13th Grant Winner: Addi Cakes, A Journey To My Dream

Addi Cakes is a bakery named after my daughter Addison that focuses on custom cakes, gourmet cheesecakes, cupcakes and specialty desserts. I will begin by first introducing myself and how Addi Cakes came to be.

My name is Jason Schadewalt, I am 34 years old, married to my high school sweetheart Carrie and have a amazing 4 yr. old daughter Addison. We live in a small rural town in Northwestern Illinois and I am an Equipment Operator in the Electrical union. I have always enjoyed baking and cooking, many times I thought it would be amazing to go to culinary school, but I never could afford to do so. I often made desserts for family gathering and loved being in the kitchen, but it wasn’t my main focus or hobby. I am also a avid classic car fan, and racing enthusiast, spending many weekends working on cars and either competing in or spectating at racing events with my family.

In late 2009 my employee informed all of us workers that they were expecting a very slow year and may not have work for us in 2010, a friend and co-worker and I took it to ourselves to enroll in school over the winter while we were laid off to become EMT – Basics in an attempt earn a place on our city Fire Dept., Having made the list in prior applications, we both thought this would increase our chances and put us in a more secure job.  Spring 2010 came and class was over and work resumed with the warning that it would be a rough year, only I didn’t realize at the time how rough. I returned to work in May 2010, two weeks later my father was diagnosed with end stage Pancreatic Cancer and with treatment may have 6 months to live. Devastated by this, I buried myself in my job and pushed myself into the kitchen to keep my mind of what was happening. July of 2010 I found myself yet again laid off, with nothing better to do I spent my time watching cooking shows to keep my mind occupied and in the kitchen attempted what I saw on the shows. This is when I found Ace of Cakes, Cupcake Wars, Food Network Challenge and Cake Boss, I instantly fell in love with what they were doing, the ability to express yourself through cake and create masterpieces that wow.  Cupcakes seemed the easiest to master, so I spent several days baking and testing recipes, having friends and family sample.

In July I also enrolled in Paramedic school and was accepted and set to start in September, however my employer had other options for me.  September arrived and we went on a camping trip with my father to his property in Wisconsin, after we arrived the bomb was dropped on me. I received a phone call from my boss informing me I was to return to work the following Mon, which forced me to drop out of the paramedic program, as well my father told me the doctors decided it was time to stop treatment and start hospice as they therapy was no longer helping him. I returned to work and spent my spare time in the kitchen to occupy my mind if I wasn’t with him. November 2010 I was laid off again, shortly after my father passed away from the cancer, I spent several days in my room devastated and lost. I then turned to my baking and spent all my time baking and making dessert creations.

Being I was unemployed, my thoughts turned to how to support my family, when I learned of a Christmas bazaar that was being held to raise money for the Northwestern Illinois Dyslexia Foundation. I thought this would be perfect to raise money to purchase Christmas gifts for my family, so I signed up and made cupcakes to sell, this is when Addi Cakes was born. We received such wonderful responses, word quickly spread and the next Monday we received two phone calls, one from the Chamber of Commerce who had heard about us and wanted us to join, and the Health Dept. who had also heard of us and wanted to know why we were operating an unlicensed business from our home.

This is when the journey began.