I was up to my elbows in cake batter when I heard a sharp rapping at the front door of the house. \u201cComing!\u201d I shouted from the kitchen.<\/p>\n
I hoped it was my fianc\u00e9, Melvin, with supplies for more cakes.<\/p>\n
Not Melvin. A stranger, a woman with a rigid expression.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you Ms. Angela Logan?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m from the health department. You need to cease baking and selling cakes from your home. Immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStop making my cakes? There must be some mistake…\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a health-code violation. You cannot sell baked goods from your home. They must be made in a state-approved commercial kitchen.\u201d She handed me a notice and left.<\/p>\n
I shut the door and sank to the floor. \u201cLord, no!\u201d I cried.<\/p>\n
Those cakes were my last hope to save my house. If I sold a hundred apple cakes, that would give me enough to make the first of three payments to qualify for a mortgage-loan modification.<\/p>\n
Melvin and my teenage sons, Marcus, William and Nick, had helped me spread the word. A reporter from the local paper had even interviewed me, though I had yet to see the story in print. I\u2019d gotten quite a few orders already. How could I fulfill them if I couldn\u2019t bake? And that payment was due in five days!<\/p>\n
I buried my face in my apron. What was I thinking? I wasn\u2019t a business owner. I wasn\u2019t even a professional baker.<\/p>\n
I was an actress. I\u2019d dreamed of making it big in the movies. It never happened. I\u2019d done commercials, one-woman shows, had bit parts on TV. I made enough to get by, but with three college-bound boys, I needed a regular paycheck.<\/p>\n
So I enrolled in a nursing program at the community college and found side work as a hairstylist.<\/p>\n
Then the storm hit. The recession of 2009, and an actual storm that left our roof, windows and top floor in shambles. I hired a contractor to fix the damage, but he took our money and ran. Not long after that, my talent agency went under and I didn\u2019t get paid for acting jobs I\u2019d already done.<\/p>\n
I fell behind on mortgage payments. Foreclosure notices rolled in. A credit counselor worked with me to apply for the loan-modification program. The catch was, I had to make three trial payments to qualify. How in the world would I do that?<\/p>\n
The idea came in a flash of inspiration: cake! What if I baked and sold cakes? Cake makes people happy. I learned that from my grandma Melissa.<\/p>\n
The highlight of my childhood Sundays after church was going to Grandma\u2019s and having home-baked treats, like her famous glazed lemon cake. While my brothers and sister devoured their pieces, I studied mine. Did she use real lemon juice? How did she get it to smell so yummy? <\/em><\/p>\n Grandma, seeing my interest, taught me her secrets, like using only the best and freshest ingredients.<\/p>\n I developed my own specialty raising my boys as a single mom. Apple cake\u2013using the freshest Gala and Delicious apples, Saigon cinnamon, organic sugar, cream-cheese frosting. It was the boys\u2019 favorite (they\u2019d even hide pieces in their rooms!) and a big hit at school bake sales and church functions.<\/p>\n Then I reconnected with an old friend, Melvin George. We fell in love, and he fell in love with my apple cake too.<\/p>\n When I floated the idea of baking my way out of foreclosure, he was all for it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou bake and I\u2019ll deliver,\u201d he said. Normally the boys rolled their eyes at any idea of mine (teenagers!) but this time they were totally into it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s how Mortgage Apple Cakes came to be, just 10 days before I had to make my first loan-modification payment. If I sold a hundred cakes at 40 dollars each, that would cover the payment and then some. But would people pay that much? And who would I ask?<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to tell everyone you know that you\u2019re in trouble and need their help,\u201d Melvin said.<\/p>\n That was going to be hard. I was used to making it on my own. All these years as a struggling actress, the only one I\u2019d ever asked for help was the Lord.<\/p>\n I swallowed my pride and wrote an e-mail. \u201cBuy a Cake, Save a Home\u201d was the subject line. I explained my situation and ended with, \u201cWould you be willing to help me?\u201d I sent it to everyone on my contacts list.<\/p>\n I even admitted my problem to my nursing-school classmates. I stood up in class one day and said, \u201cI\u2019m selling cakes to save my home. Would any of you like to buy one?\u201d Hands shot up.<\/p>\n We got 42 orders in four days. I couldn\u2019t believe it. Maybe I could pull this off after all! Even with only one mixer and four cake pans.<\/p>\n But now the health department had shut me down. How could I have been so foolish as to think cake could save my house? I dried my eyes on my apron and broke the news to Melvin and the boys. \u201cIt\u2019s over,\u201d I said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing else I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere is one thing we can do,\u201d Melvin reminded me gently. \u201cWe can pray.\u201d<\/p>\n