She’s a 7th grader at Redmond Proficiency Academy. Already, Hannah Allbee has a budding cake baking business.
And it was a simple social media post that started her baking career.
“Normally, just pretty fun. Unless it’s like a really big cake,” Hannah said of her passion. “I did this wedding cake once, and I was, like, freaking out. I was like, ‘What if I mess it up? What if it’s, like, going too far because there’s a two-tiered cake?’ But it was fun. They loved it.”
Hannah’s been hard at work baking for friends, family and clients for the past six months. All since mom — Cindy — posted on Facebook that her daughter was taking orders.
“My brother was turning five, and we didn’t have a cake. So my mom was like, ‘Hey, Hannah. Can you make a cake for your brother?’” Hannah said. “And I’m like, ‘Yeah, sure. Hey, what do you want for your cake?’ And he’s like, ‘I want a Bluey cake.’ So I decided, OK, I can try making a Bluey cake. So then I made a Bluey cake and mom posted it on Facebook.”
“So I posted it on Facebook group and I just said, Hey, I have a 13 year old. She really likes to bake. She wants to learn to decorate. If you are willing to give her give her a chance and just be willing to take a chance on a 13-year-old decorating your cake, please hit me up and my messenger blew up,” Cindy said.
The post was liked and shared countless times and the positive power of social media quickly took over. Orders were rolling in and Hannah’s calendar filled up quickly.
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Lucky for her, she had her trusty assistant —mom — to keep everything in order.
“My mom does a lot of the orders, so like she’s like, ‘Hey, you’ve got to order this day’ or ‘Hey, remember, you’ve got a cake this week, you might want to get it done soon. So you don’t stress out about it,’” Hannah said.
“It had definitely good days and bad days. She will stress herself out and then, in the process, stress me out,” Cindy said.
Hannah said Cindy is the the planner and the one who gets everything.
Cindy said she expected this to turn into one or two cakes. Hannah’s now up to 15 and climbing.
It wasn’t long before the cakes were flying out the door. Birthday cakes with custom designs, cupcakes and even a wedding cake.
And Hannah left a trail of happy customers.
“A lot of the time they’re just like, ‘Oh, my gosh, it’s so cute. Thank you so much.’ They’re usually really happy about their cake,” Hannah said.
So where’d Hannah learn how to bake?
“My grandma and YouTube,” Hannah said.
It’s worth noting that all the success, the cakes and the cash in the wallet haven’t changed this middle schooler. At least not too much.
“I had almost $100 in my pocket at one point, but I spent it because I wanted a dress,” said Hannah.
Other than what sounds like a pesky caffeine addiction, she still got her head on straight and the future is bright. Hannah thinks baking and cooking may end up being a passion for years to come.
“There’s this COCC program which there’s a culinary program where I got to go do a like a baking thing for like an entire week at the COCC. And I really liked it there. I think I might want to do it for college and stuff,” Hannah said.
“I can’t actually put into words how proud of her I am because of this. She’s just taken it and been so successful for her level of comfort,” Cindy said. “It’s just great.”
Hannah already has cake orders booked out as far as November this year.
