Noelle Blizzard
New June Bakery | Philadelphia
FEBRUARY 2024
For Noelle Blizzard, baking was the start of an imaginative second act. Although born in Philadelphia, she grew up in Las Vegas, where her Italian grandparents—who used to cook on a cruise ship—ran a deli, and her mother baked festive holiday cookies for friends and neighbors. Her family moved back to Philadelphia, and Blizzard went off to college, majoring in English and creative writing. Later, she started what would become a decade-long career in marketing, advertising, and social media, working with non-profits, in public relations, and for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.
However, when the pandemic hit, and Blizzard was living at home with a newborn and a two-year-old, she started to bake to raise money for causes like Bakers Against Racism. Armed with new feedback from customers, she started to teach herself to bake every pastry she could imagine: cinnamon buns, cookies, tarts, and pies, until finally arriving at cakes. The more she baked, the more it started to eclipse her time spent in the office. She left her job, started taking orders, and developed a style, flavor profile, and technique for creating her eye-catching cakes. Baking out of her house for over a year, Blizzard eventually had the opportunity to expand into a larger space. She opened the current commissary location of New June Bakery in, fittingly, June 2021 and bakes her cakes to order for weddings, birthdays, and everything in between. Blizzard’s special occasion cakes are well-balanced, textured, and whimsical—drawing inspiration from classic desserts and a “vintage Victorian” aesthetic.
