Kristina Lavallee, 34

When a celebrity in Texas flies you and one of your custom cakes to his residence aboard a private jet, that’s an obvious sign you’ve made it as a baker.

Kristina Lavallee and her husband and business partner, Kirby Lavallee, recently went through that surreal experience, which they chronicled on the Instagram account of their Tampa bakery, The Cake Girl. During the pandemic, prominent talk radio host Glenn Beck became a huge fan of the Crave’n Cup, a “cake in a jar” product made by the Lavallees to help fuel sales at a time when custom-cake orders were down — sharply. He became so enamored with the Lavallees’ confections that he had them make a custom cake for a September party celebrating the birthdays of his wife and father-in-law.

“That was a really cool cake to make,” Kristina says, “and a big accomplishment.”