E20: Icing Smiles: Turning Compassion Into Cake

What if one cake could change everything?

In this heartfelt episode of The Perfect Rise Podcast, Chef Kimberly Houston sits down with Tracy Quisenberry, founder of Icing Smiles, a nonprofit that brings joy to critically ill children and their families through custom celebration cakes made by volunteer bakers.

Tracy’s journey didn’t begin in the kitchen—it started with service. After years as a tax professional and volunteer for Make-A-Wish, she found her true calling through a single homemade cake that sparked smiles, connection, and purpose. Today, Icing Smiles includes more than 14,000 volunteer bakers—called Sugar Angels—who create “dream cakes” across the country, each one a reminder that compassion and creativity can change lives.

🎙️ In this episode, you’ll hear:
• How Icing Smiles began and what drives its mission
• The story behind the first “rubber duck” cake that started it all
• How one cake transformed a child’s final day into a celebration of life
• Why Tracy believes faith, service, and purpose are inseparable
• How bakers can get involved and become Sugar Angels themselves

If you’ve ever needed a reminder of why you fell in love with baking—or proof that your work can make an impact—this conversation will stay with you long after you listen.

📍 Learn more & get involved: https://www.icingsmiles.org

🎧 Listen to The Perfect Rise Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.

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Transcript

Kimberly Houston (00:01.238)
In today's episode of The Perfect Rise, we're talking about cakes, but not the kind that sit pretty in a display case. We're talking about cakes that show up in hospital rooms, living rooms, and NICU units. Cakes that carry joy into some of the hardest days a family will ever face. My guest is Tracy Quisenberry, the founder of Icing Smiles, a nonprofit that connects critically ill children and their families. Stop.

In today's episode of The Perfect Rise, we're talking about cakes, but not the kind that sit pretty in a display case. We're talking about cakes that show up in hospital rooms, living rooms, and NICU units. Cakes that carry joy into some of the hardest days a family will ever face. My guest is Tracy Quisenberry, the founder of Icing Smiles, a nonprofit that connects critically ill children and their families with custom celebration cakes.

made by volunteer bakers and sugar artists all over the country. Tracy started her career as a tax professional, picked up cake decorating as a hobby, and carried a lifelong heart for service. Those puzzle pieces came together in a way she never expected, through two premature births, nights in the NICU, and a deep understanding of what it means to be a medical mom. Trying to hold it all together in this conversation.

Tracy and I talk about the very first lopsided rubber duck cake that sparked the idea for Icing Smiles, what it really looks like to run a mission-driven organization while working on a demanding full-time job, and how one cake can transform a child's last day on Earth into a celebration their family clings to forever. We also dig into Burnout, Boundary's Faith, and why she believes your purpose often lives where your joy and the world's needs intersect.

If you've ever wondered your talent, God dang, start. If you've ever wondered whether your talent as a baker or decorator really matters, this episode is going to remind you just how powerful your work can be. Let's dive into my conversation with Tracy of Icing Smiles.

Speaker 1 (00:00.174)
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Perfect Rise Podcast. I am joined today by a really, really special guest. I'm super excited for you all to hear this story. So Tracy, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Absolutely. So I love that your story begins not in a kitchen, but in service. Can you share how your journey from tax professional to cake nonprofit founder first began?

So that question is actually probably one of the hardest I get because there is no direct path between tax professional and nonprofit founder slash cake decorator. Instead, it's a whole bunch of puzzle pieces that kind of all of a sudden got put together and the vision came to life. think some of the, as we talk more, I think those puzzle pieces will become a little bit clearer.

But it really is, there was not one light bulb moment. It just was, I was a tax professional that picked up cake decorating as a hobby and had a heart for service.

Speaker 1 (01:11.286)
Understood that sounds very, very familiar. Kind of mirrors my own story. So I get it. And a lot of people I've met over the last 13 years in the industry, we all kind of start the same way. It's like we were doing new things, started doing this thing, and then it turned into something totally different. So I love that. You've said before that the magic of a custom cake is intangible. What did you see in that first 3D cake for your son that made you realize you stumbled onto something special?

