The story of how one kind deed led to the founding of one of Aotearoa’s most worthwhile – if somewhat bittersweet – charities, The Cake Detective.
Laura Casey was scrolling through Facebook in 2017 when she stumbled upon a post requesting a first birthday cake for a child born at 24 weeks who was living in foster care. “I enjoyed baking, so I said that I’d love to do it,” she tells Verve. “It brought so much joy to this family that I decided to do more.”
For the following couple of years Laura donated cakes to local charity Kids in Need Waikato before forming her own charitable trust “for any child going through hardship”. And so, in late 2019, The Cake Detective was born. “I had a vision of donating 50 cakes per year,” recalls Laura. “That quickly escalated to more than 50 cakes per month.”
Do you have a culinary background?
“No, I hate cooking! I love baking but it had always been as a hobby. Baking is always my go-to for friends in need of a pick me up or for new neighbours or condolences. Decorating cakes has only started since having kids. My background is in psychology, then later in finance – mostly in banking – in New Zealand, Canada, and the UK.”
Laura grew up in Matamata, Aotearoa’s “Shire” town in the shadow of the Kaimai Mountains. Her mum was a schoolteacher, her father owned a menswear store. “It was a happy childhood,” she says. “My mother raised us to be kind and honest, values I try to instil in my boys.”
Laura’s love of baking comes from her mum, too. “My brother and I used to set up the camcorder and film baking shows. Mum, also being a teacher, would speak about leaving a legacy of imprinting positively on people’s lives, even if in the smallest of ways. That it was such an important part of being a good person.”
Will The Cake Detective be doing anything to mark Mother’s Day?
“Yes, we’re looking at holding a baking workshop to make Mother’s Day gifts for those special people in their lives. It’s a tricky one because, as with myself, Mother’s Day can be a difficult time – especially with kids living in situations where their mother figures aren’t their biological mothers.”
What are your favourite memories of Mother’s Day?
“My youngest son was born a couple of days before Mother’s Day 2017, and we came home on Mother’s Day. I clearly remember sitting in the front room in the sun with Cormac asleep in his bassinet and having a yummy platter and feeling utterly content. My favourite Mother’s Day memories with my own mum are making pikelets for morning tea and eating them on the good plates. Also, making cards and seeing how impressed Mum was with them. We had a couple of really special Mother’s Days before she passed away. You soon realise how short life is and how important it is to spend quality time together to make special memories.”
Laura beams that her two boys – now aged six and eight – have loved being in the kitchen and baking “since they could stand”. “I feel like I have to go above and beyond when it comes to their cakes! However, my eight-year-old has made his own cakes for the past two years.”
Are there any Cake Detective stories of cakes or children that particularly stand out?
“Cakes going to the children’s hospice Rainbow Place are hard to stomach as we know it’s possibly their last cake and that a special memory will be formed around it. There are times when we get heartbreaking last-minute calls about children fleeing domestic violence who have arrived at a Women’s Refuge safe house and their birthday is the following day. We have one amazing family where a grandmother is raising 11 of her grandchildren so with so many cakes, we’ve got to know her and the kids quite well and love seeing the themes change as they grow.”
And so, as rewarding as it is to bake cakes for children in need, there lingers an inescapable element of sadness for their plights. “There seems to be endless kids out there who are going through circumstances that no person should go through let alone a child,” says Laura.
It can become overwhelming, she admits, and it does make her incredibly grateful for the health and situation of her own family.
“I can only think of making a small change to a huge problem that will never go away. And that small change needs to be enough.”
Verve readers can help by spreading the word on social media, and if in a position to do so, donating to via The Cake Detective website. Find out more at thecakedetective.org.nz
