Blended Bakes is a heartwarming story of passion, perseverance, and the joy of bringing people together through delicious desserts. Founded by Taylor Rysdon, a mother, wife, and entrepreneur, this home-based bakery has become a beloved gem in the greater Cincinnati area. What started as a simple way to unwind during maternity leave for Taylor has now evolved into a thriving business that blends flavors, cultures, and family dynamics into every treat. From wedding cakes to dessert charcuterie boards, Blended Bakes is more than just a Cincinnati bakery—it’s a reflection of a beautiful, diverse family and the bonds they create with their customers.
I had the opportunity to talk to Taylor to learn more about her journey, the inspiration behind her business, and how Blended Bakes has become a go-to destination for custom treats. Here’s a look at the story behind Blended Bakes, their unique baking philosophy, and the exciting plans for their future.
What inspired you to start Blended Bakes as a Cincinnati home bakery, and how did your journey in baking begin?
My inspiration to launch my baking business, Blended Bakes, came from a combination of personal passion and family dynamics. Growing up, baking was a therapeutic outlet for me, and during my maternity leave in late 2019, I rediscovered that love while caring for my newborn, Grant. I began baking for family and friends, which led me to connect with local moms who wanted custom treats for their kiddos celebrations.
As the pandemic hit in March 2020, I found more opportunities to create unique, custom, desserts for families celebrating at home. Though I scaled back after a few years, my desire to bake reignited after my second pregnancy. I realized that I no longer wanted to exist on the corporate hamster wheel of eat, sleep, work, repeat. In 2023, I applied for my LLC and became a licensed home bakery in Ohio. With immense tailwinds in the economy, and my unexpected layoff from six years in corporate, I was grateful for Blended Bakes, which has now become my full-time passion. It’s been an incredible journey, and I love building relationships with my community through baking!
Can you share the story behind the name “Blended Bakes”?
At Blended Bakes, we believe in blending more than just ingredients—we blend lives, cultures, and experiences. My husband and I first crossed paths in 2018 while working in downtown Cincinnati, and our journey together evolved from friendship to marriage. Our family story is as unique as the flavors we create: there’s a 12-year age difference between us, we embrace our cultural diversity, and we proudly have a “blended” family, with me legally adopting our oldest son through a step-parent adoption. Just like the way a variety of ingredients come together to create a perfect treat, our family is a beautiful combination of different components that come together harmoniously. This is why we chose the name “Blended Bakes” for our business—it’s a perfect reflection of the unity we share as a family and the deliciously cohesive creations we bake.
What types of baked goods and services does Blended Bakes Bakery offer?
We offer a variety of custom desserts for celebrations, including celebration cakes, french macarons, wedding cakes, dessert tables and decorated treats. We’ve also been fortunate to bake for large corporate and small business events. For a short while we dabbled in wholesale but didn’t find the right fit for our products, it’s still something we’re considering.
Do you have any signature items or customer favorites that you’re particularly proud of?
We feel incredibly honored to craft wedding cakes for our customers, and offer a variety of dessert spreads. Currently, our customers are loving our French macarons, decorative cakes, and brownies.
Earlier this year, we also introduced our dessert charcuterie boards, designed to complement any celebratory theme. These boards have quickly become a customer favorite, and we’re thrilled by the overwhelming response. We take great pride in our constant innovation and the joy of creating these unique treats for our clients.
How do you develop new recipes or seasonal offerings?
Honestly, we listen to our customers. We are pretty active on social media so we try to take time and ask our customers what they want to see from us when there’s an upcoming holiday and we deliver products based on that. Also, don’t judge but we often look through our recipe books at home for inspiration on new flavors. Staying inspired is always a good idea.
What is your baking philosophy, and how does it influence the products you create?
At Blended Bakes LLC, we believe that baking is about more than just creating desserts—it’s about crafting experiences that bring people together. Our tagline, “Let’s bond over a cup of sugar,” reflects the way we approach every interaction with our customers and the community. We’re dedicated to quality and care—using premium ingredients, paying attention to every detail, and incorporating vibrant colors. We also emphasize creativity and customization, knowing that no two events are ever the same. Our goal is to help tell our customers’ unique stories through the products they choose. Above all, we focus on connection. We strive to foster meaningful connections between people, allowing the treats they order from us to help bring their guests closer, as they truly “bond over a cup of sugar.”
How do you ensure the quality and consistency of your baked goods?
Everything we create at Blended Bakes is made from scratch, which allows us to maintain the highest level of quality and consistency. After five years in business, many of our recipes have become tried and true. We’ve tested countless variations and added our own unique twist to make them distinctly ours. We’re fortunate to have a loyal group of customers-turned-friends who help us perfect our recipes before we launch them to the market.
By sticking to the same recipes each time, we ensure consistency across all of our products. And since everything is made fresh from scratch, we can guarantee the highest quality. We also rely heavily on thermometers to monitor internal temperatures, especially when it comes to cakes, ensuring they turn out perfectly moist every time.
What challenges have you faced since opening Blended Bakes Bakery, and how have you overcome them?
