When Laura Casey steps into the kitchen as The Cake Detective, she’s a woman on a mission – honouring her late mother while baking hundreds of custom birthday cakes to donate to local children in need.
“It’s all about finding missing birthday cakes, so we donate cakes to children in the Waikato going through hardship, to make them feel special and loved on their big day,” says Laura, explaining the charity she founded to bring a sweet spark of joy to children who would otherwise miss out. “They could be undergoing chemotherapy, be in foster care or in Hospice.”
It all started when a state caregiver posted online asking for someone to make a special cake. The little boy she was fostering had overcome huge adversity after being born 14 weeks premature and she wanted to celebrate him making it to his first birthday.
Laura had very limited experience back then, but armed with a childhood full of memories from birthday cakes her own mother Eileen O’Hanlon had made, she felt compelled to help.
The result was a Superman cake and it was so rewarding, she decided to keep going.
For three years it was a self-funded project, then in 2019, the Hamilton mum-of-two formalised The Cake Detective as a registered charity and has gifted 816 cakes since.
For some kids, Laura’s show-stoppers are the first birthday cake they’ve ever had made for them.
“We’ve even made cakes for 17-year-olds in care who’ve never celebrated a birthday,” she tells. “It’s not actually about the cakes – it’s the memories they create.”
Growing up, birthdays were a big deal and every year Laura looked forward to choosing her cake from the The Australian Woman’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book.
“Mum would stay up late, and my brother Brett and I always thought they were so incredible,” recalls Laura, who lost her mother to breast cancer in 2008. “We’ve looked back at photos and they’re pretty standard, but to us they seemed amazing.”
It was Eileen who first passed on the love of baking and while cooking for kids in need, Laura feels closer to her mum.
“My mother was a school teacher, and one of her biggest things was leaving a legacy helping children to learn and thrive,” says Laura. “I feel a bit like that about cakes. If they remember the time they got an awesome cake, it’s a small imprint I can make
on their heart.”
And it’s a legacy she’s passing down to her sons, Cooper, seven, and Cormac, five, who often join her in the kitchen.
Laura, husband Rory and sons Cooper (left) and Cormac with pup Archer.
“The last two years, Cooper has made his own birthday cake,” says Laura. “He’s watched me make so many and knows he’s not allowed to touch them, so this gives him ownership and he’s so proud of them.”
The charity has grown rapidly in the last three years. Laura now works with 30 partner agencies, who refer children in need, and spends up to 40 hours a week in the kitchen with admin done while the kids sleep at night.
“Mum is my official title, but I feel amazing doing this,” she enthuses. “To see a little kid so excited because their cake is personalised and they know it’s been made especially for them, is the best. They either say a lot of words and put their fingers into the icing straightaway or are just gobsmacked.”
A sweet sample of Laura’s cakes.
A recent bulk baking weekend saw Laura make 280 layers of cake to freeze for the coming months.
“We used 36 litres of milk, 500 eggs, 30 kilos of flour and 46 kilos of sugar – that will last for two months,” says Laura of the cakes, which cost $50-$70 each to make.
It’s a labour of love, and she’s grateful for the support of donors and local organisations. Sweet Pea Parties provides a commercial kitchen and storage space for free, and she has several volunteers helping too.
Before having kids, Laura worked in finance and never imagined one day she’d be baking round the clock.
“I could go out and get a job, but I’ve found something I’m passionate about,” insists Laura, who is grateful to her IT programmer husband Rory for supporting her dream.
“Without him, we wouldn’t be able to do it. He’s the one who keeps our family fed and housed. He understands those kids out there are in need and we have a lot more than most.”
And while she’s no longer here to say it, Laura knows her mum would be proud too.
“I think she’d be pleasantly surprised. Going from finance to baking cakes is a fair leap, but she always used to say I had empathy for other people. The Cake Detective is a way of channelling that to feel like I’m making an impact.”
To donate or request a cake, visit thecakedetective.org.nz
