Kitty’s Kakery, a Killeen bakery, held its final day of summer cake-making camp on Friday.
Katherine Alvarez, owner of the business located at 858 S. Fort Hood St., is an award-winning baker who has lived in Killeen for nearly 10 years and plans to host events that give kids the opportunity to bake creatively. The bakery opened in 2021 and expanded last year. With the extra space, Alvarez decided they wouldn’t have a dining room but would instead use the space to provide a platform for the kids.
“I feel like we need more things to do with kids,” she said. “I’ve always loved teaching and I’m passionate about what I do, so I thought it would be really cool to have cake decorating classes.”
That’s what inspired the “Is It Cake?” camp the bakery is hosting this summer. The latest camp wrapped up Friday, with several kids baking cakes that looked a lot like cheeseburgers.
Alvarez acknowledged that children are currently out of school and can get bored easily.
“My 12-year-old son loves watching the TV show ‘Is It Cake?’ So I thought this would be a really cool kids’ camp,” Alvarez said.
The children’s camp started in June this year and this week’s was the second one the company has organized. There are no plans to organize a children’s camp in August because the children will be returning to school.
Alvarez said he has seen an overwhelming response from parents expressing how much their younger children would enjoy interacting in such activities.
“Because of the need I saw and the overwhelming response from the specific age group of 5-9, I decided to create a Kid’s Cake Junior Camp,” she said.
The junior camp is scheduled to take place in August of this year. During the camp, children will learn how to make realistic cakes. This includes a cookie cake that looks like a pizza and cupcakes that look like summer foods such as hamburgers, hot dogs and corn on the cob. On the third day of the camp, they will make a cake that looks like a farm animal. All dates for upcoming events are already scheduled.
According to Alvarez, most people know the business for its custom cakes, wedding cakes, and military promotion and retirement cakes. In addition to that, Kitty’s Kakery also sells everyday desserts such as cookies, brownies, cupcakes, cheesecake slices, pudding cups, and more. The business also offers many vegan products, but according to the owner, most customers don’t know about the vegan cookies because they taste so good. Alvarez made it clear that his business is here to stay in the city of Killeen.
“Unfortunately, we’re in a small community, so it’s a little harder for small businesses,” she said. “I don’t want to move my business to another city… I just want people to know that we’re here to support our community for the long term.”
