Juliana Jensen is the proud owner of Cakes by Julie. She was able to move her business from a rented commercial kitchen space to her home kitchen after, together with a small group of residential bakers, she successfully lobbied Kentucky legislators to have the Cottage Food Law amended in 2018.
The bill passed unanimously. It allows any Kentucky resident to produce and sell many types of food in their home kitchen after registering their home-based business with the state and paying a small fee. There is a cap to income and they cannot ship.
When she is not making amazing custom-designed cakes, Julie bakes cakes for Icing Smiles, a nonprofit organization that provides custom celebration cakes and other treats to families impacted by the critical illness of a child.
Julie is also on the committee for the Kentucky Cake Show. She is also a past Food Network competitor.
Narrative from original post:
The first cake Julie ever made was a ladybug cake for her daughter’s 1st birthday. That was 12 years ago. Everyone thought the cake was amazing and encouraged Julie to make more cakes. “Thankfully, they were god liars, they persuaded me,” she laughs. Twelve years ago, she took two classes at Michael’s, then went on YouTube. Cakes by Julie gradually evolved from that and became what it is today five years ago. Julie now makes 12 cakes a month on the average (unless there is a pandemic).
The cake in the picture was ordered for a 23rd Birthday. Julie offers her apologies to the kids who might see this photograph :-).