My name is Cynthia Harper and Heavenly Pound Cakes is a dream that my Mom and I had for years. We always talked about having a Restaurant, a food truck, and a website. My love for cooking and baking was a generational blessing that was passed on to me in my Mothers womb. I was blessed to have a mother with a heart of gold. She was the neighborhood cook and the lunchroom lady to hundreds of kids and adults. She made sure no one went hungry, even if she had to pay the money back every payday. She was so happy when people would eat and enjoy her cooking and baking. I can truly say I am a chip off the old block and I'm proud to be just that. My mom told me that when I started walking I would stand in the kitchen and look at her cooking. Then when I got tall enough to reach the countertop, I would prop my chin on it and watch her cook until she was finished. That's how she knew I had a passion and a love for cooking.

I was born in Dayton, Ohio but my blood and roots are from Eutaw, Alabama where my mom Anna Williams-Wilcoxson was born to George and Lizzie B. Kimbrough. We would go to Alabama every summer and stay on my Grandfathers land and bring back our meat for the winter along with the canned vegetables from his garden. That’s where all my gifts come from, watching my Mother cooking, baking, and canning in Alabama. My Uncle Mac on the grill with his chef hat made out of a brown paper bag and the Friday night fish fry’s with all the family around made me love cooking and baking even more.

As a single mom raising two boys Jay Leak and Jerrell Leak I had a chance to follow in my mother's footsteps. I've cooked for their friends from football, baseball, basketball, soccer, track, and band. Every time I would look around there were boys at the house and I loved it. I loved cooking pre-game meals and working in the concession stand for the band. And after they went off to college I enjoyed packing up food and sending it back to the boys in the dorms, because I wanted them to have some home cooked food. Some of their friends are now my god-children, and others still call me Momma Leak and come by to get a home cook meal, pineapple-upside-down cake, and sweet potato pies.

God Blessed me to get remarried to Eddie Harper a wonderful man that accepted me and my sons into his life and we have an Awesome blended family. All I can say is there is Life after Divorce. Not just Life, but Life more Abundantly. He is everything to Me and He Loves His family and would do anything in his power to make sure we are taken care of. God Blessed me with a husband that loves to grill and cook and now we are having the family cookouts at our house. It makes me remember the cookouts we had down south.

My Mother went home to be with the LORD on March 10, 2016, and it has been a rough time dealing with the loss. One of the most satisfying times in my life was when my Mom was in our home for our family Thanksgiving dinner 3 months before she went to heaven and she said that I had her Love for cooking and could cook better than she could now. I told her I learned from the best. She was my business partner and after she passed I lost the desire to go on with the business. I was just going to let it go. But THANK GOD for my son Jerrell Leak who has the Heart of His great-grandfather(George Kimbough), grandmother(Anna Williams Wilcoxson), and grandfather(Lorenza Williams) all in one. Jerrell loves his family and keeping it together. He kept calling me about my and Granny’s dream and said he would get me the money to start it. I was not up for it but he wouldn’t let it go. When he was a child he always said, mom, when I get some money I’m going to help you start a business. He had faith in me as a child and Has faith in GOD and Me as an adult. So I said yes and here we are, Jerrell put his money where his mouth is.

So my Mom is in Heaven and one of the comments made about my cakes and pies helped me come up with the name, Heavenly Pound Cakes. The slogan came from my kids and nieces and nephews saying how they loved granny’s sweets and treats. So Momma, Granny, your Legacy Lives on!!!!