Christine Shulman's introduction to cooking began at age 4. With a plastic spoon and fork, she chopped bananas to contribute to her mom's fruit salad.

"I always had an apron in the kitchen with my mom," she said.

After a stint working as a teacher, Shulman realized baking was her true passion. She studied bakery and pastry at El Centro College's Food and Hospitality Institute. Two years later she worked as an apprentice at the Four Seasons Resort in Dallas.

In September 2011, she opened C. Marie's Sweets in Colleyville. Before that, she worked out of a commercial kitchen in Dallas. She advertised her baked goods through her website, family and friends.

Shulman does the majority of the baking from scratch. She sells baked goods, such as cupcakes, cake truffles, pies, cookies and custom cakes for weddings, birthdays and special occasions. Cake flavors range from campfire s'mores and orange marmalade to sweet spice.

Shulman gets excited watching her customers' initial reaction to her creations.

"When you give somebody sugar, sweets, it just brightens their whole day," she said.

C. Marie's Sweets, 1009 Cheek Sparger Rd., Ste. 126, Colleyville, 682-970-9644, www.cmariesweets.com