More than 200 DMV bakers gathered recently at the National Museum of Women in the Arts to eat cake. A LOT of cake. Each person baked and brought their own cake — some even brought two.
The event, called the D.C. Big Cake Exchange, was the brainchild of local bakers Jill Nguyen and Tiffany MacIsaac, who simply wanted a reason to make more cake and eat other people’s cake.
“This is what baking is about, you know, feeding people. We love making food, learning about new baking techniques,” Nguyen said at the event. “This might be the happiest place on Earth right now. Like sorry Disneyland, I will take this.”
And so, on July 20, a line wrapped around the block as people waited to check in and prayed that their cakes wouldn’t melt in the 90° heat.
Flavors ranged from funfetti covered in sprinkles to a three-tier mocha caramel masterpiece and a carrot-cardamom sheet cake with passion fruit curd. More than 300 cakes were laid out on tables as attendees walked around with huge cardboard boxes to bring home as much cake as they could carry.
Let them eat cake
Like thousands of other bakers around the country, Nguyen, a Capitol Hill resident, started baking bread during the pandemic.
The difference is, Nguyen didn’t stop. A few loaves of sourdough turned into a 9-to-5 job baking bread for D.C. residents, including senators and representatives. That expanded to Capitol Jill Baking, her microbakery that posts weekly drops of baked goods and takes orders for wedding cakes, birthday cakes and just-because cakes.
As her business grew, Nguyen turned to local bakers and chefs she met on Instagram whose work inspired her.
Among them was Tiffany MacIsaac, the founder of now-shuttered Buttercream Bakeshop. MacIsaac, who’s been cooking professionally for more than 20 years, said there’s no other city where she’s seen local owners have so much support for one another.
“We’re just constantly texting each other in these huge group texts of business owners helping each other,” MacIsaac said. “So I think it’s like really in small ways, day to day. And then, of course, there’s bigger things. Like I have a friend right now who was looking at a space in D.C., her first brick-and-mortar space, and she was like, ‘Can you take a look at this lease for me?’”
Through spaces like a community Listserv, peers have become friends and people to turn to when Nguyen has problems, questions or even just a desire to hang out. She also holds collaborative events with D.C.-area restaurants, bakeries and bars.
“I live in Capitol Hill, which to me feels like a tiny little village. It is a very tightknit community, and I try to be friends or visit and frequent all of the local businesses, and I think I’m about being intentional about where I source or buy anything for my business,” Nguyen said. “If I need a baking book, I don’t go to Amazon first; I go to Hill’s Kitchen or East City Bookshop. And if I need to look at whether peaches are already in season, I go to Asian markets and smell the peaches and ask the farmers.”
For MacIsaac, it’s also about creating an environment for D.C.’s many female entrepreneurs to keep growing.
“I know how hard it was to kind of get where we are now and have the community that we have,” she said. “And I think that it’s just imperative that we keep building that out.”
Have your cake and eat it, too
Now, the community they’re building goes beyond just professionals. Nguyen and MacIsaac hosted their first cake exchange in March, when 90 amateur bakers (or people who just love cake) signed up to each bake a cake and bring it to an event to share slices with other bakers.
They decided to host another, even bigger one in July. Even the venue for that one was secured because of the D.C. community: A museum director was at the first cake exchange and offered up the location for a second one.
MacIsaac said part of the goal was to help bakers build confidence and feel proud of what they’re creating. Nguyen said she wanted people to just try something new.
“I also hope that people will come to more events like this and continuing talking about finding new books and recipes, and new bakers and maybe that inspires someone to pursue a degree or just go work for a bakery,” Nguyen said.
More than anything, Nguyen said she hopes people continue to bake for the people they love and create connections through what they make or what others make for them.
“There is so much room for more bread and freshly baked pastry and good things in the city,” Nguyen said. “And I think that people just really want to support good products and people who can tell a story and have the heart to create a community around them.”
As evidenced by the hundreds of empty cake platters in the museum’s main hall at the end of the event, along with frosting and crumbs smeared everywhere, there is definitely room for more cake.
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