A local baker is making cupcakes and cakes for all occasions. Sandra Hutchinson of Bremen will handle all the sweet confections you’ll want or need for your next function or party, be it a wedding shower, wedding, baby shower, birthday party, or an office party, or even just to satisfy your personal sweet tooth.

Seaside Sweets by SuziQ was established around a year ago when Hutchinson got a call from Lauren (Forgues) Albaum of Boothbay, who was planning her wedding. Albaum had heard about her through a mutual friend.

Before becoming a cupcake aficionado, Hutchinson served in the military for 22 years. Born in Chicago and raised in Miami, she joined the Air Force at 18 and was stationed in Hawaii for two years.

Hutchinson met her first husband, from Hermon, Maine, while stationed in Hawaii. She moved to Maine in 1981 and the couple had two children, Krysteen, now 33, and Duncan, 28.

The baker was never really into cooking, but her mother, aunts and cousins were all great cooks. ‘I had never had any interest in being in a kitchen. I didn’t like to cook, and it doesn’t come naturally to me.”

After 28 years of marriage, Hutchinson and her husband divorced, and she decided to go back to college. She was three credits away from her associate’s degree, and felt a need to finish what she had started. She didn’t want to work full time. A friend, who is a great cook, suggested culinary school.

At 52 she enrolled at Southern Maine Community College and majored in culinary arts. She graduated three years later and is now a full-fledged baker and owner of her own company, specializing in cakes and cupcakes.

While in college, Hutchinson met a woman from Newcastle. “She introduced me to this area, and I loved it.” Hutchinson bought a house in Bremen in 2013, and met the owners of Weatherbird, Joanne and Wayne Moore. They learned she had a degree in culinary arts and offered her a job as a part-time baker.

Hutchinson started her business in cupcakes after meeting with a psychic three years ago. “She told me, not knowing who I was, that she knew I cooked and baked, and told her she should be doing cupcakes.” The psychic told her it would take a couple years to get her business off the ground.

Two years ago, Hutchinson got the call from Lauren Albaum of Boothbay, who asked her to do her wedding cake, surrounded by cupcakes, in September. “She was my first wedding catering job.” Since then, Hutchinson has made cupcakes for Albaum’s baby shower, and other weddings and showers.

Hutchinson said she’s a perfectionist by nature and strives to make everything she touches the best it can be. Email sandora1@msn.com or text 207-570-4375 for more information.