Carson Greer, owner of Happy Sol Baking Co. in Columbus, GA, prides herself on providing customers with the most amazing cakes, desserts, and pastries, using the best possible ingredients and providing exceptional customer service. Carson Greer pursued an education in restaurant management and a career in professional pastry and cake decorating for 9 years. Once coming back to her first passion, baking, she've decided to do this full time and live a life focused on overall health and wellness.

By R. Caligaris

What inspired you to start Happy Sol Baking Co.? When I first started Happy Sol Baking Company, I knew two things. I knew that I needed to pursue a business of my own and that I enjoy baking and making cakes. I started with the idea of making specialty cakes and desserts that stand out from the rest in both quality cake and unique designs. Not long into the process, I realized that my passion for health and wellness has to tie into the products I make. So while I am making cakes and desserts, I do aim to make everything with the highest quality ingredients, using as many natural ingredients as possible, and free of artificial ingredients or preservatives. I’m even learning to make some specialty items for such dietary needs as vegan and gluten free.

At the moment–Happy Sol Baking Co. is a cottage bakery–meaning I primarily operate out of my home as my “storefront” via online selling to customers directly. I take custom cake and dessert orders for special occasions as well as offering seasonal menu items for customers to easily order from–I am so excited for the Happy Sol Baking Co. holiday items–cakes cookies, treat boxes, and more and I think you all will be too! I'd love to expand Happy Sol Baking Co. away from exclusively online sales and more into retail at some point so who knows what the future holds.

Tell us about the name, Happy Sol Baking. Where did that come from? The name Happy Sol Baking Co. is based on two ideas. First, baking and creating desserts is a passion that truly feeds my soul. Through this craft I embrace creativity, challenges, and am intertwined with people, community, and connection that only food can bring. There is an art to it all that I thoroughly enjoy. I am constantly challenged with new ingredients and techniques, always seeking to learn more and expand my knowledge and skills.

From a holistic perspective, I truly love how food can impact our quality of life in many ways. Second, the word "sol" (Spanish for Sun) is a play on words to connect these ideas with my gratitude and spiritual appreciation for the sun.

For our health, the sun provides us with life-giving abundance, energy, and nourishment. The Sun is nature’s ultimate expression of fire, sparking the emotions of love and joy within us. These two ideas are the perfect embodiment of myself and what I envision for my baking business and so the name "Happy Sol" was it!

Who taught you baking and what is your favorite memory in the kitchen? I’d have to give my grandmother a good bit of credit for giving me, quite literally the space in her home, and the space as a creative, to cook and bake to my heart’s content when I was younger. I’ve always loved to cook–even as a child I can vividly remember mixing up a bunch of soaps and water in a bucket (like it was soup) and getting SO close to tasting my masterpiece before my mom caught me and stopped me. Thank goodness she did. But in my mind, this was cooking. This was “creating” and it was exciting. My most fond memories of cooking were definitely at my grandmother’s house or cooking for family any chance I could get. I loved getting into the planning and presentation of everything I made.

What is it about baking that you love? What I love most about baking is that there is so much precision and science involved. Once you know and understand the way things work and what different ingredients do for a recipe, you really can be as creative as you want with flavors! Baking is also a very homely skill that can be as rustic or as refined as you’d like but it all comes down to working with your hands, creating something from good quality, bare ingredients, and producing something as comforting as banana bread or something as complex as French patisserie.

What’s your favorite sweet treat at the bakery? I don’t know that I have a favorite treat per say–but I do have a favorite flavor combination and some favorite ingredients. I like unique flavor combinations and ingredients. I like cake and I like create+designing them but for eating sweets and/or treats I’m much more into pastries, tarts, cookies, and things. I love salty, sweet, earthy, and bitter tastes together. Any combination of rich dark chocolate with salt and a bit of sweetness is my favorite.

What's the most elaborate cake you've ever made? The most elaborate cake I’ve ever made was a 3 tiered wedding cake a few years ago. I’ve made a handful of tiered cakes and let me just say–that whole process is an intense emotional roller coaster ride–not for the faint of heart! Other than that, I’d say the most elaborate things I have ever made were the desserts I made while working at a fine dining restaurant in Colorado, Splendido at the Chateau.

What are your most popular products and how do you keep up with demand? Being such a new bakery and getting my bearings on what products I will specialize in, I am still learning what my most popular items are. I think as demand increases during the next few months and during the holidays, we will find out soon enough what Happy Sol Baking Co’s most highly demanded cakes and desserts are!. From special cakes to cookies, desserts, and more–offering a variety of vegan, gluten free, and traditional baked goods–I am excited to see how Happy Sol Baking Co. will develop and grow within our community andoutside of it as well with time!

HAPPY SOL BAKING CO.