Baking Therapy Cafe is the brain-child of Erica Leeds. Erica grew up in Long Island, NY in a family of professional cake and bread bakers. Her grandparents owned and operated the NY bakery in Rochester, NY. Erica’s mother, Ray, worked in her father’s bakery business from a young age.
Erica always loved baking. Erica earned earn undergraduate degree in Social Science and her graduate degree (MSW) in Social Work. He worked as a Social Worker for her entire career. As a LMSW (Licensed Masters Social Worker) she helped those in need at several medical and mental health agencies until her retirement from Social Work in 2023. Baking has always been her stress relief.
In 2011, she took a hiatus from Social Work, and her husband Dale (An Assistant Professor in Web and Multimedia Design) started Pastry Babies LLC; an all natural, small-batch production bakery in Nashville, TN. They sold the products in a variety of specialty stores: Whole Foods (Green Hills and Franklin), Herban Market (Franklin), Produce Place (Silvan Park), and several farmers’ markets. Pastry Babies was known for their top-shelf biscotti, scones, cookies, crumb cakes, brownies, and several vegan and gluten-free pastries. All the products were hand-made, and only used the finest, all-natural products.
Pastry Babies closed up shop in 2017. Now, Erica is baking for family, friends, and for select customers. Rather than selling products, she is now teaching others how to do it and building a community. Follow her on FaceBook, Instagram, and YouTube.