Jenna Rigsby ices a cake at Top Tier Cakes Indy in New Whiteland. She opened the custom cakes and bake shop in November.
Emily Ketterer | Daily Journal
What seemed like an unreachable dream became reality for Jenna Rigsby.
Rigsby learned how to decorate cakes at her high school job at Ritter’s Frozen Custard. Since then, the only job she ever had was in baking and pastries.
But she only worked for other companies, and at the time, she never thought she had time to venture out on her own to open her own custom cake and bake shop. That was until this spring when she started selling custom cakes and sweets out of her home, which then grew to finding a storefront shop in New Whiteland.
“For so many years, I was like, no I’m never gonna do it. Now, I have my own place,” Rigsby said. “Finally realizing that it was a possibility and that I could have the control over the rules and how things are ran. I was like, 100% I can do it.”
Top Tier Cakes Indy opened at 225 N. U.S. 31, New Whiteland, in November. There, Rigsby now has more room to fulfill her growing number of orders, and take on new customers.
“Sooner than I realized, I was bursting at the seams,” Rigsby said.
She started Top Tier Cakes out of her home in Greenwood in May, and found the storefront location in August. The building now housing the shop used to be an auto parts store, which Rigsby transformed into a bakery in a few months.
Top Tier Cakes specializes in custom cakes and sweets, such as cookies and cake pops, mainly for weddings, but also any other event request. Rigsby can make cakes, cookies, cupcakes and other sweets for birthday parties, engagement parties, anniversaries or baby showers. And she can do a variety of cake flavors from basic white and chocolate to strawberry, raspberry, lemon, red velvet and orange almond.
The shop also serves as a storefront to buy treats in the store. Rigsby fills the display case with full-size cakes, cookies, cake pops and cake jars, which are single servings of a cake. Another popular treat is cookie dippers, mini uniced sugar cookies in a container with a side of buttercream icing for dipping.
Rigsby originally wasn’t planning on having items to sell for walk-ins, but as she was getting ready to open, many people were interested in buying sweets at the store front.
“I’m so glad I did it because I’m really happy with a lot of the stuff that I have out there and it’s kind of fun. I also like the interaction with the locals who come in,” Rigsby said.
Rigsby has been baking and decorating cakes for 10 years. She’s had interest in a culinary career since she worked at Ritter’s in high school, and she pursued a degree in baking and pastries after that.
“The best way to learn is through experience, especially with this stuff. And I’ve worked with a lot of really talented decorators and I’ve learned a lot from them,” Rigsby said.
She’s starting off slow as a startup business, for now. The shop hasn’t been too busy, and Rigsby hasn’t advertised much yet to avoid getting overwhelmed. She is currently the only employee at the shop.
“I’m good with the slow incline of business. It lets me learn,” Rigsby said.
Rigsby is preparing for her first bridal show on Jan. 15, which will be her first experience getting out in the bridal world for the first time on her own. Her previous job connected her to a lot of people in the industry, so she’s made those relationships she hopes to grow further, she said.
She did four weddings in 2022 after she just started, and she already has that amount for tastings set for next year.
