Living Your Legacy – From Baking at Home to Running a Production Powerhouse

Podcast: Living Your Legacy
Host: Rudy Mawer
Guest: Castle Sorensen (Castle's Creations, Pink Cadillac Bar)
Date: October 22, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode shines a spotlight on Castle Sorensen, an innovative food entrepreneur who took her love of baking from humble home beginnings to building Castle’s Creations—an award-winning bakery recognized on national TV. Host Rudy Mawer guides a lively, transparent discussion about Castle’s journey, the growing pains of food-based entrepreneurship in Alaska, scaling to wholesale production, and the key lessons she’s learned along the way. For anyone seeking motivation, practical startup guidance, or a candid look at the real challenges of building a legacy in a tough industry, this episode delivers thoughtful insight and contagious inspiration.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. From Home Baking to Food Truck Success

• Early Days: Castle began baking as a hobby after struggling to find teaching jobs as a young Spanish teacher. Baking for her dad’s office led to word-of-mouth orders.
  • “I just kind of started baking for fun. I worked with my dad in his office and I would bring treats... Before I knew it, people were calling me asking to get more.” (04:00)
• Finding the Niche: Inspired by Cupcake Wars and noticing a lack of cupcake-specific bakeries in Alaska, she pursued cupcakes as her specialty.
  • “When cupcake wars came out, there wasn’t cupcake shops in Alaska... That kind of gave me the thought, like, well, cupcakes are so simple, but they can also be super extravagant.” (05:20)
• Food Truck Focus: Opted for a food truck over a storefront to create demand, reduce overhead, and allow freedom and flexibility.
  • “I chose the food truck route… once it’s paid off, you have no overhead… I wanted to create more demand.” (06:34)

2. Scaling Up—The Realities of Growth

• Transition to Wholesale: As her family life evolved and demand increased, Castle shifted from food truck sales to wholesaling with local businesses and larger outlets, notably Three Bears (a mini-Costco).
  • “Now the food truck is out very limited… So now people can find my product in gas stations, coffee shops, restaurants.” (08:22)
• Supply and Demand Challenges: Rapid sell-outs proved market fit, but growing pains included equipment, staffing, and supply chain issues—particularly tricky in Alaska.
  • “Before I could get on the plane the next day, they were sold out of all those cheesecakes.” (10:35)
• Managing Volume: Production jumped from a few hundred cupcakes to thousands of cheesecakes per order, necessitating larger mixers, more staff, and serious logistical foresight.
  • “I think we've done about 2,000 cheesecakes in a day… We could work eight hours and probably make... five or 6,000.” (12:03)

3. Entrepreneurial Lessons & Hard Truths

• Letting Go of Control: Moving from a one-woman show to a team required personal growth and delegation.
  • “When I got to the point of growing, I realized, you know, I can't do this by myself.” (12:50)
• Logistical Hurdles in Alaska: Shipping delays, supply shortages (like running out of cream cheese), and high costs forced creative problem-solving and backup planning.
  • “Sometimes... my products, they'll say, these are special orders only, and it'll be here in two weeks.” (14:12)
• On Investing Wisely: Attempting to save money with a used food truck led to larger expenses later—a warning on false economies.
  • “Cheap is always going to cost you more.” (15:10)
  • “My last problem that I had with that truck... cost me $16,000. And it was like, either I fix it... or I don't fix it, but then I can't run my business anymore.” (15:08)

4. Memorable Moments & Business Milestones

• Major Milestone: Selling out 1,000 cupcakes in an hour at her first food truck event.
  • “But I went out the next day with a thousand cupcakes, and I was out in an hour… look, everyone showed up to support me and buy out all these cupcakes.” (17:47)
• Disaster Story: Accidentally toppling racks of cupcakes—a testament to resilience in the face of setbacks.
  • “I went to open up the refrigerator door and it bumped into it. And it was like a domino effect… five, six hundred cupcakes... they all came crumbling down.” (18:32)

