bred a. baker This marketing pro-turned-entrepreneur banks on cake Story by ALYSSA HIGH | Photography by YUVIE STYLES
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lex Baker Kincaid’s birth announcement was a baker’s hat with a recipe and directions that lead to her a r r i va l . “ B re d a B a ke r f ro m birth” is written across her website, as if making cakes was destiny. After more than a decade in public relations and marketing, Kincaid began living up to her destiny and became a full-time baker in 2020. A. Baker, the cake business she runs out of her home, produces glamorous cakes in unique, modern flavors for weddings and events. A. Baker’s cakes are decadent but classy. Think Food Network meets Chanel. The Hockaday grad cut into her creative side in school, practicing art and photography. She graduated from Elon College in 2009, with degrees in history and journalism. After that, Kincaid studied at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London, earning a master’s degree in contemporary art.
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That’s also when she began baking in her free time. “I had won a pie contest in college at a fraternity party, so it was just sort of a creative outlet, rather than an educational outlet,” Kincaid says. “But I knew that education and corporate was the way I was going to make money.” Kincaid returned home from London to work in marketing and hospitality. The Dallas Art Fair, Ross-Michael’s Gallery and Hotel Zaza were among her clients in luxury marketing and public relations. Later she was Modern Luxury magazine’s marketing manager and director. Eventually, she became the marketing and communications manager for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. The Ritz-Carlton provided Kincaid the opportunity to see behind the scenes some of the city’s well-known pastry chefs and bakers. Among chef Dean Fearing’s pastry team, including rock-star pastry chef Jill Bates, Kincaid found herself surrounded by sweets galore. “If you couldn’t find me at my desk, you’d find me down there, bugging them in the kitchen and just asking a million questions,” Kincaid says. “Even though I wasn’t technically trained in pastry, that’s sort of where I saw true beauty and art come together in a culinary way.”
