From a simple blog in 2008 to a social media mogul with just over half a million followers on Instagram in 2024, Joy the Baker—or Joy Wilson—is sharing her love for baking with the world one recipe at a time.

Although originally from California, Wilson made waves among her local fans when she moved to Houston from New Orleans two years ago. She’s since relocated just outside of the city, in Bellville, with hopes to bring more attention to the town through her baking. But to understand how she got here, let’s take a trip down memory lane.

Growing up, Wilson’s parents worked at the post office, and as a side hustle, the two would bake—her dad’s focus was pies, while her mom was a cake decorator. As a child, Wilson would help her parents measure out ingredients, instilling her love for baking at a young age.

When she eventually ventured off to college, she was able to financially support herself by working in restaurants and bakeries, deepening her passion for the culinary art. After Wilson graduated with a degree in English literature, she realized she didn’t want to stop there. She began her blog to combine the joy she gets from baking with the writing skills she gained in college.

During the early days of the blog, Joy the Baker, Wilson continued to work in the restaurant industry, often holding two jobs at a time just to make ends meet. She would blog at least once a week, posting different recipes she gathered and perfected from her job at the bakery. After four to five years, the blog gained traction and became quite popular.

“The key to it really was to be consistent,” Wilson says. “In the beginning, I was being consistent just for myself because no one was reading it—I was truly doing it for myself. But I just kept going and growing with every platform invented along the way.”

Keeping it simple

Today, Wilson says she’s finally found a good rhythm for her blog, and she even has a team of about five people to help her. Joy the Baker is a bit more seasonal now. For example, in the summer months, things are typically slower because people are traveling, spending time with family, or purely enjoying the air conditioning and don’t want to heat their homes up with baking.

Instead, Wilson focuses on the fall and winter seasons. She says this is the time when recipes are in more demand because people want to stay inside to bake bread, pies, and holiday cookies. Inspiration for her recipes typically come from restaurant menus. Rather than reinventing the wheel, she focuses on tweaking flavors and simplifying techniques.

The best part about these recipes? They’re inclusive. With all the new gadgets and gizmos available today, it can be easy to feel left out of the mix (no pun intended), so Wilson ensures that all her recipes can be made using simple tools, too.

“I want people to feel successful and empowered when they bake because they’re spending time and money on these ingredients,” Wilson says. “I want them to come out with a beautiful end product that they can share with people. It’s not about the type of pastry cutter you have, it’s about having something beautiful at the end that you can feel proud of.”

Building community

Wilson is also a three-time cookbook author (Joy the Baker Cookbook, Homemade Decadence, Over Easy), publishes the Joy the Baker magazine biannually as well as a Camp Joy recipe book that readers can use as a guide to camping.

Although the blog is the foundation for Wilson’s business, and acts as a live cookbook, social media plays a big role in bringing attention to her brand. But there is only so much she can share, which is why she also enjoys connecting one-on-one with people who want to learn a new recipe in a cooking class environment.

During her time in New Orleans, she opened up her home to people for classes. With her kitchen as her studio, she hosted about 12 people at her house—which she called the “bakehouse”—three weekends a month, teaching them how to bake, focusing on a certain recipe with each group, and treating them to coffee, mimosas, and lunch.

After visits to her boyfriend's family in Texas, she grew to love the state and wanted to call it her home—he is an Aggie, she notes. Wilson jokes falling in love with an Aggie means it seals the deal, because “they’re the best people.”

“I don’t make the rules,” she says.

She finally made her trek over to the Lone Star State in 2022. She lived in the Rice Military area, which she found perfect because of its proximity to the parks and dining options. And of course, during her time in the city, she visited the amazing bakeries Houston has to offer. Some of her favorites include Fluff Cake Bar, Badolina Bakery, and El Bolillo Bakery.

After about a year and a half in the city, Wilson began to crave more. Fun fact: she rides motorcycles, and on one of her drives out of Houston, she began to fall in love with Bellville. She likes that it’s close to Houston but is still far enough away that it doesn’t feel like the city.

“Bellville is a small town, but it doesn’t feel teeny tiny,” Wilson says. “There’s cute things going on, the people are wonderful, and it feels like it’s a place of growth which is exciting for me—I want to be part of the community.”

She purchased an old fixer-upper from the 1880s and is working to renovate it to turn it into something she’s proud of. The home, which has a lot of character, is the perfect inviting space for her to do just that. With a sunroom in the back off the kitchen, Wilson says she’d love to get a butcher block table to once again host a group of about eight to 12 people for baking classes, or even families and bachelorette parties.

There’s also an apartment above her garage, which she hopes to turn into a short-term vacation rental where people can stay overnight, explore the town, and enjoy a little getaway—she’ll even treat visitors to fresh pastries on the doorstep every morning.

“I’ve spent so many years on the internet, that in the last few years I’ve really wanted to create a space and community that feels like the next transformation of my brand—to be in-person without having a brick-and-mortar bakery,” Wilson says. “The internet is where we all are, but it’s pretty isolating. My website does feel like a place where I teach people how to bake, but I want to actually get in the kitchen and do it together, because part of the love is to share, and I’ve had a yearning to do that in real life.”

Making magic

For now, she’s excited to share her latest project: a children’s book for ages six through 12. Part of Magic Cat Publishing’s Life-Changing Magic series, the book will be called The Life-Changing Magic of Baking and releases on September 24.

Wilson wrote it alongside her dad, recounting how she grew fond of baking and the inspiration behind it all—it’s essentially her life story. She says the best part is that the book not only has baking lessons and real techniques, but it also includes life lessons. And for fun, there’s a birthday cake recipe at the end.

But for now, Wilson is working to transform her home into the Texas bakehouse that will be the next transformation of her brand. She says it’s a “big bite” because she’s a bit overwhelmed by it, but she knows once she keeps chewing at it—or rather, renovating it—it will be all worth it.

“I just want to build this place up for other people to enjoy as much as I think I will,” Wilson says. “That’s what I want to do over the next several years.”