Samantha Peters likes to make people smile, and her favorite way to make that happen is by giving them a piece of cake or a cookie.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year forcing people to spend time at home, Peters noticed that people were sad so she started making cake and dropping it off on friends' door steps.

“Something sweet makes life better,” she says.

Then one day she went into Trovare downtown looking for lemon olive oil to use for a cake. She got to talking with Trovare owner Julie Hickethier, and then later returned with a slice of the cake. Peters was asked to teach baking classes at the store to go alongside their cooking classes.

When the pandemic forced the classes to be suspended, Peters instead began using the commercial kitchen at Trovare to whip up cakes, pies, cupcakes and cookies.

She sells her creations out of Trovare under Sammy Bakes and has largely grown her business through word of mouth and those who taste her creations returning for more.

Early on her intention was to bake two to three days per week, but now she’s churning out tasty creations six days per week.

“This has been more successful than I could have imagined,” Peters said.

“I’m just excited and awe of how supportive the community has been,” she added. “People have been unbelievable, and I’m so happy I’ve been able to be successful and grow.”

At Christmas time, she made more than 1,000 cookies, plus cakes and pies.

Her Instagram page is full of her confectionary creations — there’s a cake that looks like a skier crashed into it, one has a forest scene with bears and there are fall cupcakes decorated to look like pumpkins.

“I love making cakes and the creativity of it,” Peters said. “With my cookies I try to have creative flavors and I’ll do custom flavors too.”

She’s not afraid to take on a custom order for a cake design or flavor. While she has her own ideas brewing, she’d much rather get a suggestion from her customers.

“I’d rather have someone give me an idea,” she said. “I like the collaboration.”

When she was a young girl, Peters spent time in the kitchen learning to bake from her mother and grandmother. When her mom passed away a few years ago, Peters felt a calling to move to Montana, so she and her father came to Whitefish sight unseen.

“My dad has a huge sweet tooth,” she said, noting he’s become one of her greatest sources for tasting new flavor combinations. When she’s trying a new recipe she’ll still drop a slice of cake off at a friends door too.

Cookies have quickly become a popular choice for her customers. She makes cowboy cookies, snickerdoodles, chocolate chip and peanut butter chocolate chip to name a few. One of her most popular has become the brown butter bourbon chocolate chip cookie.

“Those always sell out,” she said. “I think they’re popular because there’s a lot of people who are here from Texas and enjoy that flavor combination.”

“A lot of people also just want the simple chocolate chip cookie,” she said. “I do like to experiment and it seems like they don’t stay in the fridge too long so it’s hard to figure out what’s the most popular.”

Working out of Trovare with its kitchen located at the back of the retail space, Peters says has given her the ability to chat with customers who come.

“I don’t think I’d enjoy this as much if I was tucked back somewhere,” she said. “I get to see people every day and chat.”

For more information, visit https://www.sammybakes.com/