08/14/2026
An announcement and story time:
Announcement: I have updated my logo! The reasoning for that will be explained in my story, but if you choose to skim, just know that this new logo with the macarons better represents where my greatest passion is in this business and I thought it was time that the logo represent that.
Story time! Many of you know how this business got started. But as word has spread and more of you have discovered the wonders that are macarons, it is time to tell it again! Especially in regards to the new logo. However, I will try to keep it brief--ish.
I have been baking for as long as I can remember. My grandma and my parents taught me and then I started trying to figure recipes out on my own too. I remember writing recipes for bakes that I came up with, such as "reeses pie," on note cards and sticky notes and random scraps of paper. While, some kids played "house" growing up, I played bakery and restaurant.
When I was in late middle school or early high school, my family took a trip abroad and in an airport on our way back, we passed one of those souvenir style shops they have, but this one was filled with rainbow cookies. You guessed it (I hope😀), macarons! I was amazed and begged my parents to let us get some to taste. And I guess we should all be so thankful they said yes because that changed my life. I have no memory of what flavors we got or what they were like, only that I loved them and had to learn to make them as soon as we got home. And lucky for us, they happen to be some of the most challenging cookies to make, because I like a challenge.
Fast forward about 8 years, I'd been perfecting macarons for a while and still loved the challenge and room for creativity that macarons give more and more each time I made them (which was frequently). While I may have dreamed of being a pastry chef growing up, I was also a violinist and loved my orchestral training so much that I had decided to become an orchestra teacher. But I still had to finish my student teaching. Fall of 2022. My cooperating teacher had a baby shower she was going to and needed a dessert to bring. We had been talking about my baking earlier in the week and she asked me if she could pay me to bake something for her to bring. I excitedly agreed!
A few weeks later, someone else asked me to make some macarons for them and again offered to pay me. This happened a few times more and all of the sudden I realized I had a business! (Which of course meant I had to sit down and research and figure out exactly what that meant-- rules-wise.) But the fun part of that was figuring out a logo. However, at that point 4 years ago, I didn't know exactly what this business would turn out to be-- or if it would be anything at all! So cupcakes on the logo-- inspired by my first order-- why not?
Which brings us to now. My almost 4-year anniversary of Clara Bakes. Thank you La Crosse for showing me that people are interested in interesting food! Good macarons are unique and people like you are excited to find them! So I am celebrating that with my new logo. This journey has always been about the macarons. Now it is represented that way too!
You may still see some of my old business cards floating around. And my cupcake logo stickers will still be on the next few batches of treats, but the new logo is here and will start to be phased in!
