Anything done in life should be done with love. That is exactly how Lori McClurg feels when she bakes—especially since she shares her creations with other people.
However, this hobby has only really been a part of her adult life. McClurg started baking when she needed to turn her mind to something else.
“I’m a recovering alcoholic of 18 years and I needed something to fill the void so that’s why I started baking,” McClurg said.
Since starting the hobby, it has only grown more popular with her customers and herself and about two years ago, McClurg started Lori’s Delectable Edibles as a way to bring a family’s love to their college student.
“The whole thing with Brockport started two years ago,” McClurg said. “A parent found me on Facebook and their son or daughter was going to Brockport and they were a long way away from them. They had never celebrated birthdays apart, and they wanted me to make it special for them. I got some cupcakes and some balloons and I said I’d deliver. Then she put it on the Brockport parent’s page and it just took off from there.”
McClurg wasn’t kidding when she said her business took off. She started to get an immense amount of orders very quickly.
“I do anywhere between 35 and 40 orders a month just for Brockport, and on top of that, I work full time for New York State,” McClurg said.
McClurg bakes mostly for Brockport and the students surrounding the campus. It’s the only place she will deliver to as she lives a mere five- minute car drive away.
“I have had parents call me from Geneseo and they want me to deliver there, and I won’t do it—it’s too much. My heart is at Brockport and that’s where it’ll stay,” McClurg said.
To further her reach and really get her name out there to the community, she started to bring her products to cheer competitions, then wrestling tournaments and so on. One of the signature ones she would bring out were her cakebites.
“I just started baking out of my home and it all started with cakebites, they’re kind of like cakepops without the stick- I’m known as the cakebite lady,” McClurg said.
McClurg loves the Brockport community—since that is really where she got her start. She never really expected it to go further and didn’t know if she even wanted it to.
Baking for big events like weddings or graduation parties is a large task for someone who works out of their own home, and it can be extremely daunting for someone who isn’t used to that.
“When I started out, there was no way I was doing wedding cakes—I didn’t want anything to do with it,” McClurg said.
But when her friend’s daughter was getting married, they wanted McClurg to bake the cake.
“That’s what started it. They said it was the best cake they ever had. So now I do wedding and graduation parties and birthday parties. I do all that stuff,” McClurg said.
All of these events McClurg bakes for happen at a certain time during the year. Near the holiday season, she hits a bit of a pause, but she has found a way to make the most of it.
“I kind of have a lull where cheerleading competitions end in the middle of November, so from November until Christmas I have time for my classes. I started teaching the hot chocolate bombs because they’re a big hit and everybody thinks they’re so hard to make and they are not,” McClurg said.
McClurg has found that she really enjoys her classes and has formed friendship with some of the women who join her. She supplies everything for the people who sign up and says you only need to bring a couple of things.
“Just bring yourself with laughter and smiles,” McClurg said.
McClurg loves what she does with baking and will continue to do it as long as it makes her happy, but she has no plans to expand to anything bigger or make a storefront.
“I tell people that my baked goods taste better than everybody else’s because I bake out of love, and once I’m not doing it because I love it, I think my product is going to taste different. I don’t bake to pay my bills. I don’t bake for a storefront. I bake because I love to bake,” McClurg said.
This is something McClurg does for herself, but she also loves to see the smile she puts on people’s faces when they see what she has created from scratch for them.
“I need people to know that everything is made fresh. I don’t have stuff sitting around for when people just call. I’m not a bakery. You call me on Monday, and I might tell you I won’t have your order until Wednesday, but that’s because I am making it fresh. It’s not frozen,” McClurg said.
Lori McClurg has found what truly makes her happy and wants to share it with anyone interested in taking a bite of one of her delectable edibles.
Three classes for hot chocolate bombs are still open for signup. One is this coming Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Two more are being offered this coming Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Get a group of four together and learn something new. Everything is provided and it only costs $30 per person. McClurg can be contacted for orders or classes on Facebook Messenger.
