OUR OWN CAKE BOSS. Houaha Xiong hit the ground running – baking, really – with BentoBaby Bakery about one year ago. It's only up from here.

One year after launching in the Chippewa Valley, BentoBaby Bakery has grown from offering sweet and simple mini cakes to flourishing, multi-tiered vintage style cakes, decadent cupcakes, strawberry- and Hello Kitty-shaped bento cakes, and even hosting in-person workshops. Perhaps most impressively, there’s just one home baker behind it all: local high schooler Houaha Xiong.

BentoBaby Bakery launched at the start of 2023 with made-to-order bento cakes: adorable mini cakes measuring about 4 inches in diameter. Starting out with four flavor options and four specific design varieties, Houaha said she was surprised by the quick interest.

That initial interest turned into returning customers and a growing online presence, encouraging Houaha to expand BentoBaby’s offerings. Just a couple of months after posting her first made-to-order cake online, BentoBaby was baking enchanting tiered mini cakes, cake pops, and custom-shaped and decorated cakes. By December, Houaha had also hosted several local in-person cake decorating classes – all while still completing high school coursework – and word of her incredible talent was fueling orders and class attendance.

By hosting classes ... I've found a leader in myself. I realized that I was growing a part of me I never knew I had, and it's been so special to me.
–Houaha Xiong, Founder of BentoBaby Bakery

As charming as the entrepreneurial journey appeared – and as jaw-dropping as the cakes looked and tasted – BentoBaby Bakery was not born out of a “why not” mentality. In fact, it was out of quite the personal need: financial stability.

“I started the business when I was a junior in high school and my older siblings had moved out for college,” Houaha recalled. “We were facing a lot of financial difficulty at home, and I knew I had to get a job, but I didn’t want a 5-9pm job.”

After a stint in fast food, Houaha’s vision to begin selling her homemade baked goods evolved from a dreamy desire to a serious potential income source, and with encouragement from her brother, Houaha launched BentoBaby Bakery. Now, Houaha spends about 40 hours a week on the biz while pursuing an online education. She still spends her mornings like most high schoolers: focusing on school.

“I wake up and complete my day’s worth of schoolwork, and normally, my classes aren’t held at a specific time so I can get a few days ahead in homework if I need to,” she explained. “(I spend) a good 40 hours a week on BentoBaby depending on the season, so this past month has definitely been busy for me.”

Houaha researched other home bakers’ prices and custom fees, and found that she needed to account for all the behind-the-slice work: sourcing ingredients, prepping, baking, decorating, washing dishes and packaging each cake, and her time. Starting out by offering custom bento cakes for $20, she has learned how to tailor her pricing as her skills grow and she takes on more custom orders, trickier decorating, and new products.

One year in and spending full-time hours on BentoBaby, Houaha has rapidly honed her baking skills and achieved a reliable income source while in high school, though it hasn’t been all rainbows and sprinkles. There are lulls in orders, risk of burnout and challenges many adolescents find themselves facing: judgement from peers. Though she has experienced lack of support from some people in her life, her family and boyfriend continue to cheer her on – but the best part about launching her baking business was an entirely unexpected one: a surprising passion for teaching.

“I’m a very, very introverted person naturally, and with this business simply giving customers orders face-to-face has expanded my communication skills. It’s benefited me in a lot of ways I didn’t expect,” Houaha said. “I was never the type of person to lead group activities or in school – I never had the heart to. Now, by hosting classes where everything is reliant upon me and to teach others, I’ve found a leader in myself. I realized that I was growing a part of myself I never knew I had, and it’s been so special to me.”

As for goal-setting in the new year, customers can expect expanded offerings and more custom, luxurious work from BentoBaby. In the future, Houaha hopes to move to a larger city and carve out a space that is classroom-focused, where she can continue teaching classes centered on baked goods and have a commercial kitchen space.

“What I enjoy is seeing people come into classes – sometimes they’re nervous, sometimes they’re already experienced – and once they make their cakes, they look super happy and are very social with each other. That’s what makes me happy,” she said. “I get to share this part of me with them, and it’s a very cool opportunity to have in the Chippewa Valley.”

Keep up with BentoBaby Bakery on Facebook and Instagram, and learn more about ordering online. Reach out with inquiries at bentobabybk@gmail.com.