But does it taste good?

This simple question is at the heart of our new bakery and has been with us for a very long time.

In the 80’s and 90’s, our founding Executive Chef, Loraine Rashida Sawyer, became a local legend by crafting cakes partly from the skills she obtained from the Cornell Hotel School, her Southern soul-food upbringing, and just plain ol’ meticulous tinkering. For years, she made cakes for local caterers, restaurants, and the Ben & Jerry’s storefront on Cayuga Street in Ithaca, NY. She and her husband, Csiko Sawyer, also operated a booth at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market under the name “Rashida’s Deluxe Baked Goods”.

Choosing to raise her young children, Rashida stepped away from baking for business, but she never stepped away from her passion of developing and improving time-tested recipes. For those of us fortunate to be close to her, birthdays, anniversaries, and celebrations always came with the special blessing of one of her cakes.

Those masterpiece cakes never lasted more than a few minutes.

In 2018, her oldest son, Kibwe Sawyer decided to revisit the idea of starting a small bakery with Rashida’s recipes at the core. Teaming with his wife, Shaina Sawyer, and his cousin Jennifer Phelps and her husband Jon, his father, Csiko Sawyer, and of course, the legend herself, Loraine Rashida Sawyer, the family moved forward with the launch of “Rashida Sawyer”.

Our guiding question is as it was then, “does it taste good?”

We believe our cakes do indeed taste good. And we believe many will soon discover this as well.