Frequently Asked Questions or FAQ: You have questions, let’s see if I have answers! If you can’t find your answer here, please contact me and I will get your answer PRONTO!
Can?
Can I have the recipe for the _________ that you sold in the bakery?
All in good time. I will post recipes on the website and maybe put together a few collections of recipes, but I won’t just share it with you personally. No offense intended, I just haven’t decided the best way to proceed and I haven’t formatted the recipes for public use yet. Subscribing to the newsletter is the best way to make sure you don’t miss any!
Can I link to one of your recipes, articles, or photos?
I would love it if you shared a link back to my site! You don’t have to ask, feel free. You may use a photo from my site along with your link as long as you do not alter it or get rid of the watermark and it is used in close proximity to the link.
Can I use your recipes, photos, or articles on my site?
Sweet Bytes content and photos are protected by copyright. You cannot copy/ paste my recipes, articles, or photos onto your own site. If you are going to use a recipe for your own content, please rewrite it in your own words and take your own photo.
Who?
Who are you?
Thank you for asking! I’m Mikel Ibarra! Today I’m an artist who uses desserts as my artistic media and I occasionally teach related classes. Before that I taught public school art for 20+ years and ran Sweet Bytes OKC as a home bakery.
What?
What happened to the home bakery?
I closed the ordering part of Sweet Bytes on January 1, 2018. I no longer take orders or bake for hire. Now I bake because I love it and want to return to my teaching and creative roots.
What does that even mean?
Well, it means that instead of baking, taking orders, and delivering desserts all over the great state of Oklahoma, I have a different business model. Now it’s baking, decorating desserts, and sharing what I make online with people who are just as excited to learn about baking and decorating as I am!
Why?
Why did you close the shop when the bakery was going so well?
It was going well. It always went well from the moment I sold desserts. I thought that the only way to grow a baking business was to open a shop, but the harder I went in that direction, the farther I felt away from myself. Being a baker and being a bakery owner are two very different wheelhouses. I am an artist and teacher.
Why do you only bake from scratch?
Because when I was around 6 years old this wonderful lady named Aunt Merl whipped up a batch of cinnamon rolls using no box mixes right in front of my eyes. These cinnamon rolls changed my life and as far as I was concerned she had superpowers. One day, about 30 years later, I thought… “I’m going to try to make desserts from scratch!” Once I started, I was hooked and I love every single, challenging part of it. One day I hope I can bake a batch of cinnamon rolls as well as Aunt Merl.
How
How do I order?
I don’t take orders anymore. I’ll collaborate, I’ll teach you how to bake it, I’ll give you advice, but I won’t take your order.
When?
When did you start baking?
I started baking when I was very young. I got an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas one year and I baked all I could in those tiny pans. I also got the most awesome Jell-O Cookbook, and I was a whiz at whipping up this Jell-O dish with a funny face on it. I started baking from scratch seriously in 2012; I went from curious to obsessed, now I might need an intervention.
Where?
Where are you located?
In the heart of Oklahoma, OKC!
Do?
Do you use local ingredients?
We make it a priority, but not everything is available locally all of the time. We use fresh local ingredients when they are available such as pecans, pumpkins, fruit, and dairy. We use Oklahoma stores and products every chance we get.
Do you do custom cake and pie orders?
No, not anymore.