Baking might come as a challenge for some, but for Molly Rizzuto, sweet treats are her specialty. Molly is the owner and creator of Goose House Bakery, located in Moscow.

She has been operating the bakery for five years, and she does not plan on slowing down.

Rizzuto was in college when she was hired in a local bakery cafe to do some light prep work, cooking and baking. After a few months, she began working in the cafe’s cake decorating department, where she expanded basic skills into refined, professional ones, she said.

Rizzuto continued to learn from this position for several years, before moving with her husband to Portland, Ore. Here, she got a job in a restaurant as the head of the wedding cake department, overseeing all orders and finalized products. In total, Rizzuto has about 20 years of baking experience.

After spending some time in Portland, Rizzuto and her husband decided to move to Moscow, where they wanted to raise their new child. It was in Moscow that Rizzuto began working to open her own bakery.

Rizzuto would join her sister at her house for countless mornings to work on the business, she said. After weeks of drafting, researching and planning, Rizzuto officially opened Goose House Bakery in October 2015. The name for the business came from her sister.

A man named Bill Goose was the previous owner of the house in which Rizzuto’s sister currently lives. Every day before the original owner’s passing, a small, ceramic goose would sit in the window of that house and, eventually, the neighbors came up with the name “Goose House.” The name stuck.

“I can’t imagine a more fitting name for this labor of love,” she wrote in a follow-up email.

Shortly after Goose House Bakery’s opening, Rizzuto participated in Moscow’s winter market in November of 2015, where she set up with small samples of baked goods for potential customers to try. One of those customers, who happened to run the Moscow Winter Market, was Jenny Kostroff.

When Rizzuto brought in her homemade display case with flowers as decor, Kostroff said she was immediately impressed.

 “Like, ‘oh, wow, she’s got a certain level she’s brought to this equation beyond the regular baked-good person,’” she said.

After knowing Rizzuto for five years, Kostroff said she knows for a fact that Rizzuto not only has an “incredible work ethic,” but also a great “attention to detail and sense of style.”

“A lot of what she puts together comes naturally to her,” Kostroff said.

Rizzuto’s cakes are masterpieces crafted with an architectural base of lines and curves that may not be traditional, but fall into the “edgy category,” she said.

Rizzuto gathers inspiration for her designs simply “by gazing at the world around [her],” she said, and pays specific attention to architectural designs.

Rizzuto’s cakes aren’t just structurally unique, though.

“I won’t eat everybody’s birthday cake, but I will always eat something that Molly’s made because it’s always delicious,” Kostroff said.

Rizzuto makes and sells everything from wedding cakes, to scones, bars, macaroons and other small venue items. Her most popular, and one bar that is unique to Goose House Bakery, is a salt-and-pepper caramel wedge with a shortbread crust. As for her favorite creation? A flourless chocolate torte that often appears at the winter market in Moscow.

Rizzuto’s goal with Goose House Bakery is to bring happiness to every customer she has, she said.

The simplest way that she does this is through creating baked goods she believes she will like. “It’s all about ratios and experimentation,” she said. “Making your own recipes becomes a second nature when you know what ingredient does what.”

She doesn’t, however, worry about the amount of “unhealthy” ingredients.

“If you want to make something special, don’t worry about the health aspect of it,” she said.

If you want to see Rizzuto’s designs or taste her sweets, however, you’ll have to order first. Goose House Bakery is a home bakery, where baked goods are crafted and sent out by delivery from Rizzuto herself to each customer.

Rizzuto rents a commercial kitchen, where she bakes items to deliver to local cafes, such as One World Cafe in Moscow. However, her gallery and menu items can be found on her website, Goose House Bakery.

Rizzuto will be returning to the Moscow Winter Market on Saturday, where new and previous customers can taste her sweets. 

Goose House Bakery can be reached at goosehousebakery.com.