Baking for Love: A Brainy Idea

The Cake Boss and Chef Leah complete a delicate operation but will the operation be successful?

We’ve seen plenty of festive cakes, especially coming from the popular television show Cake Boss, but this may be the only cake ever topped with a bright pink brain.

So why, you may ask, is there a brain on top of a cake?

Chef Leah with a basket full of her famous cupcakes so beautiful that, as delicious as they are, some think they are just too pretty to eat!

The story begins a few years ago when a family in Malaysia learned that their younger daughter, Adele, was severely brain-injured. They discovered The Institutes and wanted to bring Adele for treatment, but such a long trip for the family would be expensive. To defray the costs, their 4-year-old daughter, Leah, had a solution. She suggested that she and her mother learn to bake by watching YouTube, then bake cupcakes to raise money to help Adele.

Chef Leah stakes her claim: Excellent cupcakes for an excellent cause – only the best will do for her baby sister.

Leah only had one goal

Before long, Leah and her cupcakes became a baking sensation. Known as “Chef Leah with the Big Heart,” she has been featured in newspapers and television, won awards, and hailed as an entrepreneur and “game changer.” But Leah had only one goal–to help her sister get better.

A dream come true – an invitation to meet Buddy Valastro

During one of their visits to The Institutes in Philadelphia, Leah and her mother were invited to visit Carlo’s Bake Shop in New Jersey, home of the Cake Boss show. Leah, with master baker Bartolo “Buddy” Valastro, designed and constructed a two-layer cake as a salute to The Institutes.

Buddy and Leah create a cake together on the show

A cake that Dr. Temple Fay and Glenn Doman would love showing a brain that is anatomically correct with the natural development of mobility from the baby to the adult

Covered in white fondant, the cake was decorated with The Institutes name, a dark-blue Institutes logo, and a baby crawling, creeping, brachiating, and walking – and topped with that anatomically correct coral-colored brain. Representing the medical help that Adele received there, the cake also featured a stethoscope and scalpel, but Leah drew the line at depicting medications of any kind.

Not a “Cake Walk” – the Cake arrives at Clark Hall where crowds gather to admire it and perhaps get a taste.

The most famous cake limo in the world arrives at The Institutes

Finally the day arrived when the Carlo’s Bake Shop truck pulled into The Institutes circular drive. With extreme care the large cake box was delivered to an eager crowd of students, staff, Adele, Leah, and their parents. After great fanfare and the cake’s presentation, Leah and her mother helped to cut and serve the cake to everyone present, which also included parents attending the What to Do About Your Brain-Injured Child course. For those parents, this was their first visit to The Institutes, and they were just beginning their journey on the pathway to wellness.

“I love her more than I love myself”

Who would have thought that parents in our course would be sampling small sweet sections of the human cortex!

One question that didn’t need to be asked – “What happens to the siblings when the family undertakes the home treatment program?” The answer – they step up, get involved, and become part of the solution. As Leah says during the Cake Boss episode: “I want to help my sister, because she is my only sister and I love her more than I can love myself.”

Look but don’t touch – Princess Adele with Chef Leah, Father, Mother, Janet Doman and Adele’s advocate, Leia Coehlo Reilly

Click here to view the episode of Cake Boss featuring Chef Leah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-kQp_GYOBc

Read more about Leah and her mission to help her sister: https://iahp.org/cerebral-palsy-story-hope-love-malaysia/

Read about Chef Leah With a Big Heart on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chefleahwithabigheart

Learn More About the “What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child Course”