It was after hours at a grocery store in Eagle County, circa 2002. The bright lights that generally illuminate the aisles were off, and only a handful of night-shift employees remained in the building.
Over in the bakery, recent hire Danielle Renner was watching her coworker decorate cakes as if it was a performance. She was glued as she observed how her coworker took the tip of a piping bag full of frosting and delicately touched it to the top of the cake, making pedal formations in the shape of a rose.
"I want your job," Renner said as she watched her decorate cakes that Renner had baked.
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Renner's coworker took her under her wing and taught her the basics of cake decorating — how to detail, how to create borders and of course, how to make roses out of frosting.
In 2024, Renner found herself receiving an invitation to her company's national headquarters — The Kroger Co., based in Cincinnati, Ohio — to take part in a series of competitions alongside decorators from across the country.
She made her way there after blowing competition out of the water at a regional decorating challenge in Colorado, where she stunned judges with a cake that looked like a bowl of ramen.
In Cincinnati she was competing in front of every cake decorator's idol — Buddy Valastro or "The Cake Boss."
Valastro's show on TLC, "Cake Boss," got the nation hooked on cake decorating — so much so that it had a 13-season run with additional spin-off shows.
Renner was on a team of decorators competing for their creation to be featured in a Disney DecoPac book for Kroger brands. Cake designs in Disney's DecoPac book are highly coveted and only places with a special Disney and Kroger license can recreate its featured designs.
Her team won with an original creation based off of the Disney movie "Cars," and made it into the DecoPac book.
Over the course of two decades, Renner, who works for Vail's City Market, built herself up to be one of the most sought-after cake decorators in the high country. Renner, whose career education consists of tips from a coworker and YouTube tutorials, went from aspiring to be a cake decorator to having to turn down clients at times.
Renner said she still hasn't gotten over how lucky she is to have a profession she's passionate about. While it was creativity that drove her into the profession, she said it's her clientele that keeps her in it.
She has gotten to the point where her repeat clients will come to her with a loose idea and then let her take the concept wherever she wants out of trust that she will produce something great.
"Having a customer say, 'Hey could you try this out' and then exceeding their expectations is just amazing," Renner said. "It is such a good feeling. All the hard work and long days — that's what makes it worth it."
Sheryl Kessler said having her expectations exceeded has been a constant in the past seven or so years that she has been getting cakes from Renner.
Kessler loves gifting her Vail Valley friends Renner's cakes, and she always makes sure to send her a picture or a video of that person receiving it.
"When we do something special with friends and have one of her cakes, that's the thing everyone looks forward to," Kessler said.
"I think she gets a kick out of how much we appreciate her," Kessler added.
Kessler's journey with Renner began when she was buying a cake for her daughter's boyfriend's 21st birthday. Now, 8 years later, Renner's cake will be a part of their upcoming wedding celebration in September and will be served at the couple's rehearsal dinner.
Long-time client Rebecca Dahlquist said she could not even begin to pick a favorite cake out of the dozens Renner has made her over the years. Dahlquist, similar to Kessler, is always looking for a reason to commission Renner for a cake.
"Sometimes we order them just to have her cake in the house," Dahlquist said, noting that it's always a mood booster.
She said Renner's cakes are something special to her family. Renner made cakes for Dahlquist's father-in-law for seven years up until his death, and it was always something he looked forward to on his birthday.
"I told her if I ever won the lottery, I was going to open her up a bakery," Dahlquist said.
Vail local Wendi Hanlon sings a similar tune and is also a part of the group of repeat customers that have been getting Renner's cakes for years.
She gushed over a recent cake Renner made that quite literally shimmered due to a special frosting gloss Renner put on it.
While concocting wild creations for competitions was fun, Renner is now settled back down at her home base in Vail's City Market with her beloved customers.
"My clients bring me so much enjoyment. I love being a part of their celebrations and the big things that happen in their life," Renner said.
