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NATCHEZ — Beautiful, simple and delicious are the hallmarks of the perfect cake for Alexis Lehrman, the 23-year-old entrepreneur of the new Butter Cakery in downtown Natchez.

On Monday, the Natchez Adams County Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting for Lehrman in the bakery at 404 Main St. While she has always had an artistic eye for fashion and design, baking with grandma is what drove Lehrman’s passion for creating delectable deserts, she said.

Lehrman, or “Lexi,” as she is known by friends and family, studied fashion at Parsons School of Design in both Paris and New York.

She grew up as a passionate home baker with her grandmother, Linda, teaching her all she needed to know about baking from scratch. When Linda died with breast cancer, Lehrman’s reasons for baking like her grandmother became more important. She wanted to make people happy, especially her family.

Lehrman said she loves experimenting with new flavors of her own, which can be found at her new bakery — peanut butter and jelly, Oreo, lavender lemon, mocha caramel and — her favorite — key lime. Her cakes also change as the seasons do, Lehrman said.

“I always switch it up,” she said. “I love finding interesting flavors.”

When COVID-19 pandemic hit New York, Lehrman took a road trip with her father, Richard Lehrman, on her way home to Miami. They stopped in Natchez at the urging of a family friend and former Miamian, Stacy Conde, who opened the nearby Conde Contemporary fine art studio last year. Until then, running a bakery was a pipe dream, Lehrman said.

“It was one of those dreams that you never think will become real. I had been studying fashion since I was 16. You kind of have it in your head, ‘This is going to be my career,’ then life changes and your perspective changes.”

Lehrman said the friends she made in the first three days of her visit to Natchez helped her make up her mine to open a bakery here.

“I cook for people I love and do it because it brings them joy,” she said. “If I were to open a cake shop in New York or Miami, it would just be rolling strangers. I love making people happy but there is nothing better than making people that you know happy. It’s a passion. What a dream, to get to do something that you’re passionate about. Very few people get to wake up in the morning and get to do exactly what they dreamed about doing.”

Lehrman said new bakery was made possible by the support of her family.

She is the youngest in her family with two older brothers, J.J. and Josh, and comes to Natchez with her parents, Richard and Sheila Lehrman and her security dog, Bean.

Butter Cakery will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday serving cupcakes, cakes, and cake by the slice. Her shop also contains other goodies like imported flower teas from Austria, locally sourced drip coffee, Sheila’s Spicy Seasoning Salt — an artisanal handcrafted seasoning, special braided brioche and sour dough bread and a selection of specialty breads each week. For dog lovers Lehrman also has her own line of “Pupcakes,” all-natural dog-friendly treats.

To find out more about Butter Cakery, visit buttercakery.com and @realbuttercakery on social media.