It was September 2025 and Will Stein, then the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the University of Oregon Ducks, was gearing up for the Oregon-Oklahoma State game.
The night before, Stein attended a pre-game party where CBS sports commentator Brad Nessler was also a guest. As any true southerner knows, it is bad form to show up at a function empty-handed, so Stein came bearing a tasty treat from “back home” in Kentucky.
Stein’s mother Debbie, who owns and operates popular Louisville bakery SissyCakes with her sister Blakey Martin, had brought along their signature Orange Juice Cake on her trip out west for the game.
Coach Stein proudly shared the delicacy at the get-together, and to say that Nessler was impressed would be an understatement.
Stein and Nessler produced an impromptu video which Stein immediately forwarded to his mom and aunt.
On the recording, Nessler shares “Hey Debbie and Blakey—I just ate your bundt cake. It’s the best thing I have ever tasted dessert-wise—maybe even food-wise altogether—in my life!”
The next day—during the telecast of the game—Nessler was still singing SissyCakes’ praises to a national audience.
Blakey remembers: “CBS Sports asked permission to mention us during the broadcast, and we agreed. It was a nationally televised game, and they showed a picture of us. They showed a picture of our website.
“I was at home in Louisville watching the game at my house with my family, and Debbie was at the actual game.”
Debbies laughs, “All of a sudden, our watches and our phones began buzzing, buzzing, buzzing. Order after order came pouring in so fast, just from that one mention.”
For SissyCakes—a small family business—it was a game-changing moment that provided both clarity and, undeniably, a bit of stress as well.
Three months later in December when it was announced that Will Stein would be the new head football coach at the University of Kentucky, the accompanying media attention once again brought the SissyCakes name to the forefront.
“We got to work the morning Will’s hiring announcement was made to find news cameras as well as KSR—Kentucky Sports Radio—at our shop,” Blakey recalls. “They came in and did a live taste test. It was so out of the blue.”
As response grew and hundreds of orders poured in from around the country, the sisters came to the proverbial fork in the road. It was time to think long and hard about the best path forward for their burgeoning business.
The Sweet Story That Began with Family and Facebook
Long before SissyCakes Bakery was causing such a stir, there were just two close-knit sisters—Blakey Nutt Martin and Debbie Nutt Stein—who loved to bake for friends and family. Their whole lives, Blakey and Debbie have referred to each other as “Sis,” and a very young Will, perhaps then age five, took to asking for a “Sissy” cake when he wanted a sweet treat.
The name stuck, and what started as a beloved family recipe for an orange juice cake slowly gained a following when the sisters began taking holiday orders through Facebook. In just a few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas they sold thousands of dollars’ worth of cakes and realized their idea had real potential.
Still, like many Kentucky entrepreneurs, family responsibilities and busy schedules necessitated that the business simmer along on the back burner for the time being. That is, until a major opportunity presented itself.
When Louisville-based Paul’s Fruit Market sampled a SissyCake and expressed interest in carrying the desserts, there was one non-negotiable requirement: they had to be produced in a certified commercial kitchen.
That stipulation was the turning point that pushed the sisters to take the next step. And like many small business owners, although they had passion and a great product, they needed guidance, resources, and small business funding to take SissyCakes to the next level.
Finding Chef Space: Business Assistance Tailor-Made for Food Entrepreneurs
When the sisters placed a call to Tom Murro, president of Community Ventures’ Chef Space, an innovative kitchen incubator program located in Louisville’s Russell neighborhood, they gained access to more than commercial kitchen facilities. They also found both expert business training and funding opportunities.
Of their first meeting back in 2022, Blakey said: “We took a tour with Tom and he was just delightful. His mentorship and guidance through the process was invaluable because we didn’t know how to get from point A to point B. We didn’t know how to use commercial equipment or all the health department rules, and Tom helped us with all of that.”
By utilizing Chef Spaces’ commercial kitchen to bake their cakes, SissyCakes was able to immediately begin to fulfil orders for Paul’s Fruit Market as well as to pursue other wholesale opportunities.
After spending more than a year building the business through Chef Space, the sisters felt ready to move out into their own brick-and-mortar location. To make that move, they worked with a Community Ventures Business Development Specialist, who helped them navigate the financing process and better understand their options for small business loans in Kentucky.
“When it came time to grow even further, Community Ventures made the funding process painless,” Debbie remembers. “They were there every step of the way, answered all of our questions, and made us feel confident about moving forward.”
With the funding support, SissyCakes was able to purchase commercial bakery equipment and take the next step toward operating independently.
In addition to funding, the sisters benefited from business education and technical assistance throughout the process. The focus was not only on securing capital but also on helping them understand the best steps to take to ensure strong, sustainable growth.
As Kentucky’s leading microlender and a trusted source for loan guidance across the Commonwealth, Community Ventures works with entrepreneurs across the state to explore financing options and business resources that fit their unique needs and goals, enabling them to move forward with confidence.
With their own commercial equipment and a dedicated space close to both of their homes in Louisville’s St. Matthews neighborhood, the sisters were able to continue expanding SissyCakes’operations and serving more customers—including walk-ins—as well as shipping orders all across the country.
Experience and Steady Growth Lead to a Fork in the Road
It has been five years since a wholesaling opportunity pushed the sisters out of their comfort zones and their homes and into a commercial kitchen space. Now the SissyCakes co-owners, like so many entrepreneurs before them, are faced with making the next best moves for both their business model and for themselves personally.
For Blakey and Debbie, the first move has been to pull back from wholesale orders to focus on retail sales.
“We were so grateful and very pleased that Paul’s Fruit Market gave us our start. They are a huge market here in Louisville, with four very reputable stores,” Debbie explained. We’ve shopped there our entire lives, as did our parents. We were extremely honored that they wanted to carry our cakes.
“But all along, SissyCakes has been growing organically via word of mouth and social media. We are getting large corporate orders and shipping nationwide—I think we have now shipped to all 50 states. We were on an upward trajectory and profits were strong, even before all of the attention that came our way because of Will’s support and his recent hiring—that has been icing on the cake.”
Blakey continued, “We started this business because it truly brings us joy to see the joy our cakes bring to others. And a big part of the joy for us is being able to connect directly to our customers.
“There came a point that we were spending so much time fulfilling wholesale orders that we had no time at all to do things like pop-ups or events or even greeting our walk-in customers—things we loved that brought us face-to-face with the people that were buying our desserts.”
For those reasons, and because it is still important for the sisters to be able to carve out quality time for family, in December of 2025 they made the tough decision to take SissyCakes in a retail-only direction.
Today, the sisters are thrilled to greet their loyal customers as they show up in person at 102 Fairfax Ave. in St. Matthews. For others further away, a Sissy Cake craving can be satisfied by placing an order online at www.sissycakes.com or by calling (502) 632-1277.
The SissyCakes story reflects a nearly universal reality: While the entrepreneurial journey may begin with a simple idea or a creative spark, turning those into a successful, sustainable businessrequires patience, persistence, a willingness to learn and adapt, and access to the right resources at the right time.
As for Coach Stein, he will no doubt remain a SissyCakes fan for life. “I am so proud of my mom and my aunt for their hard work growing SissyCakes. The Orange Juice Cake really is the most perfect cake in the world!”
Business owners interested in SBA loans for small businesses in Kentucky, technical assistance, or business development assistance can contact Community Ventures to learn more about available funding and support.