ROCK SPRINGS — Most bakeries are born from a business plan. Western Whisk Cheesecake Co. was born from a birthday cake nobody wanted to eat.

Kailie Rees, a born-and-raised Rock Springs resident, said her family simply never warmed up to traditional cakes. So she started making cheesecakes, first for birthdays and holidays, before more regularly making them for neighbors and friends. By November of last year, she was selling them out of her home. On March 14, she opened the doors to a brick-and-mortar storefront in downtown Rock Springs.

“It was his request,” Rees said of her husband’s preference for cheesecake. “And then my family had tried it and really enjoyed it. I realized everybody else loved it, and it wasn’t something we had around here.”

The shop, open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., rarely makes it to closing time. Rees said the cases are typically empty by noon, on weekends, often earlier. The menu rotates weekly, with flavors voted on by followers through Facebook. Seasonal specialties, including a carrot cake cheesecake layered with actual cake, have drawn long-running demand.

“I like learning the new ones,” Rees said. “Carrot cake was actually pretty fun.”

But Western Whisk has grown into something beyond a cheesecake counter. The storefront now features five additional local vendors: Sweet Indulgence, which sells cookies and cookie flights; Hannah’s Buzzing Bakery, which supplies cinnamon rolls; Kindred Clay, offering handmade ceramics; Classy Gal Boutique, a retail clothing vendor; and Broke Money Co., a merchandise brand run by Rees’s brother.

Some vendors were longtime collaborators. Others walked in as customers and left as partners. Rees said the arrangement reflects a broader ethic among Rock Springs’ small business community.

“It’s not competition, it’s just about helping one another, elevating each other,” she said. “I ordered 40 pounds of butter the other day and took half of it to each of my bakers.”

Reese, who previously owned a cleaning business, said she never anticipated the level of community support the shop has received. Plans are already in place to move to a commercial kitchen within the next year, assuming current momentum holds.

“If it stays the way it is,” she said, “we would love to have a commercial kitchen.”