I work from home and also raise my littlest kids. This has been one of the most challenging aspects of building a business from home. I knew I wanted to be home with my kids while they’re young so this is a juggling act that often comes with some frustration. I’ve had to find a way to organize my time so I can be present with them while also committed to customers. I haven’t overcome this, I just strive to be 10% better each day at balancing all the things. I had someone tell me once during my days working at Disney, “in the course of a lifetime, what will it matter.” This is something that’s always mattered to me and whenever I’m frazzled by all the things I need to get done, I just remember that in the course of an entire lifetime, what I’m feeling, or needing to do today, really won’t matter.
Can you share a particularly rewarding experience or milestone for your bakery?
Our five year anniversary in March really was a rewarding time for Blended Bakes. The entire month of March we celebrated with giveaways, launched a new podcast, called Busy Doing Business – a podcast for busy-preneurs, and held a five-year anniversary event to showcase other growing, thriving, and dedicated businesses in the Cincinnati area. We are really proud of our journey and we’re looking forward to what God will do in the next five years.
How does Blended Bakes engage with the local Cincinnati community?
Honestly, our greater Cincinnati community is rich with some of the best people I’ve ever met. I’m originally from Illinois, and moved here from Florida. My husband is from California. I’ve traveled quite a bit but there truly is no place like Cincy. My husband and I don’t have our extended family in town so feeling that sense of community as we built a family of our own was hard at first. But Cincinnati is just one of those places where you feel like everyone is truly your family. You can meet a complete stranger and ask them to try something you made and they’re willing to try it and give honest feedback. I love the richness of culture – both in the arts, music, food, festivals and support of small business. It’s a great place to bake and build the American dream (which I do still believe can exist with hard work and tenacity).
What role do customer feedback and relationships play in your business?
Our customers (and their feedback) are everything to our business. As I’ve mentioned before, they’ve become like family to us. This energizing relationship has been key in helping us create products that truly resonate with our customers, rather than simply focusing on our own preferences. Their feedback has been invaluable in our growth, and word of mouth has played a huge role—accounting for 90% of the custom orders we book.
What are your goals for the future of Blended Bakes as a Cincinnati Bakery?
We’re still figuring things out, so I don’t want to share too much too soon. However, we do have some exciting plans for how we engage with our customers. We recently launched an AI assistant to help answer customer questions more quickly, as we’re a small business and sometimes struggle to keep up with demand. Right now, our main focus is on improving our products, services, and customer engagement. You can chat with our new AI bot here.
We’ve recently introduced our special pancake mix, which can be made with either regular or plant-based ingredients. Having been a vegan family at one point, we’ve developed several recipes for vegan and non-vegan pastries and are excited to bring that knowledge into our mixes. Our goal is to create more shelf-stable items, which we’re rolling out slowly.
Another exciting development is our Blended Bakes cart, which serves our community with weekly pastries. We want our treats to become more accessible, without needing to place a custom order. The cart allows customers to grab treats on their own without needing to interact directly with us. We hope to expand these cart pop-ups both at our home bakery and around the greater Cincinnati area.
We’ve got big dreams and are focused on streamlining our processes to bring even more to the table in the future!
Are there any upcoming events or new products that customers can look forward to?
As we’ve mentioned before, our dessert charcuterie boards are something we don’t promote enough. We’re planning to reinvigorate our marketing around them as an alternative to traditional cakes. Imagine celebrating your birthday with a full spread of bite-sized treats instead of just a cake! Most people tend to gravitate toward smaller desserts, so we’re strategizing to roll out larger dessert boards for both individual events and corporate gatherings.
What is your favorite item to bake, and why?
Want to know a secret? I don’t think I love baking as much anymore. I often tell my husband that I wish I had someone to handle the mass production baking so I could focus solely on decorating. Decorating and crafting flavor combinations is where I truly shine, and I hope to spend more time on that as we grow.
I enjoy baking when I’m not under pressure to complete orders. I love experimenting, but sometimes that spirit gets lost in the repetition of baking the same recipes over and over. I get the most joy when I can work freely and explore the art and science of baking.
Decorating the treats is where my passion truly lies. I’m also really loving the business development and marketing aspects of being a small business, home bakery owner. Bringing our customers’ visions to life is my favorite part of the process.
Do you have a memorable baking experience or a lesson learned you’d like to share?
One of the best memories I’ll always cherish is the opening day of my new cart. The outpouring of love and support during the grand opening was truly special, and I’m so grateful to some local businesses who helped make it all possible. Special thanks to:
- Blue Collar Designs – Built the cart
- Turner Craft Co. – Created the wood sign
- Crazy Balloon Lady – Gifted a gorgeous balloon display
These businesses helped bring my vision to life, and the opening day of the cart meant the world to me. We sold out within the first hour, and I was nervous about how the cart would be received. But by the second week, we sold out again within an hour.
I feel incredibly blessed to serve such a supportive community here in Cincinnati, where people genuinely care for their local businesses and neighbors. We had visitors from all over the area, and it was deeply inspiring to me. It reminded me how important it is to keep moving forward, even when doubts creep in. Mobility is how we learn. We have to lean into our mistakes and breathe through them because we’ll make them—it’s how we respond to them that can make or break our business.
Love these local business spotlights? See more from your Neighborhood Guide, Valerie Woodham.
