About

I remember being interested in both cooking and baking as a young child. My mother raised 4 children in the 1960s – a time when sitting down as a family and eating a home-cooked meal was the norm – eating out was a rarity and a very special occasion! She had an array of recipes that she would rotate through – and was always eager to try new ones that she found in the newspaper, or that friends shared with her. And there was ALWAYS a home-made dessert to be found on the counter, in the frig, or coming out of the oven as I came home from school! These are such fond and warm memories – that have followed me and inspired me as I grew up, left home, and raised my own 3 children. I am now a grandmother to 3 little ones – and already my greatest joy is passing down that legacy!!

For the last 28 years, my title in the “real world” has been that of Fertility Nurse. Yes, I make babies!! While it has been an incredibly rewarding career for sure, it has not tapped into my creative nature. I had been cooking and entertaining over the years, and found that my passion was truly rooted in baking – cake to be specific. So in 2012 – I decided to open a small baking business which I called the Elegantly Sweet Shoppe. I took a class to become a “food service manager”, set up a website, and began baking out of a commercial kitchen in my spare time. During the next 4 years, I made hundreds of cakes, and probably thousands of cupcakes! I made cakes every week for a local Italian restaurant, Dabaffone Cucina Italiana. My cakes welcomed babies, celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings, and became that memorable final course at a restaurant. Who could ask for more?

I’m at a point in my life again where it’s time for a change. I gave up the baking “business”, as we decided to sell our home, and downsize as we move toward our retirement years. We found an amazing home in a beautiful new community here in Tennessee.

I plan to write a cookbook in the future, but for now, I want to continue sharing my passion and recipes through blogging. The purpose of a recipe, after-all, is to be shared, and I think this is a great platform to do just that! I hope to share what my mother instilled in me about the skill and value of cooking from scratch, as well as recipes I’ve found, modified and created over the years. I also hope to share my love of cake baking and decorating, revealing all of the recipes and techniques that helped to make my baking business a success!

So I dedicate this to my Mom – the inspiration behind it all!