Conversations with Ricci Henderson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ricci Henderson.

Hi Ricci, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started baking from a young age with my grandma, Ella in her kitchen. I was the youngest of all of the grandchildren so I got to help her in the kitchen while everyone else had to go outside and play and stay out of “her” kitchen… lol. The amazing thing is that like most Southern women she baked from scratch with no written recipes.

Sadly, she died while I was in 3rd grade, so I don’t remember all of her recipes but I do have one of her bowls that I still use to this day to make my chocolate chip cookies. I carried this love of baking with my grandmother into my teen and young adult years.

I continued to bake as a hobby while I pursued a career in education as a special education teacher. When I had my oldest daughter, I started making cakes for all of her birthdays and events. This led to me making cakes and treats for family and then eventually friends and co-workers. I started taking classes and watching how-to videos for cakes and treats. I eventually joined a cake club where I entered my first competition as an amateur and actually won!

From there, I started thinking about cakes and treats as an actual business. The first go-around was not as successful because I didn’t have a business background and basically “Didn’t know what I didn’t know.” But, what really held me back was that I didn’t have the courage or confidence in myself or my abilities, despite what people would tell me. Several things happened to change all of this. In 2019, my granda Betty who we affectionally refer to as “Meme” died way before I was ready for her to go which changed my world forever.

She was one of my biggest supporters, and secret keeper and believed that I could do anything. Then, the pandemic hit, and schools closed down so I had a lot of time to reflect on who I really was as a person and as a baker/cake artist. I had time to practice my recipes and bake just because. It was pure joy! During this time of reflection, I realized that I had two amazing grandmothers that would be with me through whatever venture I chose to take in life.

With these two as my guardian angels along with my amazing parents, husband, children, family, and friends I couldn’t be anything but successful. So, I found amazing cake artists to learn from and sought out the most business-savvy people I knew to help guide me with re-launching my business. In 2020 I officially re-launched as sweets, LLC, a small specialty dessert business.

Now, I am making cakes and treats that people often do not want to eat because they are too cool or just too pretty. I have also started selling my amazing chocolate chip cookies which I named after my beloved Meme because they are the perfect balance of sweet with a little bit of saltiness, just like she was.

So, what started as spending quality time with my grandma standing on a chair to reach the counter has turned into a lifelong love of baking and creating that has turned into my little dream business.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road to get to where I am now and I still have bumps that I occasionally hit.

Some of the struggles I had was not having enough confidence in myself and my abilities despite what I was being told.

Another struggle was trying to balance working full time, raising two children, and being married to an Army officer that went on several deployments.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I make specialty-designed cakes and treats.

I am known for making an amazing chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookies. I specialize in cakes that are unique and can’t be found in your average bakery. I am most proud of my very first win as an amateur in the first cake show that I ever entered.

My creativity, my eye for detail, and my attention to what makes something special to the person getting my cake set me apart from others.

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
People can support me by buying my cakes and cookies.

Contact Info:

• Email: inquiries@sweetsbyricci.com
• Website: www.sweetsbyricci.com
• Instagram: @sweetsbyricci
• Facebook: sweetsbyricci@facebook.com 

Image Credits
Kaysha Smith