Perhaps This Chicks owner Kristy Crawford should have known all along that she was meant to bake cakes, when at age seven she ran out of Easy Bake Oven mix and decided to make her own. So began a life-long love of baking.

Like many stay-at-home moms, Kristy, the mother of six, always baked her kids’ birthday cakes, but with a flair and acclaim from friends and neighbours who would encourage her to somehow turn baking into a career.

There would be many more birthday cakes, and many winding roads before Kristy would realize it was cakes all along.

First she pursued her creative urges through ceramic art that she sold through exclusive boutiques in Toronto. (You can still see her love of abstract design throughout many of This Chicks Cakes today.)

When Kristy’s marriage of fifteen years ended, she worked several jobs to make ends meet (from waitress to child and youth worker) while returning to school twice, once to culinary school, the other for psychology.

Though times were tough, Kristy was determined to make things as normal as possible for her kids – even special – and so began a tradition of the Christmas Eve open house that has been described by observers as Santa’s Workshop. With tables full of baked goodies, Christmas Eve became eagerly anticipated each year by her kids, and now legions of the kids’ friends.

And so it was after one Christmas Eve that Kristy decided to launch This Chick Makes Cakes. Her first custom cake was a boxing ring, replete with a fondant ring apron, licorice ropes, and gum paste boxer on a stool.

Now This Chick Makes Cakes specializes in custom design wedding cakes, celebration cakes, and cupcakes that are brassy, a little rock and roll, and always delicious.