE network's Cake Walk:Wedding Cake Challenge in September 2011 in the second episode titled: "Shakespearean Masquerade" ! It was one of the most stressful moments of my entire life, but as I tell everyone who asks, I would do it again in a heartbeat! We didn't win the overall prize of $5000, but we did win the taste-test portion of the competition, and being someone who prides herself on the taste of her cakes, that was just as important to me as winning the overall prize :)

It's been a year since our grand opening and Country Girl Cakes is busier than ever. In 2012, so far we have created over 40 wedding cakes, with 28+ wedding cakes still to make this year! We've recently hired our first part-time employee, which was SO exciting :) I never thought I would be so busy that I would need help from someone who wasn't my mom or husband. We now offer cake decorating birthday parties, decorating classes and much more! Everything just seems like a dream, like something I only ever thought about while sitting in a lecture hall at University day dreaming, something I thought only happens to the lucky people in the world, but I guess I am one of those lucky people! I have been so blessed to have been constantly surrounded by amazingly supportive friends, family and a local community, who would refuse to let me give up on my dream. Who were always there and still are, when I think I can't go on, when I'm too stressed to finish a cake, or when times are slow. It's those people, it's YOU, that keep me going and that will keep me going in this cake shop. When someone comes in to pick up their birthday cake, and I see the smile on their face, THAT is what keeps me coming back everyday. I absolutely LOVE my job :)

Stay Tuned in the coming weeks for more Cakes From the Country!
Miranda xoxo