Her story touched the heart of the nation; a home that single mother, Angela Logan, had lived in for 20 years was up for foreclosure unless a drastic measure was applied to raise funds to pay her mortgage. She had only a few weeks to raise $2,559.54 to pay her mortgage lender. However, Angela devised a plan to pay her debt; if she could sell 100 apple cakes in 10 days, she could at least save her home.
She drew inspiration from the love her sons and friends had for her cakes; so if she could bake more, she stood the chance of saving her home. Angela baked 42 cakes in the heat of the crisis and sold each cake for $40. Her story attracted media attention and ended up saving her home. That moment of being on the brink did not only give her a place to lay her head, but a business – a steady source of income.
Today, Mortgage Apple Cakes is one of the most thriving businesses, selling cakes to a beeline of customers, according to Maccakes. In 2009, Angela was named among many homeowners struggling to meet their mortgage costs. The agency that brokered the deal for her left her thousands of bills to pay after the reconstruction of her home.
In that moment of desperation, all she could think of was baking in her Teaneck kitchen, using four cake pans, a recipe handed down to her by her grandmother, and another that she learned during a trip to Kansas. When the media aired her story, she got 900 orders which earned her $36,000, more than enough to settle the loan on her home. For over a decade now, Angela is still running her cake business.
She initially braided hair to survive while she studied nursing at Bergen Community Clinic. This was part of her plan to raise enough money to continue staying at her Ramapo Road home. In 2016, when the odds were against her, she opened Mortgage Apple Cakes and Bakery, and a Café on Chestnut Avenue. She has no plans on quitting her newfound love.
Angela rented a commercial kitchen, where she bakes day and night. She is currently doing this to help raise enough money to save the home of strangers with similar stories per month. The lesson her experience has taught her is that, when one is part of a community, one doesn’t lose out in a period of crisis. She keeps going because she loves what she does, according to Oprah.
Though she could have started this business a long time ago, like many young people, she was shy to ask people in her community to buy what she could produce. However, the storm that confronted her took that pride away. This has become a philosophy she has shared with three of her sons, reiterating that they need not be ashamed to work hard to earn their upkeep. Her story has been turned into a movie, “Apple Mortgage Cake,” 2014.
