By Maeve Balavender
Behind the whisks and glitter that adorn the countertops of a baby blue Isla Vista kitchen, resides a sweet and bright business aptly titled “Sunshiney Cakes.” Lily Fitzgerald, a third-year Film and Media Studies student at UC Santa Barbara, is the creative mind behind this bustling cake hustle that strives for every bite to taste just like sunshine.
UCSB student Lily Fitzgerald, founder of Sunshiney Cakes, considers aesthetic appeal when she creates her floral cakes. Photo by Lily Fitzgerald.
As a student of cinema and its modalities, Fitzgerald has paired knowledge she has gained from UCSB classrooms with inspiration found in the California climate, a combination that led her to fancy, flower-topped cakes.
In a recent interview — conducted while she created a tasty treasure — Fitzgerald said her studies have taught her the importance of storytelling, a lesson she carried forward to crafting and creating her botanical baked goods.
“I’ve learned how I want to document my cakes, and what story I am telling with my brand,” Fitzgerald said. “I want to spread joy to people with something that tastes good, looks good, that brings people together for their birthdays to celebrate. I think it’s all about storytelling, and I’ve learned that from my connection to my major and cake making.”
Fitzgerald hails from the ‘sunshine state.’ Her baking journey started out in a Florida kitchen, alongside her mother, aunts, and grandmother. When she moved into a house in Isla Vista in the fall of 2022, Fitzgerald was able to continue this labor of love by making all of her friends personalized birthday cakes in her own kitchen, with occasional Instagram story posts about the final products. One follower swiped up to inquire into whether she sold these cakes — and from that point forward, she did.
Lily Fitzgerald, a third-year UCSB Film and Media Studies student, is the founder of the cake business ‘Sunshiney Cakes.’
The student baker advises other entrepreneurs to “always say yes” to opportunity. “Be authentic to yourself, to what you like, and what you want to do. Figure out how you want to showcase your talents,” she said. “Afterall, it was following that joy of making cakes and having fun in the kitchen that led to learning so many different things, and I could employ those skills for sale.”
In a way that inspires action for an audience at any stage of life, Lily’s business path can be viewed as an extended metaphor — or recipe, if you will — on how to open your own doors. She followed her love for baking, shared it with others, and let that snowball within her community.
She has paired her passion for cake baking with her ability to capture an audience on social media, where she thoughtfully documents the wild-picked flavors and whimsical layers of her Sunshiney Cakes.
This creative process is good training for Fitzgerald’s chosen career after graduating from UCSB. “My dream job is to do fashion styling in the world of film and media, perhaps for productions. I feel like this [business] falls under one of my creative passions.”
UCSB student Lily Fitzgerald’s business, Sunshiney Cakes, bakes for birthdays, celebrations, and special occasions.
At UCSB, Fitzgerald has taken “Video Production” and “Writing and Advertising about Art,” both of which feed into the advertising side of Sunshiney Cakes, and her love of fashion and video creation on TikTok. “I love styling, so I think that’s why I like decorating cakes so much and being in charge of those little details. It’d be cool to style a shoot with my cakes.”
With her Instagram marketing in mind, Fitzgerald says she is mindful of “the 360° visual appearance” to maximize how photogenic a cake can be. She designs the cakes, usually for various birthdays, celebrations, and special occasions, with the individual story that accompanies them in mind, focusing on layers that are attractive when sliced as well as whole.
Fitzgerald says creativity isn’t reserved for distant post-grad fantasies — it belongs in the lives of college students now, if they want it to. She has worked to combine knowledge, vision, consistency, and execution.
For UCSB’s local cake-maker, it’s all about action, led by positivity.
Maeve Balavender is a third-year Psychological and Brain Sciences major who is pursuing a Professional Writing Minor in the Journalism track. She wrote this profile in her Digital Journalism course.
Photos from @sunshineycakes on Instagram.