Pharmacist focuses baking passion on making cakes for foster kids

KPIX

By Sooji Nam

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    SAN JOSE, California (KPIX) — Rachelle Reyles-Derry never imagined she’d pick up a hobby of baking delectable sweets. It has now become her passion.

“This is the first time I’ve made a Bluey cake so it’s trying to figure out what colors do I need,” Reyles-Derry told CBS News Bay Area.

She is making a Bluey-themed cake for a one-year-old’s birthday. Reyles-Derry, who is from San Jose, never met the one-year-old, because she is making the cake for a child in foster care.

Her passion for baking all began during the COVID-19 pandemic when she decided to make a birthday cake for her daughter.

“It just sparked that joy in me, and I thought I’m going to keep going and learn all the techniques,” Reyles-Derry said.

Soon enough, she found herself practicing for countless hours and made beautiful cakes. She also landed the opportunity to showcase her skills on Food Network’s Holiday Wars this year.

“It’s been on my bucket list. So, it was definitely a great opportunity,” she said. “I didn’t go to school for cake making. It’s just trial and error, and experimenting with different things, watching all the videos, buying classes online.”

Reyles-Derry has been doing all of this while working full-time as a pharmacist.

“I work for a company where we do a lot of research for specialty medications. So, this is actually my hobby that gives me peace and joy,” she said.

She is one of several baker volunteers who donate specialty cakes for Cake4Kids, a nonprofit organization that started in Sunnyvale.

“They feel that someone cared enough to do something special just for them. Then they feel special, they feel good about themselves, and moving forward they’re going to make good life choices,” Alison Bakewell, the executive director for Cake4Kids, told CBS News Bay Area.

Bakewell said they have provided more than 65,000 cakes to at-risk youth all across the country. The nonprofit partners with the Department of Family and Children Services, homeless shelters, domestic violence survivor programs, and school districts nationwide.

“They don’t have anything of their own. They take their clothes from home to home in a garbage bag. They go to another home and everything in that home is not theirs. So, the opportunity one, this is the first time they’ve ever received a birthday cake? And that it’s just for them and theirs. And they get to make a choice of what they do,” the executive director said.

Bakers like Reyles-Derry help the greater mission.

“Once I get a business license, maybe I can donate to nursing homes, and anyone else in need of a birthday cake or something for a special occasion,” she said.

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