The kitchen is still filled with the smell of warm butter and sugar as junior Ryker Smith steadies his hand and begins to ice. The cake is crumbly, the kitchen too hot, and the piping bag is hard to hold as Smith deliberately swirls the frosting into florets. However, he can already picture the finished creation in his mind, and pushes his sleeves back as he prepares to continue.
Smith started baking when he was five years old, and he’s now taken that passion into his personal business, Cakes By Ryker. He completes orders for paying customers, as well as making cakes for the non-profit organization Bake-a-Wish Austin.
“My grandmother is the inspiration for all of my baking, she cooked and baked with me as a child and I followed in her footsteps,” Smith said. “I first started making cakes because, in all honesty, I hated H-E-B cakes. I enjoy baking because it’s challenging, and I’m a perfectionist.”
Bake-A-Wish allows for professional and at-home bakers to bake birthday cakes for people in need, with Smith specializing in baking for children. He first got involved after visiting a cake baking competition where Bake-A-Wish was advertising their opportunities, and now regularly creates confections for them.
“I’m making cakes for kids that wouldn’t regularly get a cake, so I think I’m making a huge impact,” Smith said. “Even though they’re going through so much struggle, and I don’t even know what it is they’re going through, I hope they know that there’s people out there who are supporting them, and are willing to do something like bake a birthday cake for them.”
To volunteer with Bake-A-Wish, Smith uses a spreadsheet of orders from the organization, and given only the child in need’s name, age, and interests, creates a birthday cake personalized to them. He then delivers the cakes to the Bake-A-Wish office, which then gifts them to the recipients.
“Ryker has found so much joy in sharing his passion of baking with others, whether it’s baking a cake for a child in need or creating the perfect cake as a gift for someone’s birthday,” Ryker’s mother Jen Smith said. “His cake creations have brought happiness to so many people and I hope his experiences with baking reminds him throughout his life the impact that something as simple as a cake can have on someone’s life.”
Cakes By Ryker as a business began in 8th grade for Smith, with the Bake-A-Wish contributions starting later in high school. However, he doesn’t only make cakes, creating a wide variety of baked goods, with his favorite being his chocolate chip cookies.
“A lot of people don’t like cake, and even though it’s not my favorite, I want to change people’s perspectives on it,” Smith said. “It can be really, really good. There’s a lot of different techniques and flavors. I also just like having a positive impact on people in general. I like getting their reaction, making them happy, because I love food, and I like introducing new food to other people.“
Smith started his baking journey by just making goods for his friends and family, which he continues to do today. He states that Cakes By Ryker is more of a hobby than business, and contributes his baked goods to birthdays and school events alike.
“He puts a lot of time and effort into his baking,” friend Gage King said. “He doesn’t let little mistakes mess him up, and he will take all day if he has to make something good. His baking has always been the best I’ve ever tasted.”
Among the people Smith has baked for is Bowie AP US History teacher Jessica Isaacs, whom Smith made a holiday party cake for freshman year. She states that it was a huge success, with the snowman tiered cake remaining a favorite topic of conversation among her friends.
“Ryker is delightful,” Isaacs said. “He is very studious, he’s very kind, he’s very intelligent, he is super outgoing, and I think that he is going to be a really successful person one day. I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw the cake he made because it was so amazing. Everyone at my party loved it, and they raved about it.”
Smith’s cakes are products of laborious work, most taking two days in order too accommodate cooling times and frosting. Embellished with chocolate covered strawberries, gold leaf, decorative flowers, cartoonish designs, and many tiers, his work can be found on the dedicated Instagram account @cakes.byryker.
“I enjoy baking, but a lot of the time it’s really stressful, if I’m being honest,” Smith said. “I struggle with perfectionism, so I love making the cakes and getting the reaction, but actually getting there is definitely a process.”
Ryker plans on pursuing finance, investment or real estate, with baking taking the back-burner in terms of careers. Outside of his personal baking pursuits, he is a member of the Bowie lacrosse team, Business Professionals of America, PALS, and the Culinary Program; works as both a food runner at Carve and counselor at Camp Longhorn; and is Co-President of the Young Investor’s Society.
“Ryker has learned many valuable skills from baking and selling his cakes,” Jen said. “It’s not easy to manage all of the details, even at a small scale. From buying the supplies, providing excellent customer service and a quality product, and managing your time during the process with other responsibilities. All of these will be valuable learning opportunities for him to take into his career or next phase of his life.”
