Meet Adenike Harper
Adenike Harper, also known as the “Gourmet Girl”, serves as the cake artist and owner of Gourmet Girl Custom Cakes. Self-taught with 19 years’ experience, she tells stories with sugar! With cake as her canvas and you as her muse, Gourmet Girl specializes in curating art gallery worthy cakes and desserts that reflect what makes you unique through couture cake design. Gourmet Girl Custom Cakes offers her customers or ‘Gourmies’ a one-of-a-kind, intimate creation process of their ‘cake story’ highlighting all that they love and what makes them special for the sweetest memories. Gourmet Girl considers herself a legacy baker. Her mother and grandmother were expert bakers and she comes from a long line of artisan of various disciplines. While her personal cake story is less about an actual cake design, and more about how she became Gourmet Girl when her path totally diverted from biology to baking. Gourmet Girl was born after Adenike decided to change career paths, very much unpredicted and unplanned. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, with all intentions to go to medical school. But after the passing of her mother, she began baking to divert her mind from her grief and to revive memories of her mother teaching her how to bake growing up. Baking calmed her, it allowed her a way to channel energy into the production of something positive, visually pleasing, and delicious.
Through baking to cope and along with God and therapy, Adenike made it through a very difficult time in life and was able to thrive from the joy that baking and cake decorating brought. Partnering with a licensed therapist, Gourmet Girl Custom Cakes wishes to create a mentoring program for youth in Cleveland that is rooted in mental health and wellness; teaches the art of baking and the visual art of cake design; supports and encourages; and celebrates legacy and heritage in the kitchen and in life. With Adenike’s love for teaching and 7 years of teaching experience this mentoring arts program will curate a program that helps youth to thrive in and out of the kitchen. Adenike’s most recent accolade was having won Impact cohort 16 of Jumpstart, Inc. in December 2022.
Creative Impact Fund Project: Peace of Cake
Partnering with a licensed therapist, Gourmet Girl Custom Cakes has created a mentoring program for youth in Cleveland that is rooted in mental health and wellness; teaches the art of baking and the visual art of cake design; supports and encourages; and celebrates legacy and heritage in the kitchen and in life. With Adenike’s love for teaching and 7 years of instructional experience “A Peace of Cake” will help participants thrive in and out of the kitchen. A “Peace of Cake” has the goal of providing in-school youth (12-17 year olds) with an experience that utilizes baking and cake decorating as a positive (emotional) outlet while learning core concepts from STEAM, nutrition and culinary science/art, entrepreneurialism, and food history and culture. This program will connect youth to caring adults in small group developmental relationships to reduce stress, foster self-expression, and resiliency. Encouraging positive mindset/mindfulness while cultivating confidence. Program activities will include 6 to 8 small group baking sessions that allow for individual and group project completion and the opportunity to experience success via project completion resulting in a good produced. Participants will be instructed in the fundamental elements of baking through the creation of a range of diverse desserts, while engaging in meaningful group discussion that aids in the creation of a safe and supportive environment that is free from pressure.