Our talented Team

Libby Ryan | owner/cake artist

In 2009, my son wanted a skateboard cake for his birthday, so we searched our tiny town and found few options! I decided that day to make my son’s cake and have never looked back. I posted his skateboard on a {then new} social media platform, Facebook, and quickly had friends asking for orders for their kids as well. What started as a simple cake for my son turned into a great small business for me, and I founded She Makes Cakes. I worked from my home, licensed by the county of SLO. She Makes Cakes allowed me to work from home, managing my own schedule and introduced me to amazing clients in our community.
    
Having worked as a manager in large retail stores for most of my life, I knew how to bring in my customers, but I didn’t know the first thing about baking. Completely self taught, I have waded through YouTube and Craftsy tutorials and hundreds of recipes to make sure that I am always providing an ever evolving and always up to date, awesome product. I am inspired by everything I see, patterns on clothing, artwork, nature—always thinking about how it can fit onto a cake. I specialize in fondant and 3D sculpted cakes, though my favorite thing to design is a "naked" cake. Nothing says “Wow!” like ollalieberries dripping from a fresh baked cake, oozing out of the icing, sliding down the sides and landing in a dollop on top of a pile of fresh berries.

In 2015, at a LuLaRoe party of a fellow mom and former baker, I met Annie Farrell, then owner of Just Baked SLO. Annie and I became friends through the industry and then personally. Having collaborated a few times on cakes and styled shoots, when Annie was looking for someone to take over her business, I jumped at the chance. In July of 2016, She Makes Cakes and Just Baked SLO merged and I have now found my home at Just Baked Cake Studio & Bakery. I have enjoyed the new found retail space and ability to interact with my customers more than I was able to before and also working with an amazing team. Though this was definitely not the path that I thought my life was on, I could not be happier to have stumbled into this place. It has provided so much more for me than the ability to bake for my friends.

I’m a small town girl, growing up here in Creston and graduating from Atascadero High School. I can honestly say, I love where I live and there is nowhere else I’d have rather raised my children. When not in the bakery, you can probably find me watching the kids at football, soccer or baseball as I am an avid sports mom. I am also a very proud Army mom as my son is currently serving our country.

If you find yourself in Paso Robles, please stop by and say hi!

Annie Farrell | founder

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and one of my fondest memories was heading to the wharf in Santa Cruz with my family to fish off the pier. But it wasn't the thrill of reeling in the big one that got me out of bed so early in the morning {believe me, I am not a morning person}, it was the promise of a treat from Marini's Munchies. Of course those pieces of salt water taffy were relished. But the real treat was watching their chocolatier through a window, my face pressed against the glass, as she dipped bon-bons in an endless swirl of tempered chocolate, laying each one on a marble slab to set. "When I grow up, I want to be a candy maker," I would declare to my parents on the windy drive home up Highway 17.

Although I later decided to follow in my parents' footsteps in the printing industry, I never forgot about my childhood dream to work with food. After graduating from college, I worked for an award-winning design firm in San Luis Obispo, and when it was time to move on, I was given a dream opportunity: a job on the line at the Black Cat Bistro in Cambria, CA, one of the top restaurants on the Central Coast.

I eventually left the restaurant to spend more time with my family, and to work with my dad in our family business, but I knew some day, I would return to the food industry. Opening Just Baked SLO in 2010 was the perfect opportunity to do so. I could not be more thrilled with the incredible response our products have received and the way Just Baked has been welcomed into the food and wine community here on the Central Coast.

I love working on wedding cakes, and coming up with new twists for old favorites. There is nothing better than watching someone taste a scratch-baked treat, or see their wedding cake for the first time!

After a job opportunity presented itself, Annie and her family moved out of the area and sold the bakery to Libby and the rest is sweet history.