Jessica Kostelecky is a regular face at a local business. Customers often hear her shout “Welcome in” and “I’ll be right up” from the kitchen as she busily makes someone’s special event cake. As a single mom of two young girls, juggling tasks comes naturally to Jessica.

Jessica’s first exposure to baking was with her mom at age 5 when she was allowed to help put buttercream icing on a cousin’s birthday cake. “I can still remember the sound of my mom’s patient voice,” said Jessica. “Her guiding my spatula around the rim of the bowl while I licked my fingers and waited for the mixers.” It was these moments that helped fuel Jessica’s love of cake decorating; she learned the trade while spending time with her favorite person, her mom.

At age 35, Jessica became a mom to daughter Kinley (9), and a few years later to daughter Kaelyn (6). Becoming a mother inspired Jessica to live by her favorite motto: “Life’s too short…have your cake and eat it too.” To Jessica that meant starting a cottage bakery from her home kitchen so that she could contribute to the family income and stay home with her growing girls. With continuously unique cake requests, Jessica was able to apply creativity and love to spectacular cakes that honored someone special.

“My favorite thing to celebrate is people’s birthdays,” said Jessica. “What kind of cake someone likes is as unique as how they take their coffee or like their eggs cooked.”

Jessica brings that same distinctive creativity and enthusiasm to Alice + Kate Boutique Bakery, as the business recently expanded its offerings to making custom cakes in a variety of flavors.

On a hot summer day last year, Jessica met the owner Gretchen Harrison, also a mom of two. Kaelyn had lost her first tooth in the car and was crying, so Jessica went into the bakery to get her a treat and instantly fell in love. She shared with Gretchen that she made cakes and would be interested in working there—with the stipulation that she was able to take and pick up her girls from school every day and not work on the weekends. Since Gretchen and Jessica share the sentiment that their children come first, it was an easy concession to make.

Jessica hopes to pass on the love of baking and cake decorating to her girls. “I bake with my girls on a regular basis. We laugh, make messes, turn music on, block out the world and make memories,” she said. “Every Mother’s Day the girls make a cake for me. So, on that special day, I receive the gift that I make for so many others throughout the year, and I feel loved.”

 

 

 

By Sara Goodwin; photos courtesy of Jessica Kostelecky