NATICK — What do you get when you take a mom from Maine, an empty storefront in downtown Natick and a desire to make people happy? You get Natick's latest business, Maine Girl Cupcakes, now open at 13 South Main St.

The shop is owned and operated by Kristin Littlefield, a Marlborough resident who has run a baking operation from her home for the past five years.

"As my kids were growing up, I had some time to get into a hobby and I got into making cakes," Littlefield said. "I would get really into making cakes for my kids, which led to me making cakes for my kids' birthday parties. I loved being creative, especially with the kids and all the different designs you could make with them. When "Frozen" became big, that was huge because I was making tons of 'Frozen' cakes."

Littlefield's prowess for baking soon spread through word-of-mouth, and she found herself with orders coming in regularly. Her business then began to evolve. She started a website, then remodeled part of her home into a licensed residential kitchen. At the start of this year, she took the plunge and decided to make a run at having a brick-and-mortar store.

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"I knew that I either had to quit my job, or expand the business," she said. "I decided to expand. I'm not sure what is going to happen or what it's going to be like, (but) it is exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time."

The Natick storefront, which debuted last weekend, is open from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. The business' name is taken from Littlefield being originally from Cumberland, Maine, and the store's decor includes pictures of Cape Elizabeth Beach and Acadia National Park.

While she started by baking cakes, Littlefield switched to cupcakes after determining they were easier — and more interesting — to bake.

"With cupcakes, you can do anything with them," she said. "You can make them almost any flavor, there is so much room for creativity. I loved baking cakes, but a cake takes four or five hours, I can't do that by myself. Cupcakes are in. You are starting to see people do cupcakes more often for weddings. You can have a giant vanilla cake that everyone gets a slice of, or you can have a bunch of distinct flavored cupcakes that people can pick out and try."

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Littlefield said she has about 100 flavors, and is experimenting with even more. The Camper is a chocolate cupcake with marshmallow buttercream, Graham cracker crumbs and chocolate ganache drizzle, topped with milk chocolate and mini marshmallows. Katahdin Key Lime Pie is a lime cupcake with cream cheese buttercream and Graham cracker crumbs. The Brunch Bake is a French toast cupcake with maple syrup buttercream and topped with bacon.

Littlefield said some of her recipes are the result of suggestions from friends or families.

"My brother-in-law once said that I needed to come up with a whiskey-flavored cupcake, so I came up with a dark chocolate bourbon cupcake and called it 'The Brother-in-Law,'" Littlefield said.

Other times, divine inspiration takes place.

"I'll just be walking through the grocery store and I'll see something and think to myself that it would be a good cupcake flavor," Littlefield said. "The other day, I walked by a display for white chocolate Kit-Kats and realized I didn't have a recipe for those — so I created one."

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Individual cupcakes go for $5.50 apiece. Customers can also purchase four for $20, six for $27 or a full dozen for $48.

So far, business has been brisk. Littlefield said that on her opening day last Saturday, she made 20 dozen cupcakes and sold out in less than four hours. While she's been starting her workdays at 5:30 a.m., she said she'll likely need to start even earlier if she hopes to keep up with demand. And while she admitted she was unlikely to ever make it rich selling cupcakes, the bliss she gets from the baking process and helping other people have a good day is what is the most valuable to her.

"I really love my job," Littlefield said. "A long time ago, I worked in a dentist's office and nobody is in a good mood when they go to the dentist. With this place, nobody is ever frustrated to be buying cupcakes. People are in a good mood, and that puts you in a good mood, knowing that you are helping someone else be happy."

For more information on Maine Girl Cupcakes, visit mainegirlcupcakes.com.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Maine Girl Cupcakes brings bakery to downtown Natick