While creaming butter, separating eggs and adding sugar, some local home bakers discovered a surprise: some people wanted to buy their delicious creations.
And so the creative adventure began for several local bakers – but only once they developed a business plan and obtain necessary government approvals to run a food operation from home.
Valentine’s Day seems an appropriate time to review the journey of four such local bakers.
Oak Parker Lillian Kong started her Lit Cake Bakery as a blog where she shared her baking techniques and used her love of literature to inspire the shapes and flavors of her treats.
“I was told for years I should sell what I made,” Kong said. While she began with weekly treat boxes, she shifted to custom orders like birthday and anniversary cakes to focus on quality and efficiency.
Lillian Kong, founder of Lit Cake Bakery | Courtesy of Risé Sanders Weir 
A collection of Lit Cake Bakery’s cake creations | Provided 
A collection of Lit Cake Bakery’s cake creations | Provided 
A collection of Lit Cake Bakery’s cake creations | Provided 
A collection of Lit Cake Bakery’s cake creations | Provided 
A collection of Lit Cake Bakery’s cake creations | Provided 
A collection of Lit Cake Bakery’s cake creations | Provided
It is an artistic outlet, according to Kong, but “I do have to make enough to pay for ingredients, insure myself. I have to make sure that I cover those at least.”
The business side was something Maywood resident Tanesha Watkins felt prepared for. But she said that she had to grow a thicker skin to deal with customers. There was one, for example, who agreed her cakes were the best but complained they cost the most. She responded “thank you so much for the compliment. And as you mentioned that my work looks the best, the price is reflective of the work that goes into it.”
Watkins’ began making cupcakes for her nephew for his first birthday – he is now 22 –, baking has been her full-time job now for a decade.
“I am a cake and cookie artist. I create centerpieces for celebrations,” Watkins said. “I love talking to someone. They tell me about their event, what they’re celebrating, the theme. Then I translate all of that into this edible piece of art.”
During COVID-19, she expanded her reach to out-of-town orders sent to loved ones who couldn’t visit their families.
COVID inspired Oak Park’s “Cookie Dad” Russell Jaffe to reach for his oven mitts and to cook more. When Christmas 2020 rolled around, he wondered what to do with the rest of a carton of eggnog.
“I remember being like, are there recipes that use eggnog? I found one for cookies and then one for frosting,” said Jaffe.
The taste was spot on, so he proudly posted on a dads’ social media group.
“It actually was sort of like the closest thing I can think of to Fight Club. One of the dads, reached out. He was like can I get some of them? The next year, I did it again,” Jaffe said.
By 2023, it had become a tradition. And in 2024, he decided to make it official. Because he still has a day job, Jaffe limits his offerings.
“I do not like expansive menus. I like a few things done really well,” Jaffe said.
Gluten-free options are an important part of that mix for the Cookie Dad.
“I have a gluten allergy, a wheat allergy. When I bake gluten stuff, I put on the mask and the gloves. And if I make gluten-free things, I have a whole second mixer that never touches gluten at all. I take it seriously because I live it,” said Jaffe.
Baking a cake for a child with allergies was what ramped up Oak Parker Ashley Renée Johnson’s business, Petal & Moon. She had been a pastry chef at well-known places like Somerset, then Spiaggia.
“I had just gotten one of my pastries on the menu. It was this chocolate brioche with a hazelnut frangipane and some orange cream and chocolate ganache. It got on the brunch menu in February of 2020. Then everything came crashing down,” said Johnson, referring to the pandemic.
She went home and baked sourdough bread, like so many others.
“One of my customers was like, my child has all these allergies. Can you make his birthday cake? So that was the first. I posted it on my Instagram page and then it slowly snowballed,” said Johnson.
A career in kitchens led Johnson to put emphasis on ingredients. For her the more local the better.
“It just feels special because I’m connecting with the growers and the land. All those things are super important to me because even though it’s a cake, it’s still food. And even though it’s sweet, it’s still going to nourish,” said Johnson.
She relies on Janie’s Mill flours from Illinois, growing and drying her own flowers for decorations and gathering local fruit in the summer to preserve their flavors into winter. She even gathers grapes from her grandfather’s Oak Park backyard.
All four of these bakers put their hearts into what they create. Their craft goes beyond business. For them, it’s about feeding their community and spreading love the way only a good bite of food can.
“When you go to your grandma’ or aunt’s house. They say, ‘Do you want something to eat?’ That’s why I love doing this,” said Tanesha Watkins.
Follow them online:
- Lit Cake Bakery: Instagram@thelitcake
- Tee Tee’s Sweets: teeteessweets.com
- Cookie Dad: tiktok.com/@russell.jaffe.cookie.dad
- Petal & Moon: petalmoonpastry.com
