Sugar & Meringue

I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be able to do this interview. Cheryl Day, owner of Back in the Day Bakery, is a very accomplished baker. Her cupcakes have been voted the best in the country. She's been in several magazines, the New York Times, and even appeared on the Paula Deen Show. Located in Savannah, Georgia, her bakery is a tourist destination.

It has that vintage/retro/shabby chic look and feel that I absolutely adore. I've wanted to visit Savannah for a long time and if I ever do get to go there, her bakery will be the first place I go! It's so sooo kind of her to take the time to answer my questions about starting a bakery business and to allow me to share them with you. It all began with an easy bake oven.

I am a newly-wed and own a bakery with my husband in Savannah, GA. I have the best job in the world, and I'm on a path to discovering the people who share my passion for life, learning, baking, and growing as a person. I love everything about baking and the fascination with what you can do with a few simple ingredients.

It is impossible to measure the happiness I bring to others on a daily basis and the joy it brings me in return. Baking from scratch is a lost art and I am determined to carry on the tradition of baking from the heart. So, it all began with an Easy Bake oven (the best toy ever!) Do you remember anything special that you made with your Easy Bake, The "Baby cake" that I make was inspired by my early days of baking with my easy bake oven.

I read that your grandma and your mom taught you how to bake. Do you have any special memories of baking with them that you’d like to share, I lost my mom at an early age, so baking is all about memories for me. What did you do before you opened your bakery,

Did you go to college, If so, what did you study, Did you always dream of having a bakery, What lead to the decision to open Back in the Day Bakery, I owned a mini department store with my sister. We sold everything from trendy womens & childrens clothing, furntiure, apothecary all decorated in a very vintage shabby chic kind of way.

I did go to college, but I dropped out when my mom passed away. I am a self taught baker. I did not go to a fancy pastry school. Whenever I have a challenge in the kitchen, I'll say I suppose I would have learned that in pastry school. I was always the one to bring dessert to the party, but none of my friends actually paid me to do it.

So I never really thought of it as a career choice, I have always enjoyed feeding people. It is still amazing that I get paid to do it now. I’m interested in knowing what was going on in your life about six months to a year before you opened the bakery and then what life was like that first year after the bakery opened.

I was in retail and NOT loving it. I loved the customer service aspect and meeting new people, but I was at a point in my life that I was determined to become the person I always wanted to be. That was running some sort of food related business. My husband and my sister encouraged me to take the leap of faith and my husband took it with me.

We started researching like crazy, testing recipes, looking for packaging and thinking of what we wanted our place to feel like. Of course keep in mind, I was still a "Home" baker and what I would soon discover was that there was a BIG difference. My friend & mentor Jane owned the best bakery in Atlanta and she consulted with us (Money well spent) and came to help us make the transition from home bakers to running a professional bakery.