In August of 2007, Sarah married her best friend Tim. In the months leading up to the big day, she worked hard to make her dream wedding come to life. All of the wedding vendors provided the best options to fit within Sarah’s design and budget…except the wedding cake baker. The consultation was a battle from the beginning to the end; the baker did not agree with the design or the color of the cake (mind you: it was a cake designed by Sylvia Weinstock who happens to be one of the best cake decorators in the world!). At the wedding reception, the cake was a nightmare in both design and taste. It was apparent that the baker did not possess the proper skills to make a great wedding cake.
Ever the person looking to shake up the scene, Sarah began to experiment with cake decorating and found that she had a natural gift. She recruited her sister, Mackensie, to help bake and promote the business. Thus, Confections of a Cake Lover began in the Fall of 2008!
The sisters created many confections for the New Hampshire and New York area but soon they went their separate ways. In 2011, Mackensie bowed out of the business to focus on her studies at Albany Law School in upstate New York. In 2012, Sarah moved with Tim and their daughter, Abi, to Meadville, Pennsylvania, where Tim took a position as an assistant professor of chemistry at Allegheny College. Sarah decided to continue with the business and opened her doors on Market Street in December of 2012.
COVID was a hard time for many businesses looking to survive the global shutdown. We at Confections changed our business model to adapt to those trying times; we provided delivery, curbside pickup, and (most importantly) shipping. Progressively, it was apparent that we outgrew our space on Market Street due to the demand of our shipped sugar cookies. After a week of searching within a 5 mile radius, we found the perfect spot right in the heart of downtown Meadville: Chestnut Street! We quadrupled our space which led to a doubling of services, doubling of profits, and doubling of staff.
Back when Sarah and Mackensie first started to toy around with the idea of an at-home bakery business, they posted a business-naming contest on Facebook. There were some wonderful ideas but they ultimately decided on “Confections of a Cake Lover”. This name was suggested by Mackensie’s good friend, Emily Shwajlyk, who is an avid reader of romance novels!
When thinking of the term “Confections of a Cake Lover”, confections is a play on the word confessions. Sarah started to imagine a woman tearfully spilling her soul. Images made by pop art painter Roy Lichtenstein came to mind! Sarah worked with her good friend from high school, Mike Lomanto, and came up with this color and design scheme. It was also important to keep with a more gender-neutral design, which is why blue and yellow are two of the primary colors.
Originally from Gloversville, New York, Sarah began her career as a middle school science and mathematics teacher after graduating from St. Lawrence University. She has 5 years of teaching experience in the southern Adirondack Mountains and in western New Hampshire. She even went so far as to enroll in an educational doctoral program. Her focus shifted to cake decorating when she took two years off from teaching to become a stay-at-home mother. She identifies herself foremost as a cake artist because she believes that what she creates is, in fact, edible art! She resides in Meadville with her husband, daughter, and three cats.
Debbie is our newest employee to the mix but she is blossoming exponentially in her decorating skills! She is from central California but her father is from Guys Mills! She moved out to PA in 2009 to be with her family and found employment as a church secretary and then made her way into foodservice at Making Memories Catering. She is currently at Maplewood High School as a lunchlady and works at Confections a few days a week after school. She has two daughters, two sons, one stepdaughter, and is a grandmother of 3 babies! She currently lives in Guys Mills with her husband and enjoys backpacking, hiking, paddleboarding, kayaking, and anything outdoors!
What can we say about Seth? Simply put: he's awesome. Seth is a graduate of Cambridge Springs & Crawford County Career and Technical Center. During his CCCT internship at Confections, he was joined by his deaf interpreter (Dom) to immerse Seth in a workforce experience via the Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR). After his second day working at Confections, Sarah knew that he would be a perfect fit! Once his internship was complete, he was offered a job as our primary baker. If you ask him what his favorite job is at CCL, it would be washing the dishes (just kidding!). He is a avid "gamer" and brings his Nintendo Switch to work everyday so that he can play during his lunch break. He is also a huge fan of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers!
Chloe is a native of Meadville! She attended Meadville High School & Crawford County Career and Technical Center before heading to IUP for Pastry. Her externship at Confections in the fall of 2023 led to a permanent job as assistant culinary artist. She is well versed in cookie, cupcake, and cake baking/decorating and loves to flex her pastry chef muscles with other unique desserts. She started Confection's Fresh Pasta Friday program and has begun to build our "fancy" menu consisting of delicacies such as panna cotta, mousse cups, eclairs, etc. She lives at home with her parents, sister, grandmother, and 5 cats/2 dogs. She is also a huge lover of all things Bob's Burgers.
A Titusville native, Mandi is relatively new in the foodservice industry but has proven to be a very important asset to the the Confections cru. She is trained in the medical field which has given her a great baseline of organization, documentation, customer interaction, etc. which are all skills that are critical in the everyday flow of a bakery. A jack-of-all-trades, she is able to do pretty much everything in the bakery: make frostings, flood cookies, decorate cupcakes, make fondant pieces, bake, etc. She also keeps us posted on all TikTok trends/drama and loves to divulge in celebrity gossip with Sarah. Margaritas are her kryptonite. She lives in the area with her husband and two children as well as two dogs and two cats.
Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Melissa has been in the foodservice industry for over 15 years having worked and managed at Taco Bell and Tim Hortons. She loves getting creative with cupcakes and mastering the art of royal icing. Her specialty is in cookie decorating, particularly ones best suited for bachelorette parties--"If a cookie can make you laugh, then I've done my job". Making things at the bakery that brings other people joy is the best part of her day.
