Brittney Grant found her calling in cakes.

“It’s just who I am,” Grant said.

Specifically, she loves creating the ideas for wedding, special occasion and birthday cakes and then following through by baking and decorating them.

“You can never really master cake decorating,” Grant said. “There’s always something new coming out.”

The 28-year-old is always pushing herself to learn more and try new things in terms of design elements.

At the beginning, she used YouTube videos to learn her craft. Now, she attends classes to learn how to make decorations and helps others with her tutorials in Cake Central magazine. 

Her skills have gotten her some recognition, too. Recently, Grant competed in the inaugural Northeast Georgia Cupcake War at Walters Barn. She placed second.

That’s quite an accomplishment for a woman who has only been in the bakery business for five years. She has accomplished a lot in that time frame, building her business, Sweetly Baked, from the ground up with some influence from her parents.

Her parents, Denise and Len Dale have always been in the restaurant business. They own Quillian’s Grill off Cleveland Highway in Gainesville. That’s where Grant got her start.

After graduating with a nursing degree in 2010 and working in a doctor’s office for 18 months, the young woman felt unfulfilled. Plus, she wanted to spend more time with her newborn son.

So, Grant switched from nursing to working at the family restaurant, which opened five years ago. She focused her attention on baking, especially when the restaurant started receiving requests for specialty cakes such as birthday cakes. Most bakeries only made buttercream cakes, Grant said.

The bakery business boomed.

Now, Grant splits her time between the bakery and Quillian’s Grill. Part of her daily work includes making desserts for the grill, and the rest is parceled out to Sweetly Baked.

On Sundays, she shops for ingredients. Some of her ingredients come from specialty shops on Amazon that she can’t find in stores, such as disco dust and edible photographs. But for normal baking items, she visits grocery stores such as Aldi and Walmart.

“I like to hit them all in one day, and it takes several hours,” Grant said.

On Mondays and Tuesdays, Grant bakes and freezes cakes. Fridays and Saturdays are reserved for assembling and delivering them. She meets with clients for tastings and bookings as her schedule allows.

But her favorite days are Wednesdays and Thursdays — the days she decorates.

Her favorite she’s made to date is a three-tiered gold, blue and purple geode or gem cake.

“I’m really proud of the cake,” Grant said. “It is near and dear to my heart.”

She first made it in February.

“The fashion and the cake industry go hand in hand,” Grant said. “Geodes were big this year, and we wanted to make a cake that had geodes in it.”

Intern Becca Foote of Clermont helped her brainstorm the idea and create it. Then it was shared on social media.

Actor Ashton Kutcher shared the photo of Grant’s cake on his social media page, which she believes is how the Food Network found her.

Grant shared her recipe and a step-by-step tutorial of how to make the geode cake on Cake Central magazine’s website this month. This connection led to an audition for the Food Network’s “Holiday Baking Championship” at the beginning of this year. She didn’t make the cut.

Despite not winning a spot on the show, her success is evident. Her calendar is filled eight to 12 weeks out.

“My first opening is in January,” Grant said.

While most of her clientele used to come from the Cleveland area, now her wedding cake bookings are from couples in Atlanta and Athens.

“They can get a cake that’s just as good for way cheaper with me,” Grant said.

 Basic cakes will cost $3 per serving, while elaborately decorated ones cost $5 or more. Her prices usually range from $3.75 to $4.25 a serving.

Plus, she has cake that not everyone else has, Grant said.

“I always create cakes that are unique for them,” she said.

And those elements make her parents proud.

“She gives all the glory to God,” her mother, Denise Dale said, adding her daughter stays grounded with her faith.

For more information, visit www.sweetlybaked.org.