Federation is pleased to welcome “Cake Lady” Natalia Monahan as assistant to Food Service Director Susan Levine – they’ll be working together in the Knesset Israel kitchen for our Connecting With Community kosher meals program.

Natalia was employed for years as a pastry chef for a large resort in Boca Raton, FL, where she mastered a wide array of what she characterizes as “old fashioned handmade desserts and breads.” She says she worked her way up from being an apprentice to an executive pastry chef for a catering company. Overall, Natalia spent 25 years in Florida honing her baking skills.

A native of Israel who grew up in the New York area, she returned to the Northeast with her husband and two sons a few years back to be closer to family. Their search for affordable housing led them to the Berkshires, which her husband remembered fondly from ski vacations he’d spent here during his childhood. A visit here to enjoy the slopes convinced them that the Berkshires might be a convivial place to live, and the family relocated to Pittsfield in the summer of 2023.

At every stop, Natalia says, she’s worked side gigs baking in her own kitchen for private clients. And so too in the Berkshires – the self-styled “Cake Lady” is available to bake for you. Bundt cakes decorated with buttercream flowers are a specialty, and Natalia has a wide reparatory that includes all manner of traditional Jewish holiday favorites and baked goods for all occasions.

To find out more, find Natalia on social media at @cakeladyrivertowns or by calling (561) 213-0170. And, of course, her confections from our kosher kitchen will accompany many of lunch program meals.