A small, home-based bakery is bringing a personal touch to custom desserts, offering intricately designed cakes, cookies, and sweet treats for both individual and corporate clients. Kelsey’s Creations, founded in 2017, is the passion project of Kelsey Girod, a pastry chef who turned her love for art and baking into a business.

“I’ve always been very artistic,” Girod shared with the Jamaica Observer. “As a child, I loved both art and food and nutrition. Eventually, I found a way to combine them through baking and pastry.”

Her journey into baking began early. At just nine years old she took a children’s baking and cooking course, which sparked a deep interest in the craft.

“I see baking as a way to make art with food, and from very early on I knew this was something I wanted to do,” she said.

Determined to sharpen her skills, Girod pursued professional training at Johnson & Wales University, a renowned school for culinary and pastry arts. Whilst there, she describes it as a transformative experience, giving her the opportunity to travel, intern in Italy, and work alongside experienced chefs. She said the exposure to different styles and techniques helped refine her skills and deepen her understanding of pastry arts. After completing her studies she returned to Jamaica and launched Kelsey’s Creations at the end of 2017. Girod told Sunday Finance that when she returned home she used a few thousand US dollars in savings to purchase essential baking equipment, including tins of various sizes, an airbrush gun, and an edible food printer to help with custom designs. Her first order was a birthday cake for a family member but, looking back, she admits her skills were still developing.

“I can definitely say that cake didn’t look as good as the ones I make now,” she said with a laugh. “There has been a lot of growth over the years.”

Kelsey’s Creations specialises in custom cakes, cookies, and other desserts for a variety of occasions such as birthdays, weddings, and baby showers. It also caters to corporate clients with desserts for anniversaries, client appreciation events, and staff recognition. A popular option for corporate clients is branded cupcakes and cookies, featuring company logos or personalised designs.

“When businesses have a milestone or an event, they often want treats that showcase their brand. We create packaged cookies and cupcakes with custom branding for these events,” she shared.

Like many small businesses, Kelsey’s Creations struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic, experiencing a significant slowdown. Despite the challenges, operations continued, and the business has since seen steady improvement. Managing workload has also been a hurdle as the demands of custom baking can be both physically taxing and time-consuming. In the early stages, taking on too many orders led to burnout, prompting adjustments in scheduling and production to maintain a more sustainable balance. The most rewarding part, however, has been the interactions with customers after an event. Positive feedback, such as expressions of gratitude or surprise at how much they enjoyed the cake, serves as a major source of motivation. Continuing to develop skills remains essential to the growth of Kelsey’s Creations, and baking expos provide valuable learning opportunities. The business has participated in the Sweetheart Bake Expo, an annual event held at Jamaica Pegasus hotel and through which it has competed in the cake decorating competition.

“One year, I won the Cartoon-Inspired Category for a cake based on Old MacDonald, designed around a nursery rhyme theme,” she revealed to the Sunday Finance.

While Kelsey’s Creations still operates from home, she hopes to expand her workspace in the future. Expanding into a shopfront isn’t the main priority for Kelsey’s Creations, however, as most of the work is custom-made. Instead, the focus is on moving into a larger kitchen to accommodate more orders and increase production capacity. She is also interested in collaborating with restaurants and cafés, supplying them with desserts. For Girod, quality is the key focus at Kelsey’s Creations. She believes her small-scale, custom approach allows her to offer a level of detail that larger bakeries may not provide.

“At my level I can focus on the details and provide a higher-quality product — not just in terms of ingredients but also in presentation. Bigger bakeries focus on quantity but I prioritise quality and customisation,” said Girod.

As she continues to refine her craft and build her business Kelsey’s Creations remains focused on delivering beautiful, handcrafted desserts, one cake at a time.