From $19 to Six Figures: Rosedale baker turns pandemic setback into flourishing cake business

A Rosedale resident is creating custom cakes with unique designs for her local community and beyond. Sabrina Wright, 28, owns and operates Golden Sugar Bakery, an online luxury cake business that has flourished into a six-figure venture serving clients in New York City and the East Coast.

Wright’s story began in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. She had just lost her job and was battling anxiety and depression from the uncertainty of the world. “Then suddenly, an old customer of mine from my previous job that I had just lost messaged me asking if I could make a cake for her friend,” she said.  Wright said at the time, she only had $19.84 in her bank account and was determined to use her last dollars to make the cake. She was inspired to use alcohol as she saw on the news that alcohol usage was on the rise during the pandemic. 

“I went to the liquor store and couldn’t even buy a big bottle. So, I ended up buying two nips. I went home, and I made the cake,” she said, adding that she already had the basic cake ingredients at home. Wright said that in that moment, she felt led by her faith.  “And I remember while I was designing the cake…I remember  God just telling me exactly what to do,” she said. “God is saying, you know, put this here, put that there, use this color. And I just followed what he was saying. When I gave it to my customer, she was so shocked and amazed at how pretty it turned out,” she said. 

Wright said that the joy her customer exuded filled her with happiness, and from that day forward, she knew baking was her calling. “I’ll just use my time making custom cakes to make other people happy. And because of that, I went from a season of depression to a season of happiness. Really and truly, it’s my clients that keep me going every single day,”  she said.

Wright then posted the cake she made on Instagram, and her post went viral virtually overnight, bringing a wave of customers to her small business. “Within six months, I made six figures. I had people from Connecticut and New Jersey… so many people literally just driving to my location to pick up their cakes and go back home, she said. “So that’s how I turned the $19.84 into six figures in six months.”

Wright has always loved working with her hands and felt baking has made her happiest. Originally from Guyana, Wright took baking classes at the Carnegie School of Home Economics in 2015 before advancing her culinary career in the United States at the Culinary Institute of America, where she graduated in 2019 with an Associate’s degree in baking and pastry and a Bachelor’s degree in restaurant management.  She said after graduating, she worked with Buddy Palastro, a famous pastry chef and star of the Food Network show Cake Boss. 

Her cake designs are rooted in realism, so much so that a Birkin bag cake once fooled a client. “It took so much time to add so much detail to this cake, even down to the stitching of the Birkin bag and the texture of the material she said. “As she entered the room, she ran to the bag..thinking, ah, it’s a real bag,” Wright said. “She realized it was cake, but nevertheless, she was still surprised and happy.  It fooled everybody in the room.”

As the holiday season approaches, Wright is gearing up to ship her beloved West-Indian black cake nationwide. “I’m half Guyanese and Jamaican, so it’s like the perfect blend of both worlds. We blend Guyanese and Jamaican rum, and our fruits have been soaking for over five years,” she said. “When it comes to Christmas time, it’s like really nostalgic… the whole place just smells like home, and that’s really what I want to give my customers, a real authentic taste of home.”

Wright is a one-woman show, doing everything from baking in a commercial kitchen to running her Instagram page and managing order requests on her website. She said that she is ready to take the next steps to expand her business by hiring employees and eventually opening a storefront cafe. “Somewhere where our people could get together, have good conversations, and meet people. I want to really create that environment for my neighborhood and the community that we’re in,” she said.

Wright is also passionate about being in service to others. She wants to educate other budding entrepreneurs on how to grow their startup businesses and give back to children in impoverished countries. “I really believe in being of service to people, so anything surrounding that, like I’m down for it, that’s the plan going forward,” she said.