In this episode of Mixing Up Success, Dani sits down with longtime friend, fellow baker, and trusted community staple Nikki Smith of East Fork Baking Company.

Nikki runs a solo, home-based bakery in Hood River, Oregon, and has quietly become the baker everyone calls when they need a last-minute cake, a calm voice during a baking crisis, or a dessert that truly delivers. From weddings and custom cakes to wholesale pastries, fruit stand granola, and community collaborations, Nikki’s business is a masterclass in building something sustainable, flexible, and deeply rooted in real life.

Together, Dani and Nikki reflect on what it looks like to grow a bakery without a storefront, how baking can be both creative therapy and a livelihood, and why success doesn’t have to mean “more” in the traditional sense.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• Growing up in ingredient-based kitchens and baking as a form of meditation
• Turning a hobby into a business—slowly and intentionally
• Word-of-mouth marketing and the power of community trust
• Weddings, wholesale, and custom orders as different customers, not just different products
• Choosing a home-based commercial kitchen over a retail storefront
• Efficiency, margins, and pricing when you don’t track time neatly
• Delivery systems, boundaries, and designing workflows that support family life
• Creativity burnout, impostor syndrome, and leaning into your personal style
• Why it’s okay for a baking business to evolve—or stay a hobby
• Advice for new bakers finding their footing

This episode is a reminder that baking businesses don’t need to look the same to be successful. Sometimes the win is flexibility, community, and loving the work enough to keep going.

Connect with Nikki / East Fork Baking Company:
Website: https://eastforkbakingco.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eastforkbakingco/

If this episode resonated with you, share it with a baker who needs to hear that they’re not doing it “wrong”—they’re just building something that fits their life.