SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — A Shreveport woman has turned her passion for baking hyper-realistic cakes into a way to make extra income.
Katerina Wiggins is the founder of Sunflour Bakery in Shreveport. As something that started as a way to make some extra cash on the side, it has grown into a full business. Wiggins is just one of many Americans who has created a “side hustle” to generate more income since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now that “side hustle” has turned into a full business.
“I officially started my business in May of this year,” Wiggins said.
Before that, Wiggins was just making cakes on the side for family and a few outside customers.
She began watching YouTube videos to learn to how to make and decorate hyper-realistic cakes. Wiggins said her customers usually send her an inspiration picture, but she still puts a lot of thought into the cakes she makes.
“I just really taught myself, I watched YouTube videos over and over, that’s really how it started,”
Wiggins’s passion started out of a crisis when her mother’s friend, A’Seneque Lane, saw her previous work and knew she had to have Wiggins make her wedding cake.
“I knew then I needed her to make my wedding cake and I wasn’t even engaged yet, her work was tremendous and I was blown away by the first cake,” Lane said.
Baking the cakes is just one part of the business, Wiggins is able to create cakes that make people question “is it a box or is it a cake.” One of her favorite cakes she has made thus far is the Amazon package because of the reactions she got from people.
Wiggins even made one for the KTAL/KMSS team that looked like a package of ground beef.
While she still has a full-time job, is now a female business owner with plans to grow her business. Wiggins hopes to open a physical brick-and-mortar shop in the future as her bakery grows.
“I felt like being a woman, it was easier because when you think of a baker, you don’t necessarily associate bakers with men,” Wiggins said.
According to the St. Louis Federal Reserve, citizens working multiple jobs in the United States increased from four percent of the working population to nearly five percent in June of 2022. For Wiggins, the money is good, but she looks at it as a passion first and another source of income second.
Between her full-time job and her bakery business, Wiggins has big hopes for the future.
You can check out her work on her Facebook page.
