Jocelyn Delk Adams built a career by transforming flour, sugar and butter into more than a vessel for memory, heritage and joy.
Now, the Chicago-based content creator, author and TV food personality is bringing that magic to Houston with a community-centered pound cake event that celebrates culture as much as it does cake.
Adams is the founder of the popular platform Grandbaby Cakes and Houston was an easy choice to host the event.
“I’ve always loved the food culture and scene in Houston,” she said. “Texas has this incredible baking community and Houston in particular has such a strong food personality. It felt like the perfect place to connect.”
The Houston gathering follows a smaller, influencer-driven pound cake meet-up she hosted earlier this year in Dallas. Adams is opening Houston’s doors wide. The gathering will be free, open to the public and intentionally centered on community rather than exclusivity.
“I wanted it to not be gate-kept,” she explained. “If you bake, if you love baking, if you just want joy, you’re welcome. If you have a pound cake, you can come.”
Before Grandbaby Cakes became her full-time career, Adams cycled through a series of creative jobs in television and film, from working as a production assistant on Judge Mathis to assisting with movie casting in Chicago. But it was her grandmother’s influence and a deep well of family recipes that ultimately pushed her toward food.
When she launched her blog more than a decade ago, Adams faced skepticism.
“People would ask me, ‘Why don’t you open a bakery?’” she recalled. “But I wanted to empower people to make these recipes themselves. At that time, very few food bloggers were making a full-time living. It wasn’t common. I was building something from scratch.”
That risk paid off. For the last 11 years, Grandbaby Cakes has been her livelihood, growing into a brand that spans cookbooks, television appearances, and a loyal online following. Her recipes, rooted in Southern tradition and Black family heritage, have resonated with audiences hungry not just for sweets but for stories.
“Pound cake is our dessert,” she said. “My Big Mama and my mom were the first to teach me how to make it. It’s part of who we are. Having an event that honors that tradition and brings people together through it feels really powerful.”
While Adams was a “one-woman show” for the first decade of Grandbaby Cakes, she has recently begun building a small team. Lindsay Autry, Adams’s assistant and head of recipe development, offers a unique perspective on this evolution and the brand’s larger mission.
A Dallas native working in the food industry, Autry first connected with Adams professionally.
“I had followed her blog and her online presence for quite a while,” she said.
After a period of contract work, she was offered a full-time position as Adams’s assistant and has since become the head of recipe development.
“She’s a beast when it comes to her business,” Autry said, describing Adams as a dedicated leader who also pours into her employees’ personal and professional dreams. “She wants to see each of our dreams fulfilled as well. It sets such a bar for each of us to work with her.”
Autry also coordinated the Dallas pound cake meet-up, which inspired the upcoming Houston event. She recalled the goal was to create a “fun vibe” and a supportive atmosphere for local food and content creators.
“It was much less about, ‘Oh, pound cake, pound cake,’ and much more about just bring a cake. It’s supposed to be fun, and let’s gather and talk about some of our wins and a lot of our challenges,” she explained.
Adams wants Houstonians to leave the event with more than full plates.
“I think so many people feel like it’s a dark time right now,” she reflected. “If I can give back even just an afternoon of lightness, music, community, cake, that’s what it’s all about.”
