Honolulu teen, 16, makes fancy birthday cakes for Oahu keiki from underprivileged families

By the time she entered her teens, ‘Iolani School sophomore Sabrina Toh was delighting her friends and family with her artistry, baking and decorating elaborate cakes that made special occasions even more memorable.

It dawned on her that she could make more people “super happy” with her cakes by giving them away, simply because it was a nice thing to do — she knew the price for such cakes could be too expensive for some to afford. Toh thought kids in particular would appreciate them more than anyone.

“When I was younger, I would find that something as simple as a toy was really important to me,” said the Singapore native.

The 16-year-old enrolled in ‘Iolani School’s new boarding program last September and co-founded the nonprofit club, Bake A Wish, that produces cakes for disadvantaged youth. She started the club with classmate Jimin Baek, who also likes to bake. Toh had tried to get Bake A Wish started when she was 13, but didn’t know how to go about it.

“A cake is a symbol of hope and happiness for families in need,” states Toh’s website. Most importantly, it continues, the cake becomes part of a lasting memory shared with loved ones.

Toh said she makes a point to decorate the cake elaborately, beyond expectation, so that when parents come to pick them up, they’re overwhelmed with happiness. Toh has never seen the kids’ reactions but wishes she could.

With the help of an ‘Iolani club advisor, Toh has partnered with organizations like Ronald McDonald House and Out of the Darkness Walks (by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) to make 10 cakes each year for kids in need.

She plans to make another 10 to raise funds for the ingredients and supplies, which her parents help pay for. Although interested families can contact her via the website with requests, her school counselor cautions that Toh needs to give priority to schoolwork, limiting the number of cakes she can produce.

Toh said she’s always loved drawing and painting, especially watercolors. She probably inherited some of her artistic talent from her mother, who shares a passion for painting and loves to dance as well. Toh has also taken courses from artists who encouraged her to develop her own style and not be afraid to experiment with new techniques.

“I don’t do things how they’re supposed to be done … but it works for me,” she said.

Cake decorating allows her creativity to reign, particularly when it comes to piping designs in buttercream, hand painting beautiful images, and making intricate flowers. Though she loves to bake, Baek often handles that duty so Toh can focus on designing her decorations. It takes about 16 hours just to decorate a two-tier cake, so Toh multitasks, using the time to also listen to lessons, watch movies (though it’s really mostly listening), or talk to her mom long distance.

Most of the time, Toh works on bent knees on a hard kitchen floor without any cushioning. Though it seems like a painful way to work, she insists that it’s her preferred position for decorating. She giggles when people seem skeptical, but Toh laughs easily and often at life in general.

Toh said her mother and father are “super encouraging,” and they have been supportive ever since she tried to bake a box of Betty Crocker cake mix at the age of 10, with less-than-successful results.

At 11, when her family lived in Macau, Toh tried to enroll in a course offered by the Wilton School of Cake Decorating and Confectionery Art, but instructors said she was too young. Undaunted and determined to learn, she found a baker who taught her the basics of baking and decorating. She sent photos of her first cake to Wilton instructors, who finally agreed to give her private lessons. After finishing all four Wilton courses in one year, Toh enlisted in classes with Debbie Brown Cakes, run by the renowned U.K. cake decorator, where she learned about carved cakes and 3D sculpting.

After only six years since her first venture into baking, Toh’s sophisticated creations are comparable to those of professional decorators. She is forever on the hunt for new techniques and designs, and she follows international artists on Instagram who tend to be a bit bohemian in style.

One day, she would like to open a cake shop and design wedding cakes, but not until she’s a lot more accomplished — “I don’t want to mess up anyone’s wedding!”

For now, there aren’t many downsides to her projects, except not having the cake turn out as she envisioned, or having the cake collapse during transport. Once, a cake she spent 10 hours decorating almost toppled over, resulting in a lopsided bottom layer, but Toh shrugged it off. It was her own birthday cake, and she was glad she could try out new techniques without worrying about how it turned out. In fact, the cake made her friends laugh, and they had fun grabbing handfuls of it to eat instead of slicing it, she said.

Toh finds living in Hawaii and attending ‘Iolani better than she ever imagined.

“People are a lot more friendly and supportive, especially with my cakes,” she said.

Like a true artist, she is happy coloring outside the lines.

“I feel like since I know what I want to do, I just follow my dreams. I do it with my parents’ support, and it’s not like it’s illegal or anything, so I get to do it!”