3 local bakers share their culture through their sweets: Andrew Coppolino

Black-owned businesses are very much a part of the food scene in Waterloo region.

Specialty grocery stores, ice cream shops, restaurants where you can enjoy Ethiopian doro wot and Jamaican patties and local bakeries offer delicious dishes and flavours not found in other food businesses.

Rochelle Williams started her baking and cake decorating business in late 2020. Her website explains "the Black perspective," which has helped shape her as a baker and artist. She rebranded her Kitchener business in Dec. 2022 as The Dessert Artist.

"I used to watch a lot of wedding shows as a kid and any time I would see a cake-topper it was always of a white couple. Even if a Black couple was getting married, it would be a white couple on top of the cake," Williams said.

"The bride always had straight hair," she said. "I naturally do not have straight hair. I could never find things that resembled me and my culture. I try to make sure that people know I have Black characters, or if you need somebody with kinky hair, that's something I can do. You want a sugar cookie with a face on it that's a darker skin, I will do that."

She found, too, that flavours were conventional and didn't represent who she was.

"I found that growing up in a predominantly white area, it was always vanilla, chocolate or raspberry," Williams says. "But what about mango? Or what about sorrel flavour, from hibiscus? Many people don't know these flavours. It's something they are not experienced with."

Adapting to local 'cake culture'

Opeyemi Bamigboye had a flourishing online cake business in Lagos, Nigeria for three years before arriving in Kitchener in 2019. She operated out of Kitchener's The Courtyard Kitchens before she opened The Cakery Zone in its own space in Waterloo in October 2022.

"That was just prior to COVID-19, so we know how that went. Understandably, it hindered growth," Bamigboye said of her online store. "This didn't really take off until last year."

She says she's adapted to the "cake culture" that exists here: she says that Nigerian cake culture is big — that means large cakes that are an integral part of every celebration.

"That was one of the discoveries I found coming here. In Nigeria, birthday cakes, wedding cakes, they are gigantic. Three tiers or four. We could have a cake meant for 200 people just for 16 people, if you want it. That doesn't happen here," she said.

Finding childcare was difficult, too, but Bamigboye was determined to be an entrepreneur. She drew on her business experience and her background in science.  

Without a support network and unfamiliar with the logistics of starting a business in Ontario, Bamigboye did her research and found assistance through the Waterloo Region Small Business Centre and Wilfrid Laurier University's Women Entrepreneurship Centre (WEC).

"This gave me insight into what was needed. Networking and the women at the WEC gave me ideas about the different aspects of my business. That was a guiding light for me," she said.

"The online aspect was perfect during the pandemic to keep my sons safe, too."

In a busy food landscape, Bamigboye has focused on establishing her own niche.

"I have tested recipes. And I have my flavours, my feelings, my finish. The things I know I am good at," she said.  "I think I'm going in the right direction. I'm looking forward to further training and having a bigger space."

'Step outside your comfort zone a bit'

Having first studied mathematics at University of Waterloo, Lenore Johnson worked at restaurants in several countries, including at a Michelin-starred restaurant in France.

Her business, LenJo Bakes, has been open for three years and she's about to open a café in St. Jacobs called The Shed.

"I've always wanted to create a space where people can just get great food. And flavours don't have to be just vanilla and chocolate. You can step outside your comfort zone a bit," she said.

Her experience in the culinary industry, she explains, has been one that is focused on the cooking and baking at hand, but she cites issues of inclusiveness.

"Be the only woman. Fine. Be the only Black woman, though. What are you talking about? There aren't any Black people in fine dining," she says.

Having also been a judge on Food Network's Wall of Bakers, Johnson isn't sure the norm is changing.

"I don't know. I've stepped away from that world a little bit. Is it more inclusive now on TV that I can see? Yeah, there is. Is it still the one person out of the group? A lot of the times, it is," she said.

Asked if that is representative of the industry, Johnson says that may be only partially true.

"Maybe people think that it's a sphere that they can't get into because it's not one where they see anyone who looks like them? Or maybe they don't want to be the person who has to be a trailblazer and put up with shenanigans again and again," Johnson said.

Like most businesses, these bakers, each unique, are creating workspaces in which to thrive and grow and where everyone, including themselves, feels welcome, Johnson said.  

"I will not tolerate anyone making me feel 'other' in my own space."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.