Kimberly, it was crazy. I am a tax accountant, right? Like you kind of mentioned that by trade. I honestly do not have an artistic bone in my body, but I love planning my kids birthday parties. So I always wanted to do these big themed birthday parties and you can't do a theme birthday party without a cake. And I wasn't

I'm embarrassed to admit, especially with this audience, I wasn't willing to pay for a custom cake. So I tried to do my own and it was awful. I started with the three dimensional, that very first cake I ever baked was a three dimensional rubber duck cake. And it was lopsided. I mean, people said it, I mean, it really did look like a pineapple with a beak. I mean, it was horrible. It was horrible.

But Kimberly, people walked into the party and it was the first thing they were drawn to. mean, execution almost didn't matter. They just, they walked straight to it. The kids got so excited. They were smiling. They wanted to touch it. Everybody's like, wow, that's so cool. So it just showed me that, you know, it doesn't even have to be perfect. It's the effort that people recognize.

Yeah, agreed, agreed. I was trying to think of what my first cake was and I can't remember. I'm sure it wasn't great. It wasn't great, whatever it was. I wish I remembered. I have no clue. The only thing I can remember is like I did a two tiered cake that had like the number 80 on the top and I didn't understand anything about supports yet. So the bottom tier of the cake

Speaker 2 (02:59.246)
yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:20.622)
was hard by the time it got to wherever it was going because I was baking everything from scratch and it was the first time I had done it and when I like asked for I was like you know how was the cake and then they were like to be really honest we like had somebody go to Kroger and buy a cake like it was really pretty to have on the table but like we could not eat that and I was like oh my god

And it was for my godmother, so she was being really, really nice to me. And I was like, never again. And that was like, no, no, never, no, we can't do this ever again. I went to culinary school after that to figure out like why was the K-card, but there was no-

started, I started giving mine away instead of charging for him that in order to get this way. I'm like, people can't complain. had a cake I did for my colleague's daughter. Stop. My dogs are trying to get into the room that I like isolated myself in and they're hanging on this door and barking. Do you mind if I just go put them away real quick?

Sure. I'm like, can't hear it, but absolutely. Yes, thanks.

are distracting me and I'm like, I am so sorry, Kimberly, hold on. You're good.

Speaker 1 (04:32.834)
You're good. We can pull it out.

Get in your room. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go,

Speaker 2 (04:51.174)
about. Okay. So one of the, one of the cakes I did soon after that was for my colleague's daughter when she was graduating high school. And I was so excited. It was great three tiered. We had it in the back. And on the way there, the whole thing collapsed. And I was just mortified. And I was like, never again, am I doing a cake for a special event or I'm like, and of course, now

you know, this is why I have everybody else do them because I'm not capable of executing. But yeah, I mean, how stressful is this industry?

Very. There's so much PTSD from cake decorating and I tell you all the time, you could not pay me to open a bakery again. I can't do it. I can't not do it.

Okay, special person

It does and we love them and we love us while we do it but the other side is so great. Yeah that's what I stick with. Okay so for listeners who might be new to Icing Smiles, can you describe the mission in your own words and how a single cake can make such a powerful impact?

Speaker 2 (06:01.614)
So, Icing Smiles is a nonprofit that provides what we call dream cakes and other treats to kids with critical illness and their siblings. What was the second part?

Yeah, how can it make such a powerful impact?

So the families that we serve have had so much taken from them. The kids have had a normal childhood experience taken from them. The parents are living in constant fear and stress, whether it's for the health of their child, financial issues. So their parenting experience is not normal. And what I cing Smiles does is provide that sense of normalcy.

nothing is more normal than celebrating with birthday cake or a celebration cake of some sort. So we're providing them that ability to get back to normal and a temporary escape from what they're going through. And if you think about it, in some cases too, we provide them with something that you wouldn't have, which is pictures, right? Like if you have a child that's hospitalized for an extended period of time, you're not taking pictures in the hospital, but you bring in a cake

you're gonna take a picture and it's gonna be a reminder of a happy time that there were some happy times in their journey. So that's the heart of our mission.

Speaker 1 (07:22.826)
Yes, I love that. So I cing Smiles was born from a very special season or a very personal season in your life. How did those early experiences as a mother shape the organization's mission and heart today?

