Rachael Keene, sitting at her kitchen table Monday afternoon, is surrounded by a few of the treats she recently baked at her home in Lewiston. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

From apple crisp-topped cheesecake to edible cake sloths, Rachael Keene of Lewiston has been busy baking all of 2021 and recently added teaching decorating classes to the mix.

The strangest request she’s fielded in her first year of business with Treats by Rachael?

Spoiler alert, it was too weird to make.

Name: Rachael Keene

Age: 33

Lives: Lewiston

How did your path to baking start? My path to baking started young! My mother has a culinary degree and I always loved watching and helping her create beautiful desserts. I had always been able to decorate and bake cakes for my children and family members, but never considered trying to turn it into a career.

How have you worked on your own skills? I learn new things every day. I am for the most part self-taught, but I also watch a lot of YouTube videos when I am struggling to achieve a technique. I can tell you that there have been many failures along the way, but I learn best from doing and the more I practice, the more comfortable I feel, the easier it gets.

When did the business get its start? In November 2020, when the pandemic was keeping people from being able to go to work, I wanted to supplement my income by making cocoa bombs I had seen on TikTok. Cocoa bomb sales went crazy and from there it was, “Can you make cakes, can you make cookies,” and so Treats by Rachael was created.

Icing seems so permanent and a little bit intimidating. How do you teach people to just go for it? First thing to understand is almost all mistakes can be corrected. Frosting can be very forgiving and it’s always okay to scrape it and start over if it’s not what you are expecting for a result. It is very intimidating at times, but I just tell myself I am capable and usually it comes together for me nicely. You just have to be afraid to fail so you can appreciate when you win!

Most unusual request you’ve fielded: The most unusual request I have received was to make a cake that looked like a heaping corn-filled pile of poop! Don’t get me wrong, I am all about the custom requests and have made “poop cakes” several times with an emoji-type vibe, but the inspiration photo that this customer sent literally turned my stomach — it was so disgusting! Needless to say, based on the quality of cakes I decorate, I did refuse to make the cake.

A recent two-tier cactus cake by Treats by Rachael. Submitted photo

Request you’ve had the most fun creating: I love to make “pretty cakes” using golds and pinks and white colors, adding fresh florals to achieve a sophisticated and elegant look. Most recently my favorite cake(s) I have been able to work on was a two-tier boho-themed dream catcher cake and a two-tier cactus cake. They were really fun colors to work with and I was very happy with how they turned out!

Where can people find you now? Do you have long-term plans for a brick and mortar? So currently people can find me on Facebook or on TikTok. I also provide several desserts weekly to a new bakery called The Sweet Spot, located at 59 Portland Road, Unit 5, in Gray. You can find my cocoa bombs, gourmet brownies, cakes by the slice, cake pops and other goodies there. They offer an amazing whoopie pie bar and over 300 flavors of homemade fudge! Everyone should check them out.

I am a fully licensed in-home baker at the moment with the plan to open a brick and mortar store within the next two years.

Let’s say Santa is due to stop in around 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 25. What cookies do you set out for him and why? As a tradition, my family has always set out my homemade sugar cookies for Santa. My four children decorate them with buttercream frosting and sprinkles and we enjoy some hot cocoa (now cocoa bombs) while we decorate them. We do it this way so we can have some fun family time being creative together before we all go to bed for the night. You can’t have cookies without a cold glass of milk to wash them down with, so we put a Christmas mug next to the plate of cookies to keep Santa happy.