While busy Charlotteans speed up and down Monroe Road, something delicious is rising in a Sweet Spot Studio oven, tucked behind Common Market in Oakwold. The students and teachers of Cakeable Charlotte, a 501c3 nonprofit serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, are starting to work through their orders for the day: scratch made oatmeal creme and pumpkin whoopie pies. As I enter the commissary kitchen to meet them, a delicious scent like gingerbread fills the air, and laughter emerges from behind kitchen doors. Renee Ratcliffe, Cakeable’s founder, comes out to greet me in a flour-dusted tee and tie-dye headband with a warm smile and soft spoken greeting. 

She leads me into a stainless steel-clad space, where I see two students, a volunteer instructor, and a pastry chef starting to prepare a recipe. All of Cakeable’s students live with a disability like Down syndrome or Autism. One of the students, Kendal, is curious about me and makes her way over. “I’m independent now,” she tells me. “I love working in here. I work pretty hard. I get paid a lot.” As she recounts for me how she became the first student at Cakeable, I am enchanted with her bubbly enthusiasm. Kendal is a paid member on staff now, holding the official title of Production and Public Relations Assistant, and she’s quite good at it. 

On the other side of the kitchen, Ratcliffe is reviewing a recipe with another student named Isabel, who has been actively interviewing for jobs where she can put to use what she’s learning now about customer service and the baking industry. As she patiently guides Isabel through gathering the needed ingredients, Ratcliffe tells me how Cakeable came to be. She and her husband John were in Albania on a mission trip serving in orphanages. Along the way, they visited a cafe run completely by employees with Down syndrome. Having a background in special education, Ratcliffe wondered if she could create something similar here in Charlotte. An avid baker herself, Ratcliffe chose pastry arts as the vehicle to teach transferable skills to neurodiverse individuals with the goal of gainful employment. 

The need for bridging gaps in paid work is great for differently-abled individuals in our country. “Unemployment among people with intellectual disabilities is more than twice as high as for the general population,” according to one of the most comprehensive U.S. surveys of adults with disabilities in the workforce, commissioned by Special Olympics and administered by Gallup.

In her gentle but capable way, Ratcliffe is making her vision reality. She founded the nonprofit in 2019 and spent more than a year trying to find an affordable space where she could lead classes and prepare baked goods for sale. In July 2020, she received an email from Jossie Lukacik, owner of Sweet Spot Studio. Lukacik needed to lease some of her facilities when she became unable to teach classes due to COVID-19 restrictions. Ratcliffe happened to be on that communication’s distribution list from a past class she’d taken at Sweet Spot. She jumped at the chance to rent. A bonus of working in Sweet Spot’s commissary baking kitchen is that students often complete orders while sharing space with other bakers at work. Conversations spark, relationships form, and inclusion naturally occurs. 

Cakeable’s first classes with students began in October 2020. Volunteer instructors, including some board members, and Ratcliffe teach students skills like customer service, order fulfillment, and baking techniques. The seven current students range in age from 15 to 37, and there are 27 hopeful students on Cakeable’s wait list. 

“We have the most success when we’re working with students aging out of high school,” Ratcliffe explains. “That’s when their opportunities dry up. We want to step into that space.” Part of students’ learning now also includes social skills in various settings through a partnership with Licensed Social Worker Michele Mattox of No Limits Counseling. 

Another valuable member of Cakeable’s team is Chef Kaileen Willette, a graduate of Art Institute with experience in the kitchens of Napa on Providence, Napa at Kingsley, and The Pump House. 

“I left what I was doing in February and wound up here in April,” Willette says. “It’s been a big blessing.” Ratcliffe brought Willette on to help students with culinary fundamentals and to aid production on bulk orders as sales numbers grew. 

In fact, all holiday edible orders have sold out. However, the students have learned how to craft candles and sugar scrubs (with bath salts coming soon) to be sold in retail locations or purchased as presents to help spread the word about Cakeable’s mission. Prices run between $5 to $11 with fragrance blends ranging from coconut, vanilla, and lavender to peppermint mocha to cranberry citrus spice and snickerdoodle. These items will be available for pick-up starting the week of December 6. Send an email to hello@cakeablecharlotte.com to inquire about available products and to purchase. Shopping small like this is just one way to support their mission. 

One of Cakeable’s most significant supporters from the start has been Patty Collins of Farmhouse Bakery (formerly the Bread Basket). When Collins, who also has a special education background, decided to leave the baking industry in April 2021 and return full-time to teaching, she gave a generous gift to Ratcliffe: her industrial-grade equipment, her client base, her recipes, and her space at the Kings Drive Farmers Market. “Customers are very unhappy when they cannot get our cheese biscuits after the farmers market closes,” Ratcliffe jokes. She hopes that diversifying the class curriculum with some of the shelf-stable goods will allow students continued customer-facing opportunities as baking season slows down, thanks to approaching New Year’s Resolutions. 

According to Ratcliffe, however, Cakeable will need ongoing and increased support to keep serving students like Kendal and Isabel. This includes volunteers to teach classes, financial contributions to sustain day-to-day logistics, and tangible items to keep the kitchen studio stocked. If you are interested in volunteering, donating, shopping to support, or placing orders, see details on the site’s many ways to give. You can also contact Ratcliffe directly at hello@cakeablecharlotte.com. Any support of Cakeable Charlotte is appreciated, as her students’ needs do not end on November 30 with Giving Tuesday.

Unpretentious People Say...

Other Articles You Might Enjoy