5. Practical Advice for Entrepreneurs

• Start Small & Research Carefully: Castle emphasizes thorough market research and incremental growth.
  • “Definitely start small. You know, research your area, see if there's a need.” (19:57)
  • “If you don’t do your research thoroughly... maybe it wouldn’t be something that would even go anywhere.” (20:23)
• Scale Responsibly: Be prepared for volume; don’t overextend before systems and capacity are ready.
  • “Being able to keep up with it... I see a lot of businesses have these big ideas and they just go for it... and then you see them fail.” (21:04)
• Resourcefulness: Rent freezer space to conserve capital for other needs.
  • “I could just rent freezer space for $150 a pallet... as I grow for other things.” (22:31)
• Learn from Others’ Experience: Engage with people who have tackled similar scaling challenges, like hiring logistically-minded staff from bigger bakeries if needed.
  • “Maybe this tip for you. Go hire an ex Cheesecake Factory employee...” (25:53)

6. On Legacy & Motivation

• Aspirational Goals: Castle dreams of supplying desserts to Alaska Airlines—ambitious, yet rooted in her local identity.
  • “I think it'd be super cool, you know, to have a local business be distributing their desserts for the airline.” (23:31)
  • Acknowledges this would require up to 250,000 cheesecakes a month (24:59)
• Believing Against the Odds: The importance of self-confidence and tuning out naysayers.
  • “You just have to believe in yourself… I had people tell me that I was crazy and I was like, well, we’ll just see what happens.” (24:33)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Starting Small:
  "You sold your first cupcake for a dollar or two, right? You gave a few away before that. And now you get purchase order for 400 or whatever. Thousands of dollars." — Rudy Mawer (00:00, 11:42)

• Facing Doubt:
  "I had people tell me that I was crazy and I was like, well, we’ll just see what happens." — Castle Sorensen (00:46, 24:33)

• On Alaska-Specific Challenges:
  "Being from Alaska, you know, it’s harder getting supplied... sometimes it’s like, some of my products, they’ll say, these are special orders only, and it’ll be here in two weeks." — Castle Sorensen (13:57–14:18)

• On Learning—and Failing—Fast:
  "Cheap is always gonna cost you more." — Rudy Mawer (15:10)

• Why Start With Research:
  "If you don't do your research thorough, then it's like, well, maybe it wouldn't be something that would even go anywhere… there's time and money involved." — Castle Sorensen (20:23)

• Planning for Big Growth:
  "I wonder if I could actually do this... I took how long it took us to do this many in a day and times it by 24 hours... there's no possible way that I could make that many cheesecakes in a month." — Castle Sorensen (25:16)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Castle’s Origin Story and Cupcake Wars Inspiration: 03:08–05:17
• Choosing the Food Truck Model, Early Challenges: 06:13–08:09
• Transition to Wholesale, Major Client Orders: 08:22–11:25
• Rapid Growth: Producing Thousands of Cheesecakes: 12:00–12:33
• Supply Chain Nightmares in Alaska: 13:05–14:18
• Key Business Lessons (on investing, learning, adapting): 14:54–16:35
• Big Milestone: Selling Out 1,000 Cupcakes Fast: 17:46–18:08
• Nightmare Story (Cupcake Rack Accident): 18:32–19:23
• Actionable Startup Advice (research, start small, scale carefully): 19:57–21:15
• Scaling Operations Logistically: 21:37–23:06
• Future Aspirations, Building a Legacy: 23:31–24:59

Where to Find Castle's Creations

• Facebook: Castle’s Creations
  "Facebook is the best way to find me. Unfortunately, Instagram got hacked, so you can still find my Instagram, you just... I don’t post anything up to date." — Castle Sorensen (26:40)

Final Thoughts

Castle's journey illustrates the power of experimentation, resilience, and staying close to one’s roots, even when scaling for national ambitions. Her down-to-earth advice and Alaska-tested tenacity offer honest encouragement and vital lessons for food and beverage entrepreneurs everywhere.

“If it's something that you love to do, you can do it if you really want to... believing in yourself and knowing that you have what it takes to do it is super important.” — Castle Sorensen (24:33)