Today we’d like to introduce you to Babs Freeman.
Hi Babs, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I have always said, “if I win the lottery, I’m going to culinary school!” I love to bake! I enjoy making my own creations and it allows me to escape and focus on what I’m making currently. I work as an outpatient surgical nurse during the week and on my days off, I fill my baking orders. I decided in April/Early May 2020, to use my time on furlough (our surgical department was closed due to the pandemic) to do something to occupy my time. My older sister, Alicia, gave me information about becoming a Cottage Food Producer and be able to sell my baked goods. My close friend from college, Jen Bloom, had already done decorated sugar cookies and I reached out to her for help in starting out. Once I did the training, I thought about what to make and what my name should be. I am a very outgoing, optimistic person and dealing with the pandemic and not having a normal schedule because of it, I wanted something upbeat. I decided on the name, Babs, The Bubbly Baker! It describes me pretty well. 😁
I am also married to my high school sweetheart, Dustin, for 10 years and we have two boys, Carter and Aiden. They all love trying my treats!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I feel like it has been going pretty well. I have done a couple pre-orders and I realized that I should have put a cap on how many and not made them customized. For example, Christmas season last year, I had done 4 different types of cookies and said customers could do one dozen of regular and a dozen of Gluten-free, but that made it more challenging for me because I had to make sure there wasn’t any cross contamination. It also made me more busy by not putting a cap on how many as I also had to work around my work schedule during the week.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Babs, The Bubbly Baker ?
I discovered quickly that I loved making turtle pecan caramel bars and different drop cookies. There’s quite a few local bakers in Austin, so I wanted to do something different from them. They mostly do cupcakes, cakes and decorated sugar cookies. I chose to focus on gourmet cookies and bars. I consider gourmet cookies as stuffed cookies (caramel or apple filling for example) and/or decorated on top! My top cookie sellers and fun creations are my s’mores cookies, candy corn/peanut bars, puppy chow cookies and my newest one, caramel apple cookies like the caramel apple lollipops! I’m currently working on a new cookie for the holiday season. It’s going to be a play off of the hot cocoa bombs!
Lastly, I set myself apart by giving back often. I take a portion of my monthly sales and donate them in various ways. I have donated to local schools and organizations.
The best one was last February. I did “love boxes” that had 3 different crinkle cookies (chocolate, lemon and vanilla). Portion of sales went to a book fundraiser (Usborne books) to get Cuddle Bear books and heart bears to an organization called, Lasting Imprint. It’s an organization that helps kids dealing with congenital heart defects. Through my cookie sales, $110 was given to help that organization! This was important to me because I also have a congenital heart defect.
I love how much my baking business has helped others and it’s expanded my creativity, as well as helping me feel less stressed. I’m excited to see what this holiday season will look and what new stuff will be made.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
If they’re a regular customer and don’t know me personally, they might not know that I was born with a heart condition. I have mentioned it briefly on my baking page when I paused orders for the month of July so I could recover from surgery. That’s why I do certain fundraisers though because it has so much meaning for me and getting awareness out about congenital heart defects.
Contact Info:
- Email: Bmfreeman22@gmail.com
- Instagram: @Babsthebubblybaker
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BabsTheBubblyBaker/
