Megan Andersen has been baking since she was old enough to ask for baking tools as birthday presents. It started with a kids’ cookbook when she was six or seven.
She continued cooking through college, during her career as an early childhood educator, and then as a cake decorator for McLain’s Bakery in Waldo.
But when she was ready to start a family with her husband, she sought the more regular hours offered by a travel agency. She then had her son, Bennett, now 4.
In summer 2022 she left the travel agency to start Wild Flour Baking Co. in her Riverside home. It grew to be so popular, she came to a crossroads.
“It is fun what I do, but I needed to make more money,” she says. “So I had to abandon this dream and go back to a more corporate job, or take the leap of faith and expand into a bigger space.”
She gasped when she saw a listing for a picturesque, butter-yellow house with lilac trim (circa 1900) in downtown Parkville. It had been converted to commercial space in the 1990s. She got bids together, talked to contractors, talked to friends, and then took that “very scary leap,” buying the house at 307 Main St. in May.
It needed a lot of TLC, she says – foundation work, plumbing, new electric, new HVAC, roof repair and more. Now she’s updating the commercial kitchen, and readying three seating rooms – one with the front bay window, one with the original fireplace. There also will be seating on the side porch.
“It is more than a leap to me, it is like a giant skydive. There is a lot of lead-up to the big day of opening,” she says.
Wild Flour Baking Co.’s daily items will be cupcakes, decorated sugar cookies, cake bites, cake slices, cheesecake bites, brownies, cinnamon rolls, quiche, muffins and coffee drinks. It also will have premade cakes with buttercream decoration that can be customized with simple designs such as “Happy Birthday.”
Occasional items will be dessert bars, protein bites, macarons, fruit tarts, eclairs and cream puffs. It also will do custom orders.
Decorated sugar cookies are the current popular orders, customizable for any events. She says pharmaceutical reps even take them as gifts to doctors’ offices. But they are time consuming to make.
She prefers making wedding cakes, and has enjoyed exploring new cookie recipes for double chocolate chips, and seasonal flavors such as pumpkin. She’ll be able to offer more of those in a shop with walk-in traffic rather than just making cookies specifically to-order. She’s started taking new “test kitchen” flavors as party favors to get feedback.
She hopes to open by the end of the year. Hours will tentatively be: 7 am to 2 pm. Wednesdays through Sundays.
The space will be available for private events such as work gatherings and baby showers. Andersen also plans to offer cake and cookie decorating classes.
“I find Parkville to be extremely charming,” she says. “You can go a couple of miles and feel like you are in the city, but this is a fun, relaxing, quaint little spot with a lot of walking traffic and a lot of people come to spend the day. I want my space to be a welcoming space for everyone to gather, to celebrate, to relax, whatever they want to do.”
