By Adam Pack
Emalee Wickline is the founder and head baker of Em’s Cake Corner, which has been in operation since November of 2019. While she may not have a brick-and-mortar location (yet), her creatively crafted confections have been flying out of her kitchen door for weddings, special events, and any occasion that requires a sweet treat.
However, she is not just a purveyor of goodies, as Emalee also has party supplies and various soups and salads for lunch options.
Em’s will be looking to move to a physical location later this year with a property in the Battleground Shopping Center in White Sulphur Springs already selected. Barring some remaining work to the building, Em’s Cake Corner hopes to be in their new home as early as April.
For Wickline, this endeavor began not as an endeavor at all, but an endearing past-time with her grandmother, Rita Pilkenton.
“She would always be in the kitchen and baking, and I would always be right there by her side helping her, so she really got me interested and taught me so much,” said Wickline.
As she began making more and more cakes, locals started to notice her prowess and her services were in ever more demand. When her grandmother passed away in 2019, Wickline said a motivation to bake was to honor her memory.
“Given that people seemed to love my cakes and that it was her that raised me up as a baker, it only made sense that I take the next step up in memory of her. I’m really glad to carry the tradition she bestowed on me.”
Day to day, Wickline says she finds great joy in baking, both from within and without.
“My favorite part of doing this is the look on people’s faces when they see what I’ve made for them, when they have that moment of finally seeing what they wanted in real life and it being exactly what they imagined. And it’s really liberating to do something that requires so much creativity and gives me such a good opportunity to express myself.”
Crediting her success, Wickline says it’s thanks to her whole family supporting her along the way, “and of course to God: without Him I can do nothing, so I owe all of this to Him.”
Visit her website at www.emscakecorner.com, find her on Facebook at “Em’s Cake Corner,” or email emscakecorner@gmail.com for more information.
