Banana split, carrot cake, snickerdoodle, and a much-loved former school bus that was once headed across the country, but instead, found a permanent home in Wareham.

When Michelle Gardina decided to take her bakery out of her Wareham Lake Shores kitchen and on the road, she needed to find the perfect delivery vehicle.

"Originally, I thought I'd buy an ice cream truck," she said. "But I found a bus."

She certainly did find a bus.

The converted school bus was equipped with three cushy sets of seats, a folding bed, and a faux wood floor.

It was not ready to be a bakery's rolling storefront. It was ready for its young, European owner to take it across the United States on an epic road trip with friends.

"You could have literally put your luggage in and left," Gardina said.

But it was not to be. The owner had to return to work in Europe sooner than expected. He had no choice but to sell his beloved bus.

When Gardina saw it, she knew it was perfect for her mobile Mad Batter Bakery.

She purchased it in June, painted and lettered the outside, and installed counter space, a baker's rack, a refrigerator, and a portable sink.

She was ready to go.

"I kept two seats so I can have my kids with me," she notes, pointing to the two plush seats in the back of the bus.

Now, Gardina opens the side windows, places a wooden countertop in the window frames, and sells her gourmet cupcakes at local events — with flavors ranging from the typical chocolate, vanilla, and buttercream, to the atypical lemonade, cookies and cream, and Guinness.

Gardina's foray into the bakery business was serendipitous.

"I've been doing custom cakes and cupcakes for friends and family," she said. "I've always had an eye for putting things together," she added, explaining that she has a knack for working with fondant, the icing used to decorate and sculpt pastries.

When friends and family encouraged her to open a bakery, Gardina decided, why not?

A freelance photographer by trade, Gardina formerly owned the Picture Perfect frame shop on Main Street. She spent much of her firstborn's early years operating the store, and she knew that's not the life she wanted  again.

"I know what it's like to have a [traditional] storefront," Gardina explains. "You live there."

Of her new, mobile storefront, she notes: "I can take it with me."

But the bus certainly gets attention.

"The reactions have been really, really funny," Gardina said. "Just watching people's expressions. [They say] 'You seriously have a cupcake truck?'"

Gardina has a residential kitchen license that allows her to bake everything she needs in her home kitchen. Licenses for operating a mobile food service allow her to distribute her baked goods from the bus.

She says she's also hoping to do birthday parties and other occasions, where attendees can climb aboard the bus and frost their own cupcakes.

"I just thought it would be a good way to get my product out there," she says of the bus.

Based on the reactions, she might be on to something!

For more information about the Mad Batter Bakery, visit www.themadbatterbakery.com, e-mail madbatterma@gmail.com, or call 508-317-8551. The Mad Batter Bakery is also on Facebook. Gardina can often be found in Onset on Wednesday evenings from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. during the Summer of Love Concert Series.