So the personal experiences that you're referring to are I gave birth to two premature babies, three years apart. My daughter was a NICU baby. And the fear that I experienced when she was taken from me and taken down to the NICU and I'm signing all these things for a bladder tap and a spinal tap. And I mean, I was petrified and I was a first time mom. So the fear that comes with not knowing what is wrong with your child

And then three years later, her brother was born also premature. And while he wasn't in the NICU, he had a chronic health condition. It wasn't life threatening. He was never hospitalized. He was not in pain. He was just sick all the time. And I had to step back from my corporate job and our lives were turned upside down. So what I realized during that time was, you know, I just developed such a heart for these medical moms.

So and everything they're going through. So so many people think that this mission is about the kids. To be honest with you, it's really about the moms.

I And wholeheartedly, I felt that when I have goosebumps at the moment. I 100 % get that, totally feel it. So this organization is one of those things that like, even when I had my bakery, I was doing cakes for Icing Smiles. And I can just remember the ballerina slippers on a cake for a little girl who wanted to be a ballerina.

Speaker 1 (09:11.278)
And like, you know, the parents like reached out and little girl passed like three weeks later, but they were like, thank you for being a part of that celebration. And I was like, man, like you could not pay me to have these types of experiences. They're just so different, so meaningful. They're life changing, even for us as bakers. Even though we are helping the family, it almost like helps us remember why we do this.

Oh, God. put the words right out of my mouth. I say that all of the time. Like when we are talking to corporations in this industry and suppliers and we say, we're giving bakers back their passion. I should say artists, sugar artists. We tend to use the term baker a little loose. But yeah, I mean, we're giving them back their passion and giving them a reminder of why they got into the industry to begin with.

Yes, yes, for sure. So with that being said, you've built an organization that now partners with hundreds of volunteer bakers nationwide. What does the process look like for them from request to delivery?

Okay, so one quick correction. It's actually not hundreds of bakers. We currently have about 14,000 bakers in our database that we call on. So from start to finish, from the baker side, I will tell you that when you sign up to be a Sugar Angel with us, we put you in our database and it's a geocoding database. So we have a map of where you are. And then as we process from the family side requests,

Icing Smiles handles all of the administration. So we make sure that the child qualifies for our program. We're tracking how many cakes they've received to make sure they're self eligible. And we try to take as much of the administrative lift off of our volunteers as possible. So we find out what the child's theme is, but you guys get to decide what.

Speaker 2 (11:11.692)
the design is, that's 100 % left to the volunteers. If a family comes in and says, no, this is what I want, and they send a picture, we're there to back you guys and say, hey, and I say you guys because you volunteered with us, but we're there to back our volunteers and say, you you can't request a design. That's their choice. So we're kind of like an Uber. Like we're matching a family with a local volunteer and then.

you can take it from there as to how much interaction you want with the family.

Yeah, I feel like it was, from what I can remember, it was super seamless. Like the mom picked up when she was supposed to pick up, actually an aunt picked up. They were supposed to and like deliver it, but she was like, is it okay if I send you pictures? Like, are you okay if we tag you? And I was like, sure, like, absolutely. But it was, I do not remember having any issues when I did the, and it was.

and easy and it was lovely. So what has surprised you most about the baking community's response to Icing Smile since you started?

Holy crow, it was a runaway train. I'm not kidding. I did this for an individual child in Ohio thinking it was going to be this local thing within my community. And thanks to the power of social media, friends of mine from other states picked it up. And then we started getting requests elsewhere within six months. And it was very specific. I could tell you when it was. It was June of 2010.

Speaker 2 (12:44.226)
and I was at the Columbus Zoo with my kids. And Kate Sullivan from Cake Power Cake in New York did a blog post about her experience delivering an icing smiles cake. And that was the start of the runaway train. So where I'm going with this story is to say when I started this, I didn't have a volunteer application when this happened. I had no idea what I was doing, none. I was like, okay, I've got a decision to make. Are we running with this?

I just started collecting emails and what state are you in and give me your address. Anyway, long and short of it is I was so surprised by the generosity of this community. I never anticipated having more supply than I did demand. And that's been the icing smile story for 15 years. We have almost never turned away kids because we can't find someone.

