The smell of freshly baked cakes, muffins, and cookies fill the air in A11 when Baking Club gathers every other Monday.
Club President Will Nadan and Vice President Jade Margolis founded the club at the end of the 2015-16 school year and have been leading it ever since.
The goal of Baking Club is to “bring unique people together through their love for baking and have a safe place to relax and enjoy baked goods every once in awhile,” said Margolis.
A collection of 30 people meet regularly to share tasty treats and recipes that connect with the topic.
“For each meeting, we have a theme of baked goods. Usually we try to match it to the month. For example, in October we did Halloween-themed treats. Club members bake the goods, then bring it in to share with everyone else. We have a ‘show and tell’ where everyone who bakes comes up and shares their name and what they brought. Then we watch a baking themed Netflix show and enjoy!” said Margolis.
As the holiday season is just around the corner, homes are filled with baked goods to serve from Thanksgiving to New Years. Baking Club plans to partake in this festive season.
“For this Christmas, we have a special event planned: our cookie exchange! What happens is everyone brings in a batch of cookies in a nice tin, and each person who bakes cookies gets to swap with everyone else. This way, everyone ends up with one of each type of around 15-20 cookies,” said Margolis.
Along with sharing recipes and learning new skills in the kitchen, Baking Club has organized bake sales and donated the money towards a charity. Their first event this school year was a bake sale held during the Clubs Fair.
“At our last bake sale we made over $250 towards hurricane relief for Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico,” said Nadan.
Nadan and Margolis have bigger hopes for fundraising money. They plan to expand their club’s impact on the community by embracing the service aspects of their club.
“We will try to pick out charities based on current events, and to base what we sell around the type of organization. For example, making Alfajores (South American cookies filled with caramel) for a charity that helps protect women’s rights in Peru,” said Nadan.
Margolis’ and Nadan’s efforts to create a loving community, sharing their passion of baking has been successful according to Liam Hood.
“I think my favorite part of being in Baking Club would be watching the Great British Bake Off with friends while eating homemade treats made by other members of the club,” said Hood. “There are a lot of social groups all joined together for a love of baking, and I’ve seen many friendships blossom.”
