Anthony Lewis never hung out with his mom in the kitchen. He was not interested.
But as he juggled three jobs, then found out his mom had breast cancer, he had an idea. The red velvet cake she made, the one people lined up to enjoy, just might be the ticket to help pay for her expensive chemo treatments.
“I asked mom to show me how to make the cake. She did not think I had the patience. But she walked me through the steps,” he said. The first, second and third attempt, all failures. The fourth and fifth, a bit better. “I tried it three more times and I got it.”
Lewis took to social media offering free samples of Selina’s Red Velvet for those interested in purchasing a cake. “All it took was one slice and people were hooked.” His desk at a call center resembled a drive-through window with coworkers lining up to snag a cupcake or a slice of Selina’s Red Velvet. Once he started making the cupcakes, he said, they flew off the shelves. He began donating a dollar from each one to the Florida Cancer Specialist Foundation. His mom beat breast cancer in January 2019 and now takes orders for his baked creations.
Lewis’s creations are now on the menu at Konan BBQ in Tampa, Blue Flame Soul Food on Fowler Avenue, Kim’s Cuban Sandwich Shop in Seffner and on the Sweet T’s Soul Food truck.
Lewis and his young son moved from the one-bedroom apartment they shared to a two-bedroom and now they are moving again to a larger place, so he will have office space. The cakes and cupcakes are shipped all over Florida and beyond.
