EMMONS — On the Facebook page for Melissa’s Sweet Angelic Cakes, Missy Nelson says that she “taught herself, so every cake is a lesson.”

Nelson has been baking cakes for a variety of different events and customers for the past couple years.

“I’ve been decorating and basically teaching myself for probably two or three years now,” she said.

Nelson said the business started when her cousin asked her to make a birthday cake for her daughter, and it snowballed from there. When she and her family moved from Albert Lea to Emmons, she took the hobby to another level.

“I thought it was fun and I kept doing it,” she said. “I started reading books on it and looking online at stuff.”

Learning to bake by herself is difficult, but Nelson said that websites like YouTube go a long way in helping her learn more techniques.

“Some stuff is pretty difficult. I’ll work with fondant and that stuff is pretty difficult to work with sometimes,” she said.

Nelson bakes cakes, cupcakes and cake balls for birthdays and weddings.

“I did quite a few weddings last year,” she said. “I work with K&B Entertainment, and she books weddings and refers them to me and the customer will contact me and let me know what they want.”

Nelson added she has two weddings booked for this year and that birthday cakes have been keeping her busy lately.

She said wedding cakes are her favorite cakes to bake because of the challenges they present.

“I like doing it because my main job is I take care of an elderly woman in her home, and I go there every four hours. So it gives me something to do in between taking care of her,” Nelson said.

Sweet Angelic Cakes has a Facebook page with almost 150 “likes,” Nelson said that’s where most of her business comes from.

“Since I’m kind of new to Emmons. Only my really close neighbors know that I do cakes,” she said. “So mainly on Facebook is where people are finding me  and asking me to do cakes for them. Also my sister is referring people and K&B Entertainment.”