Oh, sweet goodness!
Brookfield’s Hayley Langille baking up success with cake decorating business
Hayley Langille needs to look no further than the comments section on her Facebook page for confirmation that her start-up business last fall was indeed a sweet idea.
Hayley, 30, is the woman behind All Things Cake, a cake decorating business she started in November 2020 and which she currently runs out of her home in Brookfield.
“I think it took off quicker than I thought it would,” says Hayley, whose cool cake creations are earning glowing reviews on social media.
Hayley says her small business was born out of necessity. Following maternity leave after the birth of her second child, she decided not to return to her job as an early childhood educator. Instead, she chose a new career path where she could work from home and look after her children – daughter Ava, 4, and son Luka, 2.
A KNACK FOR BAKING
“I always kind of baked cakes for my family for their birthday but never took it too seriously but I guess the knack was kind of there and I just started thinking, ‘well, what if I just completely dive into it? I wonder what would happen; if I can actually do something with this to make it work?’ I want to be able to stay home with my kids as long as possible,” she says.
Hayley ran a Facebook ad for her business just before Christmas and was overwhelmed by the response she received on social media. For about a week in December she filled orders for up to three cakes a day, cementing her decision to continue with All Things Cake.
“For just starting out I remember being incredibly busy – probably more than I expected,” she says. “That first experience with Christmastime is basically what sort of let me know that this can probably work.”
Hayley accepts pre-orders for cakes for mostly special events such as birthdays and holidays. She also made her first wedding cake in the spring – “a very nervewracking experience,” she laughs.
“I think I got a hundred likes or something on that post which was the most I’ve ever gotten. But everybody’s their own worst critic, so even when I do something I’m kind of picking it apart and I’m like, ‘is it good enough?’ And when you post it and people basically affirm it is good enough, I’m like, ‘okay, I have relief.’”
One of Hayley’s cakes that has piqued the public’s interest is the Galaxy Mirror Glaze Cake – a cool design that one could say is out of this world.
“I really like them actually,” she says. “When I first posted it, I had a ton of people saying they wanted one, so I did a whole bunch at the beginning. It’s different because it’s super shiny and it just looks really cool. It’s different, it’s supposed to look like a planet. It’s the coolest one so far, I think.”
A FAR REACH
Hayley’s creations also have a far reach, as she tells the story of how a woman out west messaged her to ask if she would bake and decorate a cake and deliver it to her mom in the Truro area as a surprise. There was a catch, however: making it on a day’s notice. Hayley accepted, and not surprisingly, pulled it off.
“So her mom ended up leaving a review and it actually made me tear up a little bit,” says Hayley. “Nobody has to leave a review and then to leave a paragraph or two about how much you love it, it felt really nice. Somebody feeling compelled to basically tell you how great it was or how much they appreciate it ... I love hearing from people afterwards. You get the motivation to keep going, to keep getting better.”
To see Hayley’s decorated cakes and to place an order, visit her All Things Cake Facebook page.