A festival with community baked into it

Nostalgic, celebratory, and a little whimsical is how Lorraine Toland describes something that most people love and some people have a little too much of: cake.

“There’s just something really joyful about gathering around cake,” she says.

“A little bit of whimsy,” reinforces Champagne Manley. “It’s truly such a beautiful time where we all just come together as a community during times when we desperately need some goodness.”

Toland runs Rooted Creative Co., while Manley brings her edible artistry to the table through Cakedd By Champ. The two are talking about Cake Fest Roc, a festival that turns Highland Park into a playground for cake lovers once a year.

Rochester has experience putting on festivals, from the smell of lilacs in the spring to the sounds of jazz music and the unexpected events of Fringe in the fall. Cake Fest is now carving out its own place in this tradition by bringing people together with each slice it offers.

“Cake Fest is obviously about cake, but it’s really about community,” Toland says.

At Cake Fest, people of all skill levels bring their best cakes and desserts to share. Visitors stroll from table to table, sampling slices, chatting with local vendors, and enjoying the relaxed, picnic atmosphere. Even if you aren’t a baker, you can still get a ticket and enjoy the sweets and the company.

For Alexxis Ellison, who founded Cake Fest in 2025, the link between food and community began well before the festival.

As Ellison explains, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and birthdays with family always included a lot of food and desserts.

Her early enthusiasm for food led her to enroll in a vocational culinary program and eventually to Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., where she thoroughly explored the world of baking.

Later, Ellison was inspired by the large holiday cookie exchange in New York City and the rising popularity of cake picnics, and she began to imagine how to bring such a celebration back to Rochester.

“Kind of like the Lilac Fest,” she says.

The idea stayed with her, lingering in the back of her mind until 2025, when she and her husband, Demetrius Ellison, finally agreed to try it.

“We were like, okay, like, let’s do it, we have nothing to lose,” she recalls.

At that point, baking was not only a passion of Ellison’s; it had become her full-time job as a result of her business, Baby Cakes Bakeshop. Yet even though it had turned into her profession, it still served as a creative escape.

“I have ADHD, so I’m a hands-on person,” she says. “I love anything like DIY and working with my hands.”

Yet running a business came with its own challenges, and Ellison soon realized the baking world could be highly competitive. Cake Fest offered a chance to turn the script around.

Ellison decided to include women-owned businesses and creatives in the planning process, such as Manley, Keilani Diaz from Cakelani, Toland, and Melissa Gibson from Brass and Bamboo Picnics.

“What initially started as a vendor-client relationship blossomed into an amazing network of women-owned small businesses,” Gibson says.

The spirit suggests something superior to what Ellison hopes to see in Rochester.

“I think we have a lot of great bakeries here in Rochester,” she says. “I think what we lack is the baking community.”

However, the kind of community mentioned requires a great deal of behind-the-scenes work, a fact most festival attendees never realize.

In 2025, Cake Fest nearly got canceled because of confusion over permits and ticketing.

Ellison contacted local authorities and secured approval just in time. This year, the team got going early and made sure every permit, license, and insurance form was sorted out.

Last year, about 130 people turned up at the first Cake Fest; this year, Ellison is aiming for 150, if not even 200. The event is open to everyone, whether they are experienced bakers or those who bake for fun.

“The whole thing is to come and meet new people, to make friends,” she says. “I feel like it’s hard to make friends as an adult, but what easier way to introduce yourself to people and make new friends than by talking about desserts?”

Ellison and her family are preparing for another major achievement by opening the first Baby Cakes brick-and-mortar store in Caledonia.

The bakery is expanding. So is Cake Fest. And the growing crowds around both are creating new excitement in Rochester.

“Come for the cake,” Gibson says. “Stay for the community.”

Cake Fest Roc will be held from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22, at Highland Park. Tickets are available through Eventbrite.

Rob Bell is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and former Democrat and Chronicle reporter, photographer and editor. He also produces and hosts “Plants & Beats,” a podcast exploring mindfulness, music and culture. 

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