By CHRISTINE BOATWRIGHT / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – For Leslie Arnold, the dream of owning a bakery began with two gifts from her husband – a Kitchen Aid stand mixer and a food processor.

With tools in place, Arnold began experimenting with recipes and taking her baked goods to work in the accounts receivable department at EBSCO.

“I had a scone recipe that I tweaked and made my own,” Arnold said. “People at work loved them and I asked if they loved them enough to buy them.”

Her coworkers replied enthusiastically, Arnold said, and more than a year later, on Oct. 20, she opened Wooden Spoon Bakery in Columbiana.

“It was trial and error at first. I watched a lot of food TV,” Arnold said with a laugh.

Due to her weekday job, Arnold plans to open the bakery every Saturday from 7 a.m.-3 p.m., but will offer specialty or custom cakes and batch or tray orders anytime during the week.

Arnold’s specialty cakes range from animal shapes to cartoon characters to a superhero cake she made for her 3-year-old son, Graham. The four-tier cake featured a different superhero theme on each layer with a green Hulk fist punching through the top and a working flashlight as part of Iron Man’s tier.

As for the retail portion of the business, which is open on Saturdays, Wooden Spoon Bakery offers seasonal baked goods such as dark chocolate-orange scones, cranberry-white chocolate scones, caramel apple scones and bacon-cheese biscuits.

“I love coming up with new flavors,” Arnold said. “I always like new challenges.”

The Wooden Spoon Bakery is currently offering a drawing for a Thanksgiving or Christmas cake. Customers can write down their favorite holiday memories, and Arnold will draw at the end of October and November for the winners.

Also, 8-inch Thanksgiving cakes are available for $25. Flavors include hummingbird-carrot, red velvet and Italian crème.

Arnold is challenging the Columbiana community to support her new business.

“My goal is to have a place on Main Street with a coffee shop, sandwich shop and bakery,” Arnold said. “I’m counting on the community. I want to give Columbiana something special. The town needs a local spot for something unique.”

Wooden Spoon Bakery is located next to Napa Auto Parts at 21078 Alabama 25 in Columbiana.

For more information, visit Facebook.com/woodenspoonbakery or contact Arnold at 746-0067 or woodenspoon.leslie@gmail.com.