Meet the Woman Who Iced and Served Cake to Strangers During NYC Subway Ride

Bettina Banayan just wants to bring New Yorkers closer together, figuratively. It’s almost impossible in the literal sense. So the culinary school student decided to hop on the subway, ice a cake, and serve it to strangers.

In true New York fashion, as she tried to explain to one passenger why she did this, the train’s conductor started yelling over the intercom to keep the doors clear.

“New Yorkers aren’t very personable with each other,” she explained, after he finished. “We’re constantly in people’s private space, especially on the subway. I think it’s important to have some kind of community.”

She also accurately notes later in the video, “Everyone likes cake, you know?”

At first, commuters were reluctant to accept a slice from Banayan. There was an audible laugh in the car when she first asked if anyone wanted cake. But then she revealed her intentions. Fellow subway goers not only asked for a piece after hearing from the student, but also offered to pass some around to others.

“I like to share food with people,” she tells another onlooker. “It’s pretty good cake.”

Banayan placed a board on her lap to steady the cake. She used a spatula to scoop and spread chocolate frosting around the desert, and trimmed the top edge with white frosting. The Manhattan resident brought plenty of forks and plates to share with others.

This is not Banayan’s first time showing off her culinary skills in a subway car. A 12-minute video of her chopping onions has over 330,000 views. It was posted almost two years to the date of uploading her latest piece. The cake video, posted Monday, has been viewed more than 88,000 times.