Giti Fredman started “Just Bake It” workshops, where she brings people together to create delicious memories

I’ve been baking since I was eight years old. One year my Hungarian Bobbie came to us in Lakewood for Pesach. I was 11 at the time, and I have a distinct memory of my Bobbie showing me how to make sponge cake. She rolled up her sleeves and folded the batter not just with her hands, but with her whole arm. She didn’t teach all the grandchildren how to bake; she chose me, and it gave me confidence that she saw I had potential.

My mother encouraged my baking, signing me up for Sunday baking clubs in elementary school and a professional cake decorating course in high school. That inspired me to take my desserts to the next level. My mother let me have free reign in the kitchen, even though I was messy, and I would regularly make desserts for Shabbos, Yom Tov, and simchahs.

When I was in tenth grade, my Bobbie was nifteres, and I inherited her Kitchen Aid mixer. With it, I continued to hone the talent she had seen in me.

I was so into my baking that once, at parent-teacher conferences, the principal told my mother that I should apply myself to academics, suggesting that I study more and bake less. My mother came home from conferences and hid Bobbie’s mixer.

Well, I found it and kept baking.