And if we can't find someone, we pay for a grocery store cake. So every kid that applies and is eligible gets a cake, even if we can't find someone in the local community. We just prefer the custom ones because that's where the dreams are created.

incredible. Okay, so you shared the kind of blow up of the business. Is there a particular smile story that still moves you when you think about it?

Oh, Kimberly, there are I could we could be here all day. However, there is one and I get choked up every time I tell the story. It was Kansas City, Missouri. volunteer was Mike Elder of Black Sheep Custom Cakes. And we got a request for a last minute cake.

Speaker 2 (14:38.114)
and because the child was on hospice and they realized he was not gonna make it till his next birthday. So we got the request on, let's say a Wednesday, the cake was to be delivered on a Saturday. We called on Mike because he always comes through for us. Well, he didn't just come through with a cake. He came through with a three and a half foot tall, three dimensional sculpted Diego from Dora and Diego.

And he sent me pictures and the child was in, he was home, but in a hospital bed. Mike is at the cake next to the bed. And it was very evident that this child was, it was an end of life situation. And I was pretty sure that the child didn't know that the cake was there. And I thought, dang, we are too late. Like this is so sad. Well, the child did pass the next day.

And we, the same day her child passed, we got an email from the mom who said, just thanking us that she never anticipated her child's last day on earth to be a celebration. And that couldn't have happened without Mike and that cake. And that's when like,

That's the story I go back to all the time. When things get hard, when I have to motivate other volunteers because their delivery story was not as smooth as yours was, they felt they were dealing with a family that was a little entitled, that's the story that I go back to that, it just takes one of those to make up for thousands of the others.

Can you imagine having that kind of impact on a mom that for the rest of her life, when she thinks about her child's last day on earth, it was a celebration? I mean, how cool is

Speaker 1 (16:37.292)
So

Yeah. It is absolutely incredible and it gives new meaning to celebration of life. I can't imagine to live in that duality at once. like, well, no, we sent you off with a celebration. It gives me goosebumps. my goodness.

why I get choked up every time I tell that story. mean, it's just as a tax accountant, like, would thought that this simple concept could have such an impact on the families, on the bakers? Like, that's something that Mike will carry with him forever, that he can have that kind of impact on someone's life.

Yeah, absolutely. So that actually leads perfectly into my next question for you. You stated that you're not a faith-based organization, but without your faith, there would not be an organization. So can you talk a little bit about how faith and purpose guides your leadership?

I can. I dove into this blindfolded, completely blindfolded, like so naive. I just felt led and I've had a heart for service. feel like that's God's gift. He placed this in my heart to serve others. Wasn't sure what form it was gonna take.

Speaker 2 (18:14.242)
And when this started, I was like, what do I have to lose? And then it was, OK, well, now you've got to figure out how to create a logo. And what are Pantone colors? And website, I've got to hire someone for that? I'm not kidding you, Kimberly. It was all new to me. I'm not an entrepreneur. It's not in my blood. I don't like being the center of attention. I don't love leading.

I mean, I don't, but I'm an accidental leader, right? So the faith part of it, I have this and it's actually sitting right in front of me at my desk right now, because I don't go anywhere without this slip of paper. It's Isaiah 58, 11, where God guides, God provides. And I just rely on that, that whatever challenge it is, God, if you want this for us,

you're going to find a way to make this happen. And here we are 15 years later and know, as strong as can be, would we love to grow more? Absolutely. But you know, he knows in the right time. So we're God guides, God provides.

I love that. And I love that you're staying in full alignment with where you're supposed to be and where you're supposed to go. And hopefully this podcast will help. I cing smiles a little So that more people can listen and learn about this. thinking about our bakers, one of the things that I have talked about a lot at conferences all summer, I've spoken at several conferences for the RBA and we've been talking about burnout.

And we have been talking about what happens within the baking industry. So I do like to ask this question. Everyone was on the podcast. How do you personally manage to stay grounded and avoid burnout?

