‘I’m Going for It’: Linne Takes a Sweet Chance

Lynchburg Sweets & Treats opens with homemade cake pops, self-serve weekend sales, and custom orders

5:04 p.m. Aug. 26, 2026

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

B.J. Linne does not know whether she will sell two cake pops or 200.

She figures there is only one good way to find out. “I’m going for it,” Linne said.

That little leap of faith is behind Lynchburg Sweets & Treats, a new self-serve cake pop and treats stand opening at 885 Majors Cemetery Rd. The stand will open at 8 a.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. Sundays, staying open until the sweets are sold out. Custom orders will also be available.

There is no storefront, no bakery counter and, for now, no grand expansion plan.

Just Linne, a front porch and a love of baking that needed somewhere to go.

“I’m an empty nester, and I love to bake,” Linne said. “But with it just being my husband and me, I can’t bake and have us eat it.”

She laughed about the familiar rhythm in her house. She would bake. Everyone would eat something fresh from the oven. Then the leftovers would sit.

“I always felt like it was a waste of time and energy just to have whatever I baked go bad,” she said.

Meanwhile, Linne had accumulated what she calls “millions of recipes” she wanted to try.

Scrolling social media eventually put another idea in front of her: cake pop stands.

“I’ve seen a few over in Tullahoma,” she said. “I haven’t seen one out here, so I thought, you know what? Might as well give it a try.”

First came the guinea pigs

A few weeks ago, Linne made her first batch of cake pops just to see whether she could pull it off.

“They were not bad,” she said.

The neighbors became willing taste testers.

“They sampled them all and said that they were really good,” Linne said. “So I’ve been making more, and all the neighbors are still getting them — all the different flavors and stuff.”

Eventually, she decided it was time to see whether the rest of Lynchburg had a sweet tooth, too.

“Now I’m like, OK, I’m ready to see if anybody else is interested in these.”

No bakery required

Linne is intentionally starting small.

Rather than rent a building and open a full bakery, Lynchburg Sweets & Treats will operate from a cart on her front porch.

“It gives me an opportunity to see what people are interested in,” she said.

Customers can stop by, pick what they want, pay, and be on their way.

“It’s going to be self-serve,” Linne said. “They can choose what they want and pay and then take off with it.”

The opening lineup is plenty sweet.

Linne has been working on brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts, pink sugar cookie, Cosmic Brownie, and Biscoff cookie butter cake pops. She is also adding a Cookie Monster version with chocolate chip and Oreo flavors.

Cake pops will be $3 each or four for $10.

Even Shawn needed convincing

The experimentation has been part of the fun.

Linne said her first batch did not exactly convince her husband, Shawn.

“The first day that I made the first cake pops, again, it was my trial run, he was kind of like, ‘I don’t know about this,’” she said.

Then came batches two and three. “He was like, ‘OK, now this is good.’”

Linne had figured out what she was doing wrong, kept tinkering and finally decided about two weeks ago to make the jump.

“I was like, ‘OK, I’m going for it,’” she said.

Shawn’s role has remained fairly straightforward.

“He put the cart together, and he’s tasted a few,” Linne said.

Putting down roots – and trying something new

Baking itself is nothing new for Linne.

She grew up in a military family, living in places including Illinois, Arizona and the Philippines. She later spent years in Georgia before she and her family decided it was time for another move.

As COVID-era shutdowns were winding down, Shawn floated a thought: Why wait until retirement to move where you eventually want to retire?

“Why not move to where you want to spend your retirement, work the rest of your working life and retire?” Linne recalled him saying.

“We were ready for a change,” she said – and that change brought them to Moore County.

Now, with the kids grown, Linne has found another outlet for a trait she readily admits she has always had.

“I am a busybody,” she said. “Even when I’m not working, I’m finding something to do.”

These days, that something comes dipped, decorated and served on a stick.

“I enjoy doing it,” Linne said. “This gives me kind of an outlet to share it with other people.”

She is not putting a sales goal on opening weekend.

The stand is a little off the beaten path, she knows, and Linne is content to see whether people make the trip.

“I honestly don’t know if I’ll sell two cake pops or 200,” she said. “I have no idea.”

Lynchburg Sweets & Treats

• 885 Majors Cemetery Rd.
• Saturdays beginning at 8 a.m. until sold out
• Sundays beginning at 10 a.m. until sold out
• Custom orders available
• (678) 943-7254