CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Cute cakes are crucial to any celebration, and no one knows that better than Cheyenne-based cake designer Kassi Bertogli.
Bertogli is the owner of Stick It Cakes, a small business dedicated to creating and customizing quirky cakes for the Cheyenne community.
Every week, Bertogli turns her home kitchen into a mini-bakery equipped to bake, frost and decorate. Her list of creations ranges from round cakes embellished to look like hairy sloths and angry sharks to sleek pastel-colored cake pops and hot pink frosted cupcakes.
A self-taught baker and cake designer, Bertogli said her interest in creating edible artwork started when she was 21, living in Rawlins and browsing through the pages of a cupcake design book gifted to her by her mother.
“I just thought it was the coolest thing that the book made cupcakes look like things other than cupcakes,” Bertogli said. “I thought, ‘I’ve got to try that’, and I had so much fun and it sort of branched off from there.”
After practicing her baking skills with boxed cake mixes, Bertogli wanted to create her own recipes. She eventually started making special occasion cakes for friends and family members.
“As more and more people kept asking me to make birthday cakes or wedding cakes, the hobby just slowly grew,” she said.
It wasn’t until Bertogli and her husband moved to Cheyenne in 2015 that she would decide to advertise her cakes more consistently through Stick it Cakes. In addition to custom orders, she also started selling cake pops and cupcakes at local craft fairs and markets, which pop up every month in the city.
Customers usually approach Bertogli with pre-made colors and themes for their desired cake. However, she also gets decoration inspiration from holidays like the Fourth of July or Easter, or from seasons like spring.
Although anyone can place a customized cake order through Stick it Cakes’ Facebook or Instagram page, Bertogli usually takes one or two a week to better manage her time between baking, working at UPS and caring for her family.
Bertogli hopes her business can one day expand into a bakery in Cheyenne.
“I feel like I could do more with a bakery,” she said. “I have a tiny little kitchen and I make it work, but I think it would be amazing to have my own space.”
No matter where she is, Bertogli said she is happy to be baking for others, and being able to see their cheerful reactions to each uniquely designed dessert is the icing on the cake.
“People are excited to see something other than, for example, a Walmart sheet cake,” Bertogli said. “I just really enjoy doing it. It’s a lot of fun and I think everyone deserves an amazing cake for their party or wedding or whatever occasion.”
