The Cake Girl Named a 2026 Tampa Bay Chamber Small Business of the Year Finalist

We’re incredibly proud to share an exciting milestone for The Cake Girl®: we have been named a 2026 Tampa Bay Chamber Small Business of the Year finalist.

For founders Kristina and Kirby Lavallee, this recognition represents much more than a business award. It represents years of taking chances, learning, growing, building an incredible team, and receiving tremendous support from the Tampa Bay community we’re proud to call home.

What started with Kristina baking cakes from home in 2008 has grown into a Tampa bakery known for custom cakes, creative desserts, major events, community involvement, and some pretty unforgettable cake creations along the way.

Being recognized among Tampa Bay’s outstanding small businesses is an honor—and an opportunity to reflect on just how far this journey has come.

What is the Tampa Bay Chamber Small Business of the Year Award?

The Tampa Bay Chamber Small Business of the Year Awards recognize outstanding small businesses and leaders in the Tampa Bay community.

Being selected as a finalist is an exciting recognition for The Cake Girl and our entire team because Tampa Bay isn’t simply where we do business. It’s our home.

This community supported The Cake Girl when it was a small baking business, showed up for our dessert truck, welcomed our storefront, trusted us with some of life’s biggest celebrations, and continues to support us as we grow.

To now be recognized by the Tampa Bay Chamber as a Small Business of the Year finalist makes this milestone especially meaningful.

Who Founded The Cake Girl?

The Cake Girl was founded by Kristina Lavallee, a UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management graduate, entrepreneur, and cake designer.

Kristina began baking from home in 2008, turning her creativity and passion for hospitality into a growing business.

Her husband, Kirby Lavallee, later joined her in building the company, bringing his background in leadership, operations, business development, and community engagement to the brand.

Together, Kristina and Kirby have focused on building more than a bakery. Their goal has been to create a company centered around people, relationships, memorable experiences, creativity, and community.

How Did The Cake Girl Grow From a Home Bakery Into a Tampa Business?

The Cake Girl’s growth didn’t happen overnight.

Kristina began creating cakes from home in 2008. In 2016, The Cake Girl took a major step forward with the launch of its dessert truck, bringing cakes and desserts directly into communities throughout Tampa Bay.

In 2019, The Cake Girl opened its Tampa storefront.

Since then, the business has continued to grow and evolve, creating everything from birthday and wedding cakes to corporate cakes, celebrity celebrations, 3D sculpted creations, and massive custom cake installations.

The Cake Girl has had the opportunity to create cakes and desserts for recognizable names and organizations while continuing to serve the Tampa families and businesses that helped build the brand.

The company has also expanded beyond traditional custom cakes with Crave’n Cups®, a ready-to-eat cake-in-a-jar concept designed to bring The Cake Girl experience to customers beyond the bakery.

Through every stage of growth, one thing has remained consistent: never forget where we started or the community that helped us get here.

Why Is Community Involvement Important to The Cake Girl?

Giving back to Tampa Bay has always been part of who we are.

Over the years, The Cake Girl has been proud to support local families, veterans, first responders, military members, schools, nonprofit organizations, and community events throughout the Tampa Bay area.

Our connection to the military community is particularly meaningful. Kristina has served as an Honorary Commander at MacDill Air Force Base, giving our team another opportunity to support and connect with the men and women who serve our country.

Kirby’s background in law enforcement has also helped shape The Cake Girl’s longstanding commitment to supporting first responders and the organizations that serve them.

Whether we’re donating desserts, supporting local causes, creating cakes for community milestones, or simply showing up when our community needs us, we believe a successful local business should make an impact beyond its own four walls.

Tampa Bay has supported us, and we believe deeply in supporting Tampa Bay in return.

What Does Being a Small Business of the Year Finalist Mean to The Cake Girl?

It means a lot. Behind every cake that leaves our bakery is a team of people working incredibly hard to create something special for someone else.

There are early mornings, long days, big ideas, mistakes we learn from, challenges we work through, celebrations, and plenty of moments when running a small business is anything but easy. That’s entrepreneurship.

Being named a 2026 Tampa Bay Chamber Small Business of the Year finalist is recognition of that entire journey—not just where The Cake Girl is today, but everything and everyone it took to get here.

It belongs to our team. It belongs to the customers who have trusted us with their celebrations. It belongs to the organizations and businesses that have partnered with us.

And it belongs to a Tampa Bay community that has supported The Cake Girl every step of the way.

Proud to Be a Tampa Small Business

From cakes made at home to a dessert truck, a Tampa storefront, nationally recognized creations, new brands and opportunities we never could have imagined when this journey began, we are incredibly grateful for how far The Cake Girl has come.

But we’re even more excited about where we’re going.

To the Tampa Bay Chamber, thank you for recognizing The Cake Girl among this year’s Small Business of the Year finalists.

To our team, customers, partners, friends, family, and Tampa Bay community: thank you for being part of our story.

We’re proud to be a Tampa small business.

We’re proud to call Tampa Bay home.

And we’re just getting started.

— Kristina & Kirby Lavallee

The Cake Girl®