No summer break for 16-year-old Ke’Nyzjah Ferebee. She’s busy running her KayKe Bakery.
Ke’Nyzjah Ferebee stood by the kitchen island in her pink apron, adding cupcake liners to a muffin pan. She used an ice cream scoop to fill each with vanilla cake batter to ensure they would look identical. A finished batch sat on the counter with white buttercream swirled on top. The cupcakes were for a 2-year-old’s Moana-themed birthday party. The next day, she had orders for a two-tiered cake and two birthday cakes. She also planned to bake a fourth cake using the Lambeth method — an old English decorating technique with royal icing.
The baker, 16, wore a cream-colored skirt and matching blouse that peeked from the sides of the apron. She’d already given her mother instructions on what to wear to coordinate with hers — a requirement for events and meetings.
Ke’Nyzjah’s heels clicked on the floor as she cleaned up her mess; she prefers a clean workstation. Her mother washed the pink mixing bowl.
While most teenagers are spending the summer hanging out with friends and working, Ke’Nyzjah is filling orders, updating her website and getting new branding photos.
She owns and operates KayKe (pronounced “cake”) Bakery, a home-based business in Chesapeake specializing in custom cakes and cupcakes. She offers 14 flavors (including blueberry lemon, carrot and German chocolate) with a choice of five buttercream frostings and three fruit fillings. She requires at least two to four weeks’ notice on orders, and she gets six to seven a week.
Her bestseller, the white chocolate mousse cake (vanilla with white chocolate and whipped cream), won her first place in the Cakes for a Cure decorating contest to benefit Alzheimer’s research in June. She competed in the kids’ category and helped raise more than $9,000.
In 2020 she started baking out of boredom and a craving for cake. She did what most any teen in her situation would do: She asked Mom for a solution. Mom pointed her to a box of cake mix in the cupboard.
Ke’Nyzjah’s first attempt failed: She put the batter in one pan, instead of two. But she tried making more cakes the next day. She got better.
“I was like, wow, this is kind of cool.”
She perfected boxed cake mix and decided to try from scratch. She watched hours of YouTube videos to come up with a recipe and to teach herself baking techniques.
“Once I got on Instagram and started seeing other people’s decorated cakes, that’s when I got inspired to be a cake artist instead of just a baker,” she said.
She asked her parents about setting up a business. They saw how serious she was about it. They handled the legalities and purchased supplies such as cake dishes, turntables and boxes.
KayKe Bakery opened in November that year. By May 2021, she had a regular clientele. Boards and Moore, a Chesapeake-based charcuterie business, and DesRas Soul Food, a Virginia Beach catering company, helped spread the word. The owners also became her mentors.
Ke’Nyzjah took business classes such as digital marketing at her school, Western Branch High School. She also enrolled in a course to become a certified customer service specialist. It taught her how to talk to customers and get through a sale. She’s constantly trying to find more ways to promote her business and find new clients.
“It’s a little difficult having to keep up with both my Instagram and my Facebook pages and managing school, personal life and a business. It can be a lot sometimes, but I manage.”
“Being able to do what I love at such a young age. I really like that part,” she said. “Hard work does pay off. Imagine where I’ll be when I’m 18.”
She finds balance by scheduling her time by the minute. Sometimes her maternal grandmother makes sure she goes to bed at 8 p.m. and is prepared for the next day. Her mother, Nakesia Ferebee, said, “My mom laid the foundation for all of us and still plays a role in my daughter’s life.”
Ke’Nyzjah wakes at 4 to 5 a.m. each day. “That’s when I like to decorate cakes. The house and neighborhood are really quiet and peaceful then.”
An honor roll student, she finished her sophomore year with a 4.1 grade-point average. The soft-spoken teen likes to play the viola and piano; she’s made first chair in viola at school. She makes time, too, to be a big sister to her five siblings.
Nakesia Ferebee felt her daughter’s father, Denardo Christia — who owns Safe Hauling and Towing — has been influential.
“She saw her dad get up every day to go to work and he never complained,” she said.
Ke’Nyzjah gives her mother a chunk of the credit. “She’s like my biggest supporter. She’s made me who I am.”
Ke’Nyzjah plans to continue baking and cake decorating after high school. She’s thinking about starting one or two nonprofit organizations. She’s also considering universities such as Harvard, Howard or Christopher Newport.
In these couple of years, Ke’Nyzjah said, she’s learned much more than intricate piping techniques or time management and customer service.
Starting the business was the best decision she’s made, she said.
“I’ve come to realize that I am kind of an incredible person.”
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Visit tinyurl.com/kaykebakery for details.
Rekaya Gibson, rekaya.gibson@virginiamedia.com, 757-295-8809; on Twitter @gibsonrekaya
