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David and Courtnie Kyde, owners of A Piece of Heaven Cakes in Fairfield Twp., wouldn't mind being the next Duff Goldman. After all, the Food Network star got them inspired to bake cakes.

Goldman is the star of "Ace of Cakes," a show about making custom and elaborate three-dimensional cakes from weddings and anniversaries to movie premieres.

"I looked at that and said, 'I can do that,' " David Kyde said after first watching the show a few years ago. "It was that show that made it cool for me."

And Courtnie Kyde said, "I want to become like Duff."

The couple decided to bake cakes for the hobby of it, separate from their two children — Mckenzie, 9, and Madison, 6. A few years ago, they took some cake baking and designing classes, learning the basics. Courtnie bakes and David designs.

David Kyde, who has restaurant management experience, and Courtnie Kyde, who has retail management experience, decided they might as well make money from their hobby.

Through word of mouth and a blog on an online mom's group, they started promoting the business, then called Sweet Treats. David Kyde said they got rave reviews from customers.

"She had been on there just doing different blogs and rotated cakes we made as her picture (ID) and we started to get a lot of e-mail responses from mothers through that site," David Kyde said.

The couple revamped the Web site, changed the name to "A Piece of Heaven Cakes" and started to get more orders.

The couple makes the cakes out of their home, and eventually the couple said they wouldn't mind making it their full-time job.

"We're still in the bewildered part of it," David said of their early success. "Through the years, I'm pretty confident to say there's only a handful of people in the area, places that you can get a three-dimensional sculpted cake like that."

Tara Hypes of Hamilton wanted to get a cake for her boyfriend's mother, Fran Schmidt, owner of the Candle Haus in Bridgewater Falls, where she works. Hypes heard about the Kydes from her boss.

"I got so many compliments," she said of the vanity cake with a real vanity top. "We didn't cut it for like two hours because we were looking at it."

Hypes has booked two other cakes for upcoming birthdays — her nephew and boyfriend.

"It was also not like a store-bought cake. She said, "It was so moist, and I thought my mom made it for me."

Courtnie Kyde said while baking started out as a get-a-way from the kids, hobby and part-time gig, it's strengthened their 10-year marriage.

"It's made our life have a more solid foundation together," she said. "It keeps us on our toes, and it reopened our communications together."

For more information,

visit www.apieceofheaven

cakes.com.

Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5112 or mpitman@coxohio.com.