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By SCOTT MIMS / Special to the Reporter

ALABASTER – It was her grandmother and great-grandmother’s cooking that helped to inspire 21-year-old culinary school graduate Madison Harvel of Alabaster to open Madison’s Bakery Lane out of her home.

Harvel obtained her cottage food law license and officially “opened” her business on Oct. 11, offering cake truffles, stuffed cakesicles—imagine cake iced and decorated on a Popsicle stick—cookies, brownies and loafs with seasonal flavors.

“I’ve been baking since I was 5 years old, and my granny (Debra Faulkner) was the one who mainly taught me everything I knew before I went to culinary school,” Harvel said. “It’s something I have always been passionate about. She was known for her ooey gooey bars, her pecan pie cake and her Italian cream cake.”

Harvel shared that when she was only 7, her grandmother let her bake a cake for the first time. Always eager to learn and try new things, she jumped at the opportunity—although her love of walnuts led to her getting a little carried away:

“Even though the cake was very good, 7-year-old me did not know the proportions that well, so it was more of a walnut with a little bit of cake than an actual cake. We just laughed and smiled and ate it anyway,” Harvel recalled.

Her great-grandmother taught her how to make biscuits and old-fashioned Southern cooking like casseroles and chocolate gravy, added Harvel, who was always known by friends and family as “the little baker” so her career path came as no surprise to them.

The Hollins, Alabama native from Clay County has lived in Alabaster for about three years and graduated from culinary school at Jefferson State in May 2021. She earned degrees in baking/pastry arts and culinary/nutritional science management and received a Spirit Award at culinary school. She also works as a sous chef at The Copper Train in downtown Alabaster.

The name Madison’s Bakery Lane was inspired by her middle name, spelled “Layne.” She said she hopes to eventually open a storefront and thinks Alabaster is the ideal location, but that step is a few years down the line.

“When we moved here I quickly fell in love because it reminded me a lot of where I’m from,” Harvel said. “It still has that small town, close-knit feel even though we’re a larger city in a larger county than Hollins. I knew this is where I wanted to start my business journey.”

The menu for Madison’s Bakery Lane is available on her Facebook page, and she plans to swap around flavors often to match the current season. She is offering pickup or delivery from her home, and is taking orders via Facebook, Instagram or email.

“I want it to be something that I can channel my creativity and passion into and keep it exciting for not only myself but also my customers,” she said. “I now have five different items, and each item has about six flavors inspired by fall and winter. I will probably always have these five items for the most part, I will probably just change out flavors.”

For more information or to order, visit Madison’s Bakery Lane on social media.