Speaker 2 (20:05.036)
I don't, I mean, that's the reality of the situation. When I started Icing Smiles, I was a temporary stay at home mom. I won't get into the whole reasons as to why I wasn't working, but I was a stay at home mom and I had the time to do it. But unfortunately that changed as a result of a divorce and I had to go back to work. So I'm now in an executive level role.

at a company in tax and they're paying my salary. So they get the best of me. And unfortunately, since I had to go back to work, I think smiles gets what's left and burnout is real. And there are days where I'm just like, I don't understand why I'm, why am I doing this? you know, is this, have I done my part already? Right.

but nobody else wants to take this job. Nobody else wants to run Icing Smiles for free. So, you know, here I am. But anyway, I'm making this a longer story than it probably needs to be. But I would say the one thing I recognized very early with Icing Smiles is that if we were gonna survive, I needed depth within the organization and it couldn't be me. So I didn't make Icing Smiles about me. I said,

I needed to take bits of what I was doing and find the right person to delegate to. And our team now has significant depth and I can't do this without them. And if something happened to me, well, we wouldn't necessarily have that executive director there. The day-to-day operations would continue. They would survive and they would figure it out. So I'm really proud of that, that it's the depth, it's about the team. That's how I avoid burnout.

When I need to step back, I say, guys, I need to step back and I need a couple days to not think about this. Can you take over? It's being real and transparent and recognizing when you need the help and ask me for it.

Speaker 1 (22:14.806)
Agreed, that totally just answered my next question. No, it's okay. My next question was what advice would you give other women who are juggling passion and profession, trying to listen for what they're truly called to do? Like what advice would you, aside from what you just said, I think that's incredible. What else would you tell them?

Sorry!

Speaker 2 (22:34.58)
if you can find a way to blend the two. If I could afford for Icing Smiles to be my job and my focus, it would be. And I realize that that's not reality for everyone. But I would say if you can figure out how to do it, do it. Otherwise, the other thing is just make sure you know your limits and find something that you're passionate about that excites you.

There's a quote, I think it's Francis Beekner, where your joy and the world's needs meet is where you find your purpose. So it doesn't necessarily have to be starting a nonprofit. I actually don't recommend that to anybody, but maybe it is doing an icing smiles cake. Maybe it is sewing something for the nursing home down the road. It doesn't have to be big gestures. It's the small things that change lives.

So just find that small thing and use that as your passion, even if your profession needs to be something else.

I love that. And I think that is so fair. This is the first time we've had that question on the podcast. So I'm really glad that that's how our I think it was a perfect answer to be really, really honest because you hear so many people just like, you know, use your full-time job to fund your passion or, know, either you're going to do your passion and you're going to be broke forever. Like you, don't have to be and the two can coincide. So no, I think it was a great answer.

Okay, it answered.

Speaker 1 (24:05.996)
sure. Okay, so for bakery owners and decorators tuning in, how can they get involved with icing smiles?

So I'm going to, obviously, we're always looking for more sugar angels. I would say sign up to be a sugar angel. You never know when it's the kid down the street who you're going to be serving. So that's number one. But also I would be remiss and not do my doing my job as a leader if I didn't say that we need help. I mean, it's in the strategic area that we struggle. None of us are fundraisers.

So if you are willing to go out there and host a bake sale on our behalf or something along those lines, we would be incredibly grateful. If you have fundraising experience, join us as a volunteer. But beyond that, for the retail bakers that are out there, sign up for us and then put on your boxes that you're a proud sugar angel for Icing Smiles. Because you never know when they have a family member that can use our service.

Be our vision carrier. Like I use that term a lot. People are like, what is that? Tell about our mission. Talk about our mission. You don't need to be a salesperson to spread the word.

I love that. I didn't even know we could do that. But now we know we can do that.

Speaker 2 (25:28.454)
We're working on trying to advertise that more. We're trying to get together a nice package for our retail bakers to say that we've got assets readily available for them to download or whatever. yeah, we absolutely need you out there talking. actually just, one of our big efforts for this past year was our local outreach ambassadors. And we're trying to fill, you know,

towns with people that are talking about our mission and being our ambassadors so that when we get asked to attend the You know the heart walk or something we've got someone local we can say yes because we don't have chapters, right? Yes It doesn't need to be me traveling everywhere to do this. It can be Kimberly you doing it and showing up, you know At your kids spring fling, you know things like that. So

So that's another area. A local outreach ambassador would be another way to get involved. So it's not just your traditional baking. We can use help everywhere.

