Former Long Island Teacher Is Baking Up A Career

WANTAGH, NY — For Katie Bortell, baking was always in her blood, watching her mom make her create delicious treats.

Bortell had no formal chef training when she opened the Connemara Baking Co. in October.

"I'm not a professional baker," Bortell told Patch. "I didn't go to school for it."

Her actual trade is education, as Bortell was a sixth-grade teacher in the Levittown School District.

After having her three children, Bortell left teaching and became a nanny.

"I was baking constantly," Bortell said. It was a trait that came from her mother, who passed away at 90, and "was baking until she was 89."

That led to Bortell, who grew up in East Meadow, bringing her handiwork to farmers' markets under the name "Baked by Katie."

To take it from side hustle to salaried, Bortell got her license after working at a co-op kitchen in Amityville. She parlayed that into restaurant work in Manhattan, which remains a major part of her business as a wholesale operation. The question was, where would her business hold its ovens?

She found a small location where the Wantagh Taxi dispatched riders from the train station. It had already been renovated from its more familiar run-down interior.

"Everything was lovely," Bortell said.

Bortell's bakery is closed to the public except on Saturday. All other work is made for two restaurants in New York City.

Despite limited interaction with the community, Bortell said they are "so receptive."

Of course, the timing worked perfectly for selling holiday cakes and pastries.

That notwithstanding, Bortell couldn't take the risk with retail.

"I don't know how people ever do that, how they ever have the faith," she said. "I needed to know that the business I've been counting on for the last few years is still going to be there."

The name is an homage to her Irish roots, a region in Ireland that covers Galway, one of her favorite places.

Bortell, who calls Wantagh home, was also inspired by another vacation spot--Amish Country in Pennsylvania.

"I do love their style and it's been very influential," Bortell told Patch.

While she has selections of cakes, cookies and breads, hands down her top choice and, most sought after, is the mouthwatering carrot cake.