Delco Profile: Laurie Moyer of Cake A Difference Brings Sweetness to the Community

Laurie Moyer’s first career was working as a public school teacher, but baking was a hobby she consistently cultivated on the side.

“No matter if I was sad or happy, my first thought was always to bake,” she says. “And anytime something happened in anyone’s life, they were getting baked goods from me!”

Moyer, who was born and raised in Brookhaven, PA, and now resides in Chester Heights, left her teaching job to raise her three children. One day in 2019, while dropping one of her kids at school, juggling a viola in one hand and a tray of cupcakes in the other, she had an epiphany. 

“I thought, We need someone to deliver cupcakes to school so moms like me don’t have to do this,” she remembers. “I went home and started playing around with that thought.”

This idea eventually blossomed into Cake a Difference, a home-based bakery that makes tasty treats and delivers them directly to schools for birthdays, teacher appreciation days and other events.

Moyer developed her business plan on an airplane flight home from California, where her oldest child was auditioning for the TV show, Master Chef Jr. Though her daughter didn’t make it onto the show, the two of them discussed what they could do to continue to work with food. 

“She said the name ‘Cake a Difference’ as a concept for a nonprofit, and I kept toying around with that,” Moyer says. “Eventually, we turned it into an idea that would be a fundraising opportunity for schools.”

When she got home from the trip, Moyer began to research how to get her home kitchen certified through the state. By the time all the paperwork went through and her kitchen was inspected, it was March of 2020. The next day, her family received word that the school (and most other places) was shutting down because of Covid. 

Thinking on her feet, Moyer quickly pivoted her concept and began offering custom cake designs. She also offered virtual cupcakes for teachers, which allowed families to send a digital image of a cupcake to their teacher with a note explaining that once cupcakes could be safely delivered, that a real cupcake would come to them. 

“Having been a teacher, I thought about how much I’d love to get something like that during a time like the pandemic,” Moyer says. 

Once the world began to open up, she went back to her original concept. Parents could go onto the Cake a Difference website, place a school order and pick a design, and Moyer would bake the treats and bring them right to the school on the designated day. The school would also receive a percentage of the purchase as a donation. 

“The parent is buying something they already want, and we’re saving them that trip to the store or the time of trying to make it at home!” Moyer notes. 

The concept was a hit with local parents, with most Cake a Difference orders going to schools in the Garnet Valley School District, nearby private schools, and a handful of schools in Chester County.

Cake a Difference has also expanded to include DIY kits. These are plain, baked cookies, usually designed around a theme, that come with different colors of buttercream frosting and sprinkles. They can be decorated however you like! Moyer notes that the most popular option is the ugly sweater cookie kit she releases during the holidays. She also crafts Buttercream Boards, which are beautiful frosting designs that come with pretzels, cookies and other things to dip into them.  

Another unique facet of Cake a Difference is Moyer designed the business with the goal of employing other stay-at-home parents with flexible, rewarding part-time jobs. 

“When I was a stay-at-home mom trying to figure out what I was doing with my life, the thought of going back to work full-time felt too daunting,” she says. “I wanted to give job opportunities to people in the same situation.”

Cake a Difference currently has two home kitchens that are certified for commercial baking, and Moyer employs 3 CADets as she calls them. 

One more exciting development for the company is the recent opening of its new location, CrEATe by Cake a Difference. This is not a bakery, but a workshop space that Moyer founded in The Carriage House Collective, a multi-use building for small businesses on the Delco side of Thornton, PA. 

CrEATe just opened in Spring 2024, and Moyer hopes to establish it as a gathering place for fundraisers, private cake and cookie-decorating classes, public workshops and more. The classes will be geared towards all ages.

“So far, most of my DIY kits and classes have been geared towards kids, but I’ve been approached by a lot of adults who want to learn what I do, too!” Moyer says. 

To learn more about Cake a Difference and the CrEATe space, or to order treats or sign up for classes, visit its website. For behind-the-scenes photos and mesmerizing videos showing off Moyer’s decorating skills, follow Cake a Difference on Instagram and Facebook.

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Want to know more about everything Delco? We’re more than just your source for good eats — we’re your source for where to stay, what to do and more in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. We’re Visit Delco, PA, and we’ve got you covered from Philly to the Brandywine. Find us at 1501 N. Providence Rd., Media, PA, 19063; (610) 565-3679 or online.

— Emily Kovach 

 

Photos courtesy of Cake a Difference