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Philly bakers and pastry chefs rally to feed Ukrainian refugees

Some of the city's best pastry chefs are pitching in for a bake sale to raise funds for World Central Kitchen.

Abby Dahan, former Parc pastry and founder of the Bake School, organized a bake sale to raise funds for feeding Ukrainian refugees.
Abby Dahan, former Parc pastry and founder of the Bake School, organized a bake sale to raise funds for feeding Ukrainian refugees.Read moreNgozi Assata
    by Jenn Ladd
    Published 

A contingent of Philadelphia pastry chefs and bakers are contributing to a high-powered bake sale this Sunday to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees — an effort born out of a new mother’s reaction to the unsettling news coming out of Ukraine.

Former Parc pastry chef Abby Dahan has been busy nearly nonstop since she had a baby four weeks ago, but the news has nevertheless been on her brain. And she found it hit all the harder now that she’s a mom.

“I don’t know what it is about having a child that literally just breaks you apart into pieces, but I can’t look at that stuff without crying,” Dahan said before choking up. “You feel so helpless here. Like, how do we help?”

Dahan saw the collective Bakers Against Racism was holding an emergency bake sale for Ukraine and decided to follow suit. She messaged some friends and colleagues in Philly’s sweets industry and organized a fundraiser in two days’ time.

More than a dozen treats from a slew of makers will be available at Her Place Supper Club on Sunday. Proceeds will go to World Central Kitchen, chef Jose Andres’ roving humanitarian-aid organization which has set up shop in Ukraine, Poland, Romania, and Moldova to feed Ukrainian refugees.

Among the offerings: caramel and lemon choux buns from Her Place Supper Club’s Amanda Shulman and Zach Broadman; chocolate torrone bars from Hey Sugar’s Davina Soondrum; citrus and olive oil cake from Vetri’s Michal Shelkowitz; Oreo brownies and peanut butter pie from Butcher and Singer’s Stephanie Arbelo; mochi brownies, strawberry-matcha neapolitan cookies, and Vietnamese-coffee crisp treats from Bloomsday’s Alexandra Crossman. Dahan will find time to whip up thick, chewy cookies in the style of New York’s Levain Bakery.

“If I can just makes some cookies to help them, it’s such a small thing to do,” she said. “I feel like that’s what Philly’s food community is about: We help people through food.”

The baked goods will be for sale from 11 a.m. till 2 p.m. or sell out at 1740 Sansom St.