Yahoo Food’s Blogger of the Year: Lyndsay Sung of Coco Cake Land
Photo: Coco Cakeland
We had a tough time deciding which of the talented cooks and photographers featured on Yahoo Food over the last 12 months deserved the mantle of Food Blogger of the Year. There were so many to choose from!
We were inspired by A Brown Table’s Nik Sharma, whose courageous professional plunge — quitting his job as a scientist to become a pastry chef — had us all rooting for him. (His gamble has definitely paid off!) Then there was Jocelyn Delk Adams of Grandbaby Cakes, whose new cookbook recently earned her an NAACP Image Awards nomination. (How cool is that??)
Related: Food and Art Intersect in Billy Green’s Neon-Colored Kitchen
But when push came to shove, we knew the honor must go to Lyndsay Sung of the baking-centric blog Coco Cake Land. We first got to know Sung back in 2014, when she let us pick her brain for the best-ever holiday gift ideas. (Hamburger gift wrap, anyone?) But only a few months later, a breast cancer diagnosis rocked Sung’s world.
She told us about the heart-wrenching moment she knew something was wrong back in November: “I felt a thickening of flesh where my breast meets my rib cage, and I was like, ‘Huh. That could just be my rib?’ [But] it turned out that there were two tumors in there,” she said. “My happy, pretty-pictures, cake-filled life screeched to a weird halt.”
Sung charged full steam ahead into a year of treatments, which left her feeling fuzzy and weak. Her posts slowed because she lacked the energy to bake much of anything, plus her appetite was nearly nonexistent. But in October, Sung mustered the strength to share her story the best way she knew how: with cake!
Related: This Blogger Discovered the Secret to Becoming a Better Cook
If cake seems like an odd vehicle for Sung’s breast cancer story, then you haven’t seen the post. Read it, and you’ll understand. The post’s starring attraction, two pink-hued, breast-shaped cakes, manage to convey a levity and humor that scary words like “cancer” and “tumor” tend to quash. They were a reflection of Sung herself, whose lighthearted, goofy affect remained in tact throughout her ordeal.
Now on the mend, Sung is back to baking and ready to tackle the writing of her forthcoming cookbook, which was put on hold during treatment. Her determination, joy, and downright gorgeous cakes continue to impress and invigorate us, and we’re so excited to see what 2016 will bring for her.
Congrats on being Yahoo Food’s Blogger of the Year, Lyndsay!
More inspiring bloggers you need to know:
After Rehab, an Addict Finds New Life in the Kitchen
A Fascination With Cakes Sent This Indian Home Cook on a Baking Journey
How a Love for Paris Inspired This Blogger to Ditch College