Okay, I love that. That is perfect. So looking back, when you think about the first cake, those nicu nights and everything since, what does icing smiles mean to you now?

I would actually reverse the question. I would say knowing that Icing Smiles is my why, how does that shape my view of those life experiences? And I can tell you that when I was that NICU mom, leaving my daughter behind and leaving the hospital without her, this was 24 years ago and I'm still choking up about it.

Speaker 2 (27:14.466)
But it led to this. It led to my purpose. So it gave, there was a reason for it. There was a, I hate to, I don't want to be the person that says there's a reason for everything, but I will say that you can turn your mess into your message, right?

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, wholeheartedly. My new thing that I tell people is there's nothing wasted. Right. Every single thing that's happened in life, it was for a reason. Yeah. Like we might not know what it was, but it was for a reason. I love that. So visioning for the future. What's next for Icing Smiles? Are there any new initiatives, dreams, partnerships on the horizon we can look forward to?

Well, we're God guides, God provides, right? There are a lot of things that I hate to put out there just in case we can't execute. We would love to expand the mission and we have ideas on how to do it and how to reach new people that we can serve. Because as I've said, we have more supply than we do demand, right? However,

Administratively, the execution is hard with all volunteers. So in order for us to expand that mission, we need to find a way to have a paid, at least part-time executive director or support staff, right? I'm not saying me, I'm just saying in general, I can't execute new mission fields without some help. So I would say yes.

You know, we're going to survey our volunteers and see if they'd be willing to serve in the new areas once we know we're capable of executing. So keep watching. I hope there'll be news.

Speaker 1 (29:09.998)
Yes, and I'm sure there will in the RBA. We now have this lovely partnership. So there will definitely be more. We will be keeping people abreast of things. And for sure, as things are progressing, we can like come back to the podcast and talk about that and put a call out to everyone who is listening. So before we wrap up, I want to make sure people know where they can go. So where can listeners go to learn more, get involved or support Icing Smiles directly?

pretty easy, icing smiles.org. Every everything is on there. There's a tab that I think it says create a smile, but you can find volunteer application there. There's a contact information. If you have a very unique way that you want to get involved, just shoot us an email and we respond to everything.

Lovely. So this episode is actually going to air right before Thanksgiving. And we know that during that weekend, there's lots of things that happen, but we definitely will have links down in the show notes so that you guys can give to Icing Smiles on Giving Tuesday. So we will make sure we have that out there. That's just a small way to be able to help, but definitely go further than that. But since this is gonna be our episode, like right before Thanksgiving,

What is one thing you're most grateful for in this season of life and leadership?

Speaker 1 (30:35.318)
no, stop. Okay, wait, are we back? No, no, we are not. I don't know. I don't know which one of us cut out.

If I cut out or you cut out.

Speaker 2 (30:47.246)
You just you froze but it's probably could be my internet so.

It could be me. At least it was the last question. Did you hear the question? Okay, all right, hold on. Let me... I have one more time. Yeah, we'll do it again. So I'll reintroduce the question and then actually, I'm gonna tell you the question and then I'm gonna say start and then you can just answer. Okay. the question was, what's one thing you're most grateful for in this current season of life and leadership?

I did not.

Speaker 2 (31:17.594)
Kimberly, that's an easy one. This volunteer team at Icing Smiles just, it renews my faith in humanity. I mean, the Sugar Angels, the administrative team, I'm so grateful for them because this is them. I may have filed the paperwork to get this organization started, but we go nowhere without our volunteers. So I am so grateful for that volunteer base and for the families that invite us into their lives. I mean, I'm blessed.

to have the chance to impact people. And I mean, how cool. So that is what I'm thankful for.

That is incredible. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode. We will make sure we have everything listed down below so that people can volunteer, they can come on board, they can support, they can talk to whomever it is they need to talk to in their local community to let them know about the vision and the mission of Icing Smiles. It has been an honor to do this today. Thank you so much for joining me on the Perfect Rise.

Thank you for having me, Kimberly.