A Marine spouse is using her culinary prowess to share creativity, patriotism and faith with others.
Baking is a comfort for Megan Slaton, the owner of Sugar, Spice, & All Things Iced. Slaton grew up helping her mother and grandmother as they baked cookies and made meals from scratch. Now doing it for her own family, she says baking creates “homey nostalgia” in her kitchen.
In 2018, after she married her Marine and they started a family, Slaton looked critically at what the job market held for her. Daycare wasn’t an option due to the high cost — she would have essentially handed over her paycheck every month — and the deployment schedule affected what hours she could provide an employer. Job searching then led her to something that had brought such comfort over the years: baking.
A baker’s business
“I had already been doing bake sales for the unit … [to] fundraise and raise money. So I’d make little cake slices and cookies and things like that, and everybody loved them. And people always asked for some,” she said. “So, I’d make them extras here and there.”
Knowing she had quality baked goods from the Marines’ feedback and ready to start a new career, Slaton decided to become her own boss. She jumped into entrepreneurship whole-heartedly seven years ago and has seen incredible success, though she admitted surprise at how the business has flourished despite multiple PCS moves.
“Everybody says that business is hard; it is hard. It’s not easy! But we have moved from Lejeune to Hawaii, from Hawaii to Florida, and now we’re about to move from Florida to California, and I’ve taken my business everywhere we go,” she said.
Geographical tastes
In addition to the challenges Slaton has faced in moving her business several times, she has also needed to revamp her menu to accommodate the geographical preferences.
“It has been a struggle every time just to learn the new community and what they want, and having to adapt. That’s the Marine Corps saying: adapt and overcome. It’s my business model at this point, because every three years or so, we’re going to a new community, and they want different things,” she explained.
Slaton shared that she has enjoyed the challenge of adjusting the menu, pricing and marketing process for the various areas they have lived in.
“It has been a really interesting learning experience, and I feel like a lot of people would see that as an obstacle and give up,” she said. “But I really enjoy the challenges because it helps me grow so then I know what to do right.”
In Hawaii after the business’ first PCS, Slaton found steady work — and success.
“I did Marine Corps Ball cakes, I did international destination weddings, I did markets in town. I was well known across the base and the island, and that was just such a very interesting feeling,” she laughed.
Somewhat of a celebrity, Slaton was even recognized in Target by a woman who followed her Instagram account. The fan praised her work — and promptly placed an order.
The patriotic baker
In addition to finding business success, Slaton has also turned baking into an act of care. Since 2023, she has volunteered with Heroes Strong, a nonprofit based in Longwood, Florida, that supports the “everyday heroes:” military, fire department, law enforcement, medical personnel and educators. She became the de facto baker for events and has been dubbed the “patriotic baker” by the organization’s president David Rubin.
On the last Friday of every month, Heroes Strong volunteers participate in Heroes Overseas Packages (HOP), a program that packs and sends care packages to deployed soldiers. Slaton, familiar with sending goods overseas from her husband’s deployment, ships a dozen vacuum-sealed cookies in each box.
Each cookie sent overseas is part of a special buy-one, gift-one program Slaton started with Sugar, Spice, & All Things Iced.
“Every time somebody buys a chocolate chip cookie … I donate one cookie,” she said.
She went on to say the special program serves local heroes in the community, as well, and explained why it is important to her.
“This program is more of an incentive to give back. I love my business but … I’ve always told people: I believe in collaboration over competition. There’s more than enough room for everybody in all aspects of life, but I also believe more in people over profit,” Slaton said, showing her compassion alongside her business acumen. “I love what I do. Money is nice; I have bills to pay, like we all do, but I truly believe in the people that I am serving over the profit.”
Cakes for Keiki
Under the umbrella of Sugar, Spice, & All Things Iced, Slaton launched Cakes for Keiki, a program designed to provide birthday cakes to children who would otherwise not have one.
Cakes for Keiki (the Hawaiian word for “children”) started after Slaton saw a video online of a young boy in foster care receiving his first birthday cake.
The child was 11 years old at the time.
“He just cried and cried because he had never had that experience. And I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh! That is so heartbreaking,’” she recalls. “And so I started Cakes for Keiki, and I work here in Central Florida with foster agencies and things like that, and I donate cakes to children.”
Slaton involves her customers by posting upcoming birthdays of children in foster care, and they can financially donate to support the cost of supplies. In this way, a birthday becomes a community event, celebrated with cake.
Icing Smiles
Slaton also volunteers with Icing Smiles, a national nonprofit that gives custom birthday cakes to children with terminal illnesses. Through their database, the organization matches volunteer bakers with families in the area.
A young boy battling cancer was Slaton’s first match with Icing Smiles. Luca wanted a Pokemon cake for his 8th birthday. When his chemo treatment forced the party to be rescheduled for the following month, Slaton was undeterred, determined to make his wish come true on his own timeline.
“I made this two-tiered [cake] … he wanted blue, and he wanted all the Pokémons, and he wanted Pikachu specifically — it had to be there,” she explained.
Slaton made sure Pikachu was front and center.
Luca loved the cake, as did his mother, who Slaton stayed in contact with to regularly keep up Luca’s health journey. Diligently praying and following his progress, Slaton reached out last June to ask how he was feeling. His mother responded that Luca had tragically passed away.
Slaton expressed the devastating grief she felt for Luca’s mother before sharing her gratitude for getting to know the family during a time of celebration and joy.
“8 years old, and just the heartbreak that poor baby went through — the pain, the suffering, like all those things — and just for a moment I got to be a part of something that made him forget about that.”
Now when requests come through for custom Pokémon cakes, Slaton makes sure to talk about a very special boy named Luca. His story continues to be shared, and in this way, he will never be forgotten.
‘Bloom where you are planted’
“I absolutely love what I do, and I love being able to give back to the community around me, and just donating and being involved in the community,” she said. “The military likes to tell you to bloom where you’re planted, and I feel like I do that fairly well, at least from the business aspect.”
While Slaton’s business has found success, she admits she would do this work even if she wasn’t compensated, proving that while baking is her calling, community care is her legacy.
“I made a cake recently. It was for a little girl — she was turning 10, I think … Her name’s Scarlett, and she wanted a Pokémon cake, and she wanted Pikachu. She’s like, ‘it has to have Pikachu. It needs to be pink,’” she said.
And just as before, Slaton made a wish come true.
Visit Sugar, Spice and All Things Iced to learn more about shop products.
