New owners of a West Oakland bakery are discovering unimaginable fortitude after tragedy turned their worlds upside down.
Within a short time, they experienced the murder of their boss, then the inheritance of the business. A sweetness they could have never imagined.
On the corner of Fifth and Brush streets in west Oakland, it’s an unassumingly sweet treasure to this community.
“There is a lot of great history as well,” co-owner Tatlin Johnson said.
The history of angel cakes, doesn’t go back too far, opening here in 2016. But the story of how six women became its owners, started with an angel of a woman, of sorts, the original owner, Jen Angel.
“She was amazing. She was just an incredible person,” co-owner Kelly Peck said.
And that is the story for most of the women of how they became part of the angel cakes family. What they didn’t know was their time as a family would be cut short unexpectedly.
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Jen died in February of 2023 from injuries sustained during a robbery outside of a bank in downtown Oakland. The 19-year-old responsible was arrested and sentenced to state prison.
“One by one we all came in and just hugged each other, and then we started saying, ‘now what?’” Peck said.
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From that tragedy a light from their now angel, Jen. The business was theirs if they wanted it.
“We knew that if we were going to do it together. That was clear right from the beginning,” Peck said.
The past year and a half haven’t been a piece of cake, by any means, but they are making something sweet out the bitterness life dealt them as a collective.
“I often struggle with the happy moments because I want Jen to see it,” said Johnson. “The first cake it did, Claire and I kind of got swindled into making wedding cake. It was scary, but felt really good and I wish Jen could have seen what we did, because it was awesome.”
For now, the women just hope to continue growing the business, feeding a community that is now home.
“And I think that if we could bring some attention to this neighborhood and help with that revitalization process, that would be really beautiful,” Peck said.
