Our Story…

When I was a little girl, my mother always tried to make my birthday special in some way. My birthday is in August, so it wasn’t always easy to plan a party because many people were away on vacation. I had my first real birthday party when I was two or three, and I have pictures of all the neighborhood kids sitting around a table in the backyard with a circus-themed birthday cake she had made for me. She always made me a birthday cake, except for my 16th when she got one from a bakery. Throughout the years, there were also many ice cream cakes from Carvel in New Paltz. But she really enjoyed baking it herself.

Christmastime, I’d come home from school to loads and loads of cookies she had made during the day, and she would make up platters with all these assorted cookies and give them as gifts to friends and family. There was this one particular metal tray that she used for a special friend, who was more like family. After Christmas was over, that metal tray would show up on our front porch, empty but clean, with the expectation it would be refilled. And it was. Every year.  I still have that tray, and I keep thinking that one of these years while I’m baking, to grab that tray and fill it for the son of that friend. But time just gets away from me and it hasn’t happened yet.

Every so often, someone will ask me how I got started in baking, and I tell them the story of Tommy. In 1989, I was working in a daycare center as the School Nurse. When the kids’ birthdays would roll around, parents would bring in a birthday cake or cupcakes for their child to share with the class. One year, Tommy’s family just didn’t have the means to do that. And, remembering my own childhood, I just couldn’t let Tommy go without a birthday cake. So I ran into town and I bought my very first cake pan, which was Big Bird, and book on how to decorate a cake. 

I was so touched to see Tommy’s face light up when he saw his birthday cake. And that stuck with me all these years. I love to see the happiness and surprise on people’s faces when they see the cake I’ve created for them. Occasionally, I get a hug or a squeal, but always a great big smile. I think sometimes even in all their excitement when someone sees their cake, I am more excited than they are just to see that expression.  I’ve even been known to hop a little with excitement!

I even joined a nonprofit organization called Icing Smiles, where bakers provide custom cakes and treats to children impacted by critical illnesses and their siblings. If you have a moment at one point, please check them out. It’s a wonderful organization I am proud to be a part of.  

And that’s why I do what I do. 

~Debbie