Becca Rae-Tucker ’15

For many people, the only message they’ve ever seen frosted on a cake is “Happy Birthday.” But for Becca Rea-Tucker ’15, cakes are a medium for sharing political messages.

One scroll through Rea-Tucker’s Instagram, @thesweetfeminist, shows decadent desserts bedecked with political slogans and empowering messages for her followers, such as “I’m proud of you,” “Hello, I’m vegan,” and “Pro-abortion forever.”

Combining her cakes with her politics wasn’t always on Rea-Tucker’s agenda. She credits her interest in baking to her grandmother, from whom she first learned to bake. Rea-Tucker went on to hone her cooking skills while living in Food House at Grinnell.

A year after graduation, Rea-Tucker and a roommate started a food blog. “It was mostly just for me in the beginning, but then it snowballed, and very quickly got much bigger than I anticipated,” says Rea-Tucker. “I found a great community that way.”

In April, Rea-Tucker returned to campus to offer several baking presentations. During Baking with Becca, students joined her for a cake workshop in the Marcus Family Global Kitchen. Students decorated cakes with political messages, and Rea-Tucker talked about processing feelings through baking.

“I loved seeing so much enthusiasm for a feminist approach to baking,” she says.