(Susana) Torres, who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into Texas in the early 2000s, finally has her dream job: baking cakes. “When we first got to America, we sold cheesecakes, chocoflan,” Susana’s daughter Natalia Rodríguez Nuñez recalls. “It was to make ends meet. We were undocumented, and that didn’t require paperwork.” Torres soon picked up a job as a salesperson at an embroidery store at the border, where she worked for 13 years with no time for baking–until COVID-19 hit. Now, she runs her business, Susana’s Cakery, out of her home* in Weslaco. Her daughters have helped by setting up her social media and fulfilling orders. “I am putting in more hours now, but I am doing what I am passionate about,” Torres, who is now a legal resident*, says. The house smells delicious all day and all night, and she sells dozens of sweets every week: white chocolate raspberry cheesecake, three-tiered Bundt cake decorated with pastel swirls of frosting, classic tres leches.
“I put my heart in every single cake that I make,” Torres says. “I am very happy.” She envisions opening up a “very pretty cakery” where people can pick up confections to share for celebrations. As the pandemic eases its grip on the nation, her dream–and that of her fellow home bakers–crystallizes more each day.