Bakers for Change fight for social justice by expressing ‘ feelings in frosting’
Like so many others who suddenly found themselves stuck at home, Kait Wakefield wasn’t sure how to handle all her conflicting emotions when COVID-19 reared its ugly head in March 2020.
She was anxious about the exploding pandemic, of course. But the East Liberty resident also was growing increasingly frustrated and scared by the 2020 presidential campaign, which every minute seemed to be getting uglierand more contentious.
As a public school teacher, the New Mexico native also hated how teachers were being treated by the media. Don’t even get her started on then-President Donald Trump’s attempts to strip visas from international students or prohibit them from taking online classes.
“My husband’s from Canada, and I went to school in Canada,” she explains.
The anxiety and unrest made her crazy. Or, as she puts it, “Everything was getting to me.”
So to cope, she turned to the one activity she knew would help her process and express heremotions: baking.
“I made a lot of cakes with my opinions on them,” says Ms. Wakefield, 30. Afterward, she posted pictures of them on her popular Instagram page, Kait_bakes, which has more than 12,000 followers.
Her first pandemicthemed cake, posted on March 28, 2020, read “Let’s stay home” in icing, with “how are you doing with social distancing?” in the caption. Another, that April 19, simply said “homebody.” She got hundreds of likes.
As the lockdown stretched into summer, her culinary creations grew more outspoken — dare say, political.
“Don’t blame teachers for the government’s failure to act,” the bright yellow cake proclaimed in aqua icing on July 14, with the hashtag #ragebaking.
“And I asked in my stories, ‘Who wants to rage bake with me?’” she says.
The message struck a chord with fellow bakers and cake lovers, and before long, a small coterie had formed with a shared mission: to use their formidable baking talents to enact change by holding online auctions, bake sales, and virtual baking and decorating classes to raise money for social causes.
The five women include Ms. Wakefield, a Pittsburgh physician who goes by the handle @ctastypastry, Pittsburgh instagrammer @sopheating, Nashvillepastry chef Jessica Bedor and Pittsburgh photographer Sarah McCloskey.
They call themselves Bakers for Change. With the help of their followers — more than 5,600 to date — the bakers, bidders and virtual teachers have raised more than $25,000 for various groups and social movements, “and we’re not done,” says Ms. Wakefield.
The first call to action came on Aug. 2 with a post on Instagram about voting rights: “We know that there are a lot of issues driving us to vote this fall — we’d love to hear what’s driving you.”
A first-ever auction of baked goods from a dozen bakers on Oct. 1 raised more than $1,000 for Fair Fight Action, a group dedicated to promoting fair elections in Georgia and across the nation.
“And we thought it would be so cool if we could raise $200,” says Ms. Wakefield with pride. “We had no idea it would take off.”
A second auction, on Oct. 29, raised more than $6,000
for the American Civil Libertiesorg). Union, a third in December netted an additional $6,000-plus for Fair Fight Action, and a fourth event on Feb. 11 collected more than $7,300 for Black Lives Matter.
Their biggest event to date may be the bake sale they just held on March 25 to call attention to the rise of antiAsian racism in the U.S. It raised funds for Asian Americans Advancing Justice — Asian Law Caucus, a nonprofit legal aid and civil rights organization in California.
“We’re still counting,” says Ms. Wakefield.
They also make a little money for the cause selling T-shirts and hoodies on their website ( bakersforchange. Jessica Degore, a dietitian who lives in Shaler, found out about the group from other Pittsburgh foodie and food blogger friends. A prior customer of Ms. Wakefield’s, she immediately knew she’d be a big fan.
“Helping to make an impact is so important in the world we live in today,” she says.
Breana Goscicki is another ardent supporter. She’s purchased croissants, a treat box, cookies and a cheesecake from the bake sales — the process has been so easy, and “Everyone is in such good spirits!” she says.
“It’s a rush,” agrees Alyson Clover of Oakland, who has contributed baked goods to all four events.
A librarian at Carlow University, Ms. Clover has been using this quarantine period to go on a “baking journey” with her good friend Rachel Noderer of Lawrenceville. Creating sweets for a good cause, she says, “just seemed like a fun thing to do, and baking has been therapy for me.”
For the AAAJ auction, she and Ms. Noderer teamed up to make 17 treat boxes filled with strawberry and halvah blondies, pistachio chocolate chip cookies, Earl Grey tea shortbreads and blood orange bars. Even though they asked for just $25 a box, they ended up raising $600.
“It just feels really, really good,” says Ms. Clover.
Chandni Patel says she has baked with the group since the beginning because she wants to help and spread awareness of current events. The AAAJ event, for which she and two fellow Asian American friends raised about $1,000, was especially important to her — and raised her spirits. “It’s exciting to see how many more people participate in the bake sales each time from all over the country.”
With bidders and bakers spread all over the U.S., the bake sales work in a couple of different ways. Participants can pick a favorite baked good to auction off or set a certain price for an item (for example, a dozen cookies or a custom cake).
They then post it on their Instagram with instructions on bidding (usually in the comments) and tag @bakersforchange so the group can promote the bake. Money raised is then donated and tallied on a spread sheet.
Others sell raffle tickets foritems. Some simply make something and then post a picture of it with a message that encourages followers to donate.
Both Ms. Wakefield and co-founder Camille, the physician (who doesn’t want to publish her last name here), stress it’s not just about the money: Bakers for Change also want to raise awareness on a variety of social topics — everything from the importance of social distancing and masking up to combat COVID-19 to voting rights, women’s rights and Breonna Taylor.
On occasion, they’ve also called out politicians such as Sen. Mitch McConnell, RKy., for “holding this country hostage” and praised then-vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris for creating the catchphrase “I’m speaking” during the 2020 vice presidential debate.
Both women feel the group has struck a chord among the baking community because people have felt so isolated during the pandemic, and the bake sales and virtual classes have been a way to connect while feeling safe.
“And it’s such a good outlet to put your feelings in frosting,” says Ms. Wakefield. “It always makes me feel better about things I don’t have control over.”
“People sometimes feel they can’t make a difference as an individual,” adds Camille. “So this is a cool way to make them realize yes, they have the power to enact change.”
The group’s next fundraiser is a bake sale with an anticipated auction date of May 6 benefiting March for Our Lives, a movement dedicated to ending gun violence and the epidemic of mass shootings.
“I would be baking anyway,” says Camille. “Now I’m doing it for charity.”
“It’s just an easy way to be involved,” agrees Ms. Wakefield, “and we’ve met a lot of cool people.”