A mother’s love was the inspiration for Naomi Lema’s new home bakery.

She launched the bakery Yola’s Baked Goods, and it is so far gathering steam.

It is named for her mother, Yola Lema, who died suddenly when Naomi Lema was only five years old.

“She loved to bake and cook,” said Ms Lema. “I have her traits. I thought I would step out in faith and just get started.

“My friends and family kept asking for more and more of my cooking.”

Ms Lema obtained her home bakery license and is now supplying Common Ground Cafe and Juice & Beans with some of her products.

Ms Lema likes to make different types of cupcakes with different flavours such as chocolate peanut butter or chocolate banana bread, among other flavours.

She also makes bread and items such as massa sovada, Portuguese egg bread, and Portuguese custard egg tarts.

“With a home bakery I can only do flour basic items,” she said. “I can make a wide variety of items, but to do anything much larger, such as products with dairy, I would need a bigger kitchen.”

She works full time in a jewellery store and is also busy raising her six-year-old daughter, Mikayla, so her time is limited.

“I bake when I get home from work or on weekends,” she said. “Sometimes I am up till 3am. I wait until my daughter goes to sleep to start working.”

She said what separates her work from other bakeries is the love she puts into it.

She doesn’t have any formal training in making; what she knows came naturally.

“After my mother died, my father would do most of the cooking and I would watch him,” she said. “He didn’t bake so I just started baking on my own and kept going.

“I had to be in my late teens when I started and I am in my late 30s now.”

Her ultimate dream is to one day have her own coffee shop or commercial bakery.

“That would be nice,” she said. “I like baking everything, but I really enjoy making bread.

“Making bread is difficult but it comes out the same every time,” she said.

Now she loves the fact that her daughter enjoys watching her cook.

If she is just making something for the family, she lets Mikayla help.

“She is all into it,” said Ms Lema.

In addition to baked goods, Ms Lema also makes birthday cakes.

For more information call her at 799-1370 or see her on Facebook under Yola’s Baked Goods.