We were lucky to catch up with Susana Sordo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Susana, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

I wish I had started my business sooner because the most important thing about it is that I discovered my passion. My business wasn’t planned or wished, I had the fortune of starting it without an effort. I always felt I could be an artist but for different reasons I couldn’t develop my talent sooner and when I started making decorated cookies and cakes I felt I was doing what I loved (drawing, painting, sculpting, working with colors, creating) combined with baking and it was the perfect match!

Something challenging is that I have to combine my work as a mom and then my business, so I wish I could have had it before being a mom because at the beginning I needed more time to learn and practice.

Susana, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a 40 year old Mexican woman, wife, mom of two girls and a boy who moved to Orlando, FL on January 2012. I am the owner, baker and artist behind the custom desserts I sell in Sweet Basket, Artisan Bakery.

My baking journey started when my first daughter turned 1 year old. I wanted to make a nice decorated cake for her and I knew my artistic and cooking skills so I thought I could make it. For her second birthday I went for something new and the key that opened what a few years after would be my business, occupation and passion. I made decorated cookies for the first time!

Little by little I was making cookies in every chance I had and people started asking if I could make them for their events and suggesting I should sell them. That was when I started selling them and occasionally I made the same with cakes.

The most important period in the development of my business was the pandemic. The power of a supporting community gave me more new customers from the neighborhood I lived in and helped me getting new ones through word of mouth from different areas in the city as well.

I think one of the keys of the success I’ve had is that I always give my best in every order, I try to ask the customers all the details regarding colors, designs and of course flavors they are expecting to get. The feedback I get a lot is “it was as beautiful as delicious” and that’s what I aiming for, that’s the review I want to always get!

I’m always focused on making the best recipe because I want my desserts to be really enjoyable. There are a lot of great cake and cookie artists out there but not all of them offer tasty desserts, sometimes they only work on the visual part. That’s one of the differences I want to offer in my business.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

As I mentioned before, I am the baker and decorator in my business. I never took a class related to what I do, I’ve learned everything I know about cake and cookie decorating watching videos and tutorials, following recipes and tips I found online. Sometimes I use elements like artificial flowers, plastic figurines or cake toppers that are already made but I try to make everything else,I have never used something hand made by someone else if it’s something I could make myself.

Sometimes it’s been really challenging and has taken me hours to make fondant figures or an specific cookie design but I always think it’s part of the learning process and the ethics about selling products created 100% by me.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

My own customers referrals. Honestly I’ve reached a good amount of clients that have come to me because they tried my desserts at an event or because they have asked others for recommendations and a previous customer shared my contact, which is the most rewarding thing that could happen.

Social media on a local context has been also great, for example a Facebook neighborhood group made a a huge impact during the pandemic and impulsed my business growth. Sometimes I get customers that have found my information in another neighborhood groups or chats.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: SweetBasketUSA
• Facebook: SweetBasketUSA

Image Credits
Myself