How this local business woman built the career of her dreams with her partner by her side

Biting into a good cupcake is like falling in love. The softness of the cake paired with the lusciousness of buttercream icing melting together create a decadent experience that can evoke the same dopamine high as locking eyes with a stranger and getting butterflies in your belly.

No one knows this better than Seguin Sweet Treats owner, Commie Jennings. Commie is not only a master baker, but she’s a creative mind who spins storylines for her cupcakes and plays them out in a drama via social media where her followers stay for the story and to know what’s in the shop each day.

Seguin Sweet Treats stocks fresh baked good and offers lunch items and high tea for those who fancy it.

While Commie is now synonymous with cupcakes locally, she didn’t necessarily expect to become a professional baker.

“I was working at a party store where I baked and worked the front,” Commie said. “One day, the lady who decorated the cakes just quit, and everybody was like, ‘well, who’s going to decorate the cakes?’ And I was like, well, I’ll do it.’ And so I did it, and I fell in love with it. But the funny thing is, when I was working at the party store, I was studying for my nursing entrance exam. I remember I did that first wedding cake, and it was like it just opened up something in me. I started looking up cakes more than I was studying for nursing. And needless to say, I took my test like three times, but I never passed. I’ve always worked in healthcare, I just never passed my test. So I don’t know; I kind of think it was a calling. It was an undiscovered talent that I had. And I think if I had become a licensed nurse, I don’t think I would have discovered that this is what I was meant to do. It’s just crazy how it happened.”

All of that was over fifteen years ago. Since then, even while working her corporate job, Commie hustled on the side baking and decorating, striving to make her dream come true. She juggled her growing cake business with the demands of being a single mother, and a business professional, and somewhere along the way, she met her now husband, Dewayne.

“He kept calling me,” Commie laughed. “It was like we had that first date and it was like, ‘Okay we’re going out again. Okay we’re going out again.’ And I remember in that first maybe two or three months after each date, I was like, ‘I’m not going out with him again.’ But then I’d find myself sending a text, and I’d be at work and he’d be texting me. And I don’t know, it was like we just looked up one day and it had been three or four years later and we’re still together. Then another three years, and I’m like wow, this is really happening.”

While dating, Commie and Dewayne lived in separate cities with Commie living her life in Seguin and Dewayne in San Antonio. They’d keep up via text and phone calls, meeting in person when they could, always keeping up the delicate balancing act between their individual loves for their careers and their relationship.

As their love grew, however, so did Dewayne’s role in Commie’s business.

“Dewayne’s been on this journey with me for the last 10 or 11 years now,” Commie said. “He’s always been supportive of my job, even my corporate job because then I worked and cakes and stuff was my side gig. And Valentine’s, even as a side gig, it was always a big part of what I did. And so Dewayne kind of just stepped in and became, like, our delivery slash pickup guy. If we needed supplies, he was always the one to get them, because fortunately, his job is in San Antonio, where a lot of my vendors and things where I get stuff from are. So if I needed something, it was always, ‘Hey, can you bring me this? Hey, bring me that.’ So he just got to the point where that became his job. He also got a lot of clients for me from his job and the barber shop where he goes. So then he became the delivery guy when we had orders. So it just kind of worked like that.”

As for Dewayne, he takes his role seriously and knows the ins and outs of the business and plans for the important holidays, even taking off from his job to help on Valentine’s.

“I’m here for whatever she needs,” Dewayne said. “On Valentine’s I’ll be the delivery guy. I take off the day, and help her out. It’s a big day for her, so I’ll come pick everything up and take it to San Antonio. From the beginning, we’ve had our families involved in this. My parents helped her. Her sister has helped her. Her nephew has been there. Both our daughters have helped. And we’ve had everybody, family and friends, that really poured into this over the last several years. It’s all of us.”

But with all that work that goes into the bakery on Valentine’s, it can be easy for couply things to take a backseat to business.

“You know, this is our first year that we’re actually going to go on a date on Valentine’s Day,” Commie said. “We’ve never been on a date Valentine’s Day on the actual day. Never. We always do it, maybe before the weekend, or after. Never on Valentine’s Day.”

And the big plans? A couple’s date with friends at Melting Pot, a bucket list restaurant for both of them.

As Commie fills her bakery case this upcoming holiday, and serves Seguin all their favorite treats, customers can close their eyes, take a bite, and know that each delicious bite was baked with love. •