By Joan Janzen
There’s never a dull moment in the life of Victoria Besplug, the sole proprietor of Made with Love Bakery. You will find Victoria busy baking in a commercial kitchen in Kindersley for two days of every week. That’s when she prepares orders for her business called Made With Love Bakery.
“I always baked with my grandparents and my mom when I was young, and worked at the Co-op bakery as a teen. I did cakes there and that got me started,” Victoria explains.
“In 2011 I started doing cupcake orders, but my business got bigger during the last five years, when I started doing more cake orders.” Victoria says her three tiered cakes are the most popular item, and she has been creating those for the past three years.
Last year Victoria began partnering with Swirl Cafe, located on Main Street in Kindersley. Her baking is sold at Swirl Cafe and customers can also pick up their pre-orders there as well during business hours.
“If needed I do deliveries on baking days,” Victoria said. In spite of all the on-going restrictions, Victoria’s business has managed to thrive. “I started doing smaller cakes for smaller groups. No contact deliveries has really helped keep things going. I have a wedding coming up in North Battleford, which I’ll be delivering to,” Victoria added.
Besides running her business, Victoria and her husband have four children, ages 9, 5, 3 and seven months. At times she would have one or two of her children with her during baking days. “Now Mr. Mom is at home with the kids,” Victoria chuckled. “He helps a lot, so I can get a little bit more done.” She did admit that she only took a week off after the birth of her youngest child. “I took a week, then I was up and going,” she says nonchalantly, as if that’s normal practice for every woman after giving birth.
Victoria and her family live on a farm located between Glidden and Madison, and Victoria helps out with the farming business as well.
“The last few years I’ve taken a week or two off to help with the farming. Or as soon as I come back from baking, I’m on the combine or running a truck,” she said.
The most challenging part of Victoria’s life is making the time to balance everything. “I help with harvest, seeding, running equipment, so juggling all that has been a little difficult at times. There’s lots of time management to get everything done, so I have as much time as possible to spend with my family. I try to not bring work home, but my kids don’t complain too terribly much if I do. They’re happy with extras and happy to experiment.”
Even when Victoria’s not baking for her business, she still loves to bake for her family and friends. “I still bake at home all the time and like to try out new things. I love doing little things that give me an excuse to bake and I’m happy to do it. Every year I make birthday cakes for my sisters, parents and kids. I try to make everybody something, except my husband doesn’t get spoiled, because his birthday is during seeding.”
Victoria had some nuggets of advice for any stay-at-home mom wanting to start up a business venture. “Give yourself time to grow and learn, and make it fun. If you can get your family involved, it makes it so much better. I enjoy baking with my kids. Enjoy your family while you can, but follow your dreams at the same time.”
Victoria’s dream is to have a store front bakery some day where she can offer breads and do cake designs.
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