Cheryl Day

Cheryl Day (born 1961) is a baker and author, who is owner of Back in the Day Bakery in Savannah, Georgia and co-founder of Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice. She is the author of two best-selling cookbooks, written with her husband Griff Day. In 2015 she was a semi-finalist James Beard Awards in the category of Outstanding Baker.

Cheryl Day
Born	1961 (age 62–63) Savannah, Georgia
Occupation	Pastry Chef
Years active	20 years

Biography

Day was born in 1961.^[1] Her great-great-grandmother, Hannah Queen Grubbs, was an enslaved pastry chef noted for her baking, especially her pies and her frostings.^[2][3] This connection Day said, makes her work feel "more important somehow".^[2] Her grandmother taught her to bake, during the summers that Day spent staying with her in Alabama.^[4] She founded Back in the Day Bakery in 2002, and as of 2020 co-ran the business with her husband, Griff.^[4]

Day and her husband have co-written two best-selling cookbooks.^[2] The first book was entitled The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook, which was published in 2012 and was a New York Times best-seller.^[5][6] The second book Back in the Day Bakery Made with Love was published in 2015 and records some of the most popular recipes made at the bakery, such as Alabama Lane Cake, Coca-Cola Cake and caramel cake.^[7]

In 2015 Day was a semi-finalist in the James Beard Awards in the category of Outstanding Baker.^[8][9] In 2016 Cathy Barrow, writing for the Washington Post, described Day's buttermilk biscuit as the best in Savannah.^[10] Day's biscuits are made in their hundreds by hand, every day.^[11]

In March 2020 Back in the Day Bakery was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however it re-opened in June 2020 providing a walk-up services, as well as nationwide delivery for certain baked goods.^[3] In July 2020, Back in the Day Bakery was a recipient of a $25,000 prize donated by Discover Card, to support black-owned business.^[12] She is a co-founder of Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice (SRRJ), along with Lisa Marie Donovan and Sarah O’Brien, an organisation which advocates for workers of colour in the food industry.^[13][14]

Publications

• The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook (Artisan Books, 2012)^[15]
• Made with Love (Artisan Books, 2015)
• Cheryl Day's Treasury of Southern Baking (Artisan Books 2021)^[16]

References

1. Moskin, Julia (2020-07-21). "When the Bake Sale Goes Global, Millions Are Raised to Fight Injustice". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
2. Turshen, Julia (July 28, 2020). "Cheryl Day Wants You to Slow Down and Taste the Sweet Life". Food & Wine. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
3. Mastrianni, Keia (March 9, 2021). "Back in the Day Bakery Is Savannah's Sweetest Spot". Southern Living. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
4. Endolyn, Osayi (2015-04-30). "Back in the Day bakery owners talk new cookbook at Atlanta events". Atlanta Magazine. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
5. Day, Cheryl; Day, Griffith (2012-03-06). The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook: More than 100 Recipes from the Best Litte Bakery in the South. Artisan Books. ISBN 978-1-57965-615-7.
6. "Founders". Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
7. Wood, Virginia B. (March 27, 2015). "Baking From Back in the Day". www.austinchronicle.com. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
8. Dawers, Bill. "James Beard Awards spotlight two Savannah establishments". Savannah Morning News. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
9. "The 2015 Restaurant and Chef Award Semifinalists | James Beard Foundation". www.jamesbeard.org. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
10. Barrow, Cathy (2016-05-11). "In Savannah, a quest for the superlative buttermilk biscuit". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
11. Hartke, Kristen (2019-01-19). "Is The Power Of The Flour Really The Secret To Baking The Perfect Biscuit?". NPR. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
12. Raskin, Hanna (14 July 2020). "SC pitmaster fronts credit card's social media campaign to support Black-owned restaurants". Post and Courier. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
13. "How These Southern Restaurants Are Using Pastries for Justice | James Beard Foundation". www.jamesbeard.org. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
14. "Cheryl Day". The Lee Initiative. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
15. Day, Cheryl (2012). The Back in the Day Bakery cookbook : more than 100 recipes from the best little bakery in the South. Griffith Day, Amy Paige Condon. New York: Artisan. ISBN 978-1-57965-458-0. OCLC 745609870.
16. Day, Cheryl (2021). Cheryl Day's treasury of Southern baking. Angie Mosier. New York. ISBN 978-1-57965-841-0. OCLC 1236896261.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links

• Cheryl Day in conversation with Julia Turshen: CHERYL DAY'S TREASURY OF SOUTHERN BAKING