After postpartum anxiety, Anamosa mom flourishes through floral cupcake bakery

ANAMOSA — When Trina Shaffer had her son five years ago, she took on baking as a hobby.

Like many new mothers, she found it to be an easy way to bond with her child. But with postpartum anxiety, she soon realized it was more than a way to make treats.

“I noticed we enjoyed it. It just calmed me greatly,” she said.

After a few years of baking with Daniel, she had her daughter, Grace, who is now 2. With Grace, the decorating schemes started to get more complicated.

With a directive from Grace to start making more “girly” things, Trina started making more recipes she found online, eventually stumbling into floral designs.

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Before long, what started as something for fun turned into a business when parishioners at her church offered to buy the cupcakes she was bringing in. So she started to study the craft more with classes from YouTube — a trusted scholastic support for do-it-yourself learners — as well as studying real-life botany subjects and color theory to craft delicate colors as naturally as possible.

Before she realized it, she was a professional with a portfolio of true-to-life cupcake bouquets — from ombre blush pink peonies and budding red roses to buttercups that look as good as they taste. In October, Baked with Grace was born.

“A friend reminded me that talent is just pursued interest,” said Shaffer, 36. “Before I knew it, I started feeling good enough to sell them.”

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Baked with Grace offers cupcakes baked with light fillings, in addition to a standard American buttercream that stands up well to intricate designs on top. The icing itself, a simple powdered sugar and butter mix, is elevated with vanilla bean paste and, sometimes, a hint of salt to balance out its sweetness.

With cakes, mini-cakes and cupcakes that can be arranged in floral bouquets of up to 100 flowers, her decorating skills truly have become the icing on the cake. After donating dozens to organizations around Jones County and the Corridor, others started to take notice.

“At first, it was about giving back, and cupcakes make people happy,” she said. “Maybe other people won’t feel as much joy through a cupcake as I do, but it’s the story I really want to be told.”

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As the business grows, she remembers the roots that helped her blossom. The beauty her cupcakes emanate have become a personification of the faith she has pursued in and out of the kitchen — a faith she credits for helping her through postpartum anxiety, and a faith she believes makes an ordinary activity something more extraordinary.

“It’s just marveling at God’s nature,” she said. “When you look at creation, you have to be inspired by it — mine just happened to be with sugar.”

Her upcoming book, “Blooming Motherhood,” will serve as a testament to other new mothers on how to thrive while raising young children. With a few recipes mixed in, she hopes to let them in on the tips that helped calm her. In the batter and icing, that translates to flavors like blackberry lavender or camomile honey, made with ingredients that soothe.

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She previously wrote two children’s books with her husband, Daniel Adam Shaffer.

“My goal is to tie in recipes that make you feel good with a book that’s encouraging to moms,” Shaffer said. “Postpartum anxiety or depression is one of the hidden mental health struggles women face. I wanted to shine a light on what brought me here and why I decorate cupcakes now.”

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.