Steamboat Springs — Baking for Steamboat Springs resident Cassie Piper is more than just a hobby. It’s an outlet that allows her to explore a vast depth of creativity as well as continually teaching her patience and refining her keen attention to detail.

The hobby turned into her own business and led her to open a boutique bakery specializing in mini cupcakes, custom made cakes, cake pops, cookies and more for any special occasion or celebration. Her bakery is known as the Mini Cupcake Bar located at the corner of Oak and Fifth streets.

“I’ve always been an entrepreneur in different ways with various businesses and knew I wanted to have my own in some way, but this is definitely something I wouldn’t have expected,” Piper said.

Going into her third wedding season, Piper has acquired the 2015 Couples’ Choice Award for the Best Wedding Cake from one of the nation’s leading online wedding marketplaces, WeddingWire.

The award recognizes the top 5 percent of local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire network demonstrating top quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism. The award was determined by recent reviews and surveys from newlyweds.

“Steamboat has been an amazing home to my boutique bakery,” Piper said. “We are truly a destination wedding location and the brides who plan their fairytale weddings here deserve to be catered to at the highest level of service.”

Not only that, Piper and her fiancé were asked to be models in the 2014 fall issue of Rocky Mountain Bride Magazine. There was a rustic theme with a preppy twist for the shoot, which was reflected in the decor and baked goods, including a three-tiered cake she made for the feature.

“She’s just such a warm and welcoming person,” said Lauren Browne, one of the brides who hired Piper for her wedding last summer. “The cakes were elegant yet the taste was just amazing. She’s phenomenal at what she does.”

Lindsey Grannis, longtime Steamboat resident and owner of One Fine Day Productions, said it’s the unique flavors that set Piper’s cupcakes apart from other bakers she’s worked with.

With a background of baking in Los Angeles before moving to Steamboat, Piper brought her recipes here but had to add a few modifications due to the change in altitude.

“What I’ve noticed is that my cupcakes are not as sweet as most,” Piper said. “I don’t want to taste all of that sugar, I want to taste the actual flavors like the vanilla or the chocolate.”

Throughout the busy season with three to four weddings in one weekend, Piper can be found working in the kitchen as early as 4 a.m. to ensure one of her rules: that everything is made the day of.

Although the bakery is only available by appointment or custom order only, Piper’s vision from the beginning was for each customer to feel inspired and fabulous from the moment they walk through her door.

“I’ve always put myself out there to see what would come of it, and you never know until you try — so I gave this a shot,” Piper said.

For more information, visit the Cupcake Mini Bar website or email Piper at cassie@cupcakeminibar.com.

To reach Audrey Dwyer, call 970-871-4229, email adwyer@ExploreSteamboat.com or follow her on Twitter @Audrey_Dwyer1