Kay Walters is a 13-year-old girl with different interests and hobbies. She enjoys creating art, especially anime drawings. A new interest is baking. In fact, the teen recently started her own small business, Kay’s Sweet Treats.

Last year, Kay was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, and she struggles with social skills and coping mechanisms. Her mother, Amber, has seen how much joy baking brings to her daughter and wanted her to pursue it.

“I can’t stress enough how many skills she’s learning by doing this,” said Amber, adding, “With her baking, she’s learning fractions and how to add them, and she’s also learning cause and effect and all the responsibilities that come with baking, like cleaning up the kitchen when you’re all done.”

Kay shared how it all began.

“I started baking when I was little and my neighbor taught me how,” she said. “A couple months ago I made my own thing, brownies, and everyone loved them.”

When asked what she likes to bake, Kay didn’t hesitate before answering cheesecakes and apple crisp. However, she has really branched out and has also made cherry and peach cobbler; cupcakes; cake; and a variety of bars.

Kay’s Sweet Treats was started so she could share her baking with others.

“She made that first pan of brownies and then she made a cake and she wanted to keep going,” Amber said.

Everyone in the household couldn’t keep up with all Kay was baking, so Amber posted online that they had some cakes and brownies for $5.

“That way she could keep baking and we weren’t going to get the repercussions,” Amber laughed.

Amber made a Facebook page for Kay’s business in order to get the word out and take orders.

“We’ve got a couple regular customers. They enjoy not having to go to the store,” Amber explained.

Kay takes requests and has been hired by a number of people to bake for special events. She has been booked for some weddings within the family. The first job she had was for an important event as she made gender-reveal cupcakes.

“She thought that was pretty exciting to know what the baby would be before the parents did,” Amber said.

Kay finds most of her recipes on Pinterest or other places online.

“I’m always up for a challenge so I’ll do whatever anyone wants,” Kay said.

She will join the cupcake challenge at the Martin County Fair this summer and already has plans to make a unique cupcake for it.

The newest exciting thing is that Kay’s Sweet Treats will have a stand at the farmers market in Fairmont. Kay will be there on Saturdays from 9 a.m. until noon with a variety of baked goods.

“She’s having to utilize her social skills and her math for giving change,” Amber said.

Kay sells whole 9-by-13-inch pans of bars at the market. She expects to have Special K bars, rice crispy bars, cupcakes by the dozen, cheesecake and more.

“The prices aren’t high because we’re not doing this for profit,” Amber said. “We’re doing this to keep her active and happy and being happy means less meltdowns and anxiety. She came up with it on her own that she’s going to take the money she earned and put it back into supplies, and that’s exactly what an entrepreneur should do.”

Amber also likes that baking keeps Kay off the computer and away from the TV, but when Kay does watch TV, she enjoys baking shows such as “Cupcake Wars.”

“I have a dream that I want to be on one of those,” Kay admitted, adding that she would like to combine her passions of art and baking and become a cake decorator some day.

“It’s thanks to everyone’s word of mouth that we’ve come this far and she’s just gotten good support from everyone,” Amber said. “People give good feedback and her face lights up and she gets so excited to hear that.”

Kay acknowledges that she feels better, is happier and is thankful for the support.

“I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my mom and my friends and my neighbor Beth and my grandma,” she said. “They pushed me really far and they believe in me a lot.”

“She’s had a lot of struggles to get where she’s at today,” Amber said.