Copyright Reading Eagle
For information on submitting an obituary, please contact Reading Eagle by phone at 610-371-5018, or email at obituaries@readingeagle.com or fax at 610-371-5193. Most obituaries published in the Reading Eagle are submitted through funeral homes and cremation services, but we will accept submissions from families. Obituaries can be emailed to obituaries@readingeagle.com. In addition to the text of the obituary, any photographs that you wish to include can be attached to this email. Please put the text of the obituary in a Word document, a Google document or in the body of the email. The Reading Eagle also requires a way to verify the death, so please include either the phone number of the funeral home or cremation service that is in charge of the deceased's care or a photo of his/her death certificate. We also request that your full name, phone number and address are all included in this email. All payments by families must be made with a credit card. We will send a proof of the completed obituary before we require payment. The obituary cannot run, however, until we receive payment in full. Obituaries can be submitted for any future date, but they must be received no later than 3:00 p.m. the day prior to its running for it to be published. Please call the obituary desk, at 610-371-5018, for information on pricing. For Janae Tuck, growing up as one of 11 siblings meant having plenty of opportunities to do what she loves: decorate cake. Birthdays became chances to stretch her creative wings by crafting a representation of her connection with family — one coated in artfully applied icing. “It (baking and decorating cake) deepened my appreciation for the connections and memories that sharing homemade treats can build,” Tuck said on her website. Her drive to decorate was sparked when she got a job at Weis as a teenager. The passion grew when she went to work at Wegman’s, but Tuck wanted to take the hobby further. “Being able to experiment, trying new recipes, that’s what I love to do,” Tuck told MediaNews Group. “I just love trying new things.” Tuck was hired at Homemade Cravings, a Dominican bakery in Reading. She worked there as a contractor before eventually being swayed by her family to take her decorating chops to their natural conclusion: her own business. Tuck started baking cakes on her own in September 2023 before eventually growing enough of a customer base to branch out even further. In October, Nae Nae’s Cakery held its grand opening at Tuck’s first bakery storefront on South Reading Avenue — the former location of Semper Pie, a cheesecake bakery — in Boyertown. Tuck was joined by her siblings, family and friends, along with representatives from Building a Better Boyertown at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 11. Nae Nae’s specializes in custom homemade desserts using locally sourced ingredients. It offers cakes, cookies, cupcakes and cake pops, in addition to pie, banana pudding, cake in a cup and other pastries. The store encourages catering and wholesale orders, including wholesale mini desserts by the dozen at a 20% to 30% discount. Tuck retains another job as a school bus driver when she’s not baking at the shop. “I had to start from the ground up, slowly building up what little money I got,” Tuck said. “We didn’t take out any loans, no grants, no savings account, no large sum of money donated. Everything was paid for out of pocket one step at a time. It was basically faith that got me here.” Another factor in her success is the runaway popularity of certain recipes. “The two that kind of blew up, one was the s’more cookie, and the other was the banana pudding cookie,” she said. “I also did some African-themed cake (using African flavors). That’s a big thing, being able to incorporate a culture into a cake.” Tuck’s custom cakes are another hot commodity. She has shaped cakes to resemble everything from a Rolls Royce, to a PlayStation controller, to a cartoon version of a cake. “I always love trying new things,” Tuck said. “A lot of the designs, it was my first time doing it with customers.” Unique flavors also serve to set Nae Nae’s apart. “I try recipes you don’t really get at other stores,” Tuck said. “Lemon pistachio, honey lavender, chocolate with potato chips. The type of flavors you don’t really see daily at bakeries.” For now, Nae Nae’s is a family-only endeavor for Tuck. She’s running the store with the help of her sister Jocey Tuck and other relatives. Nae Nae’s Cakery is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is closed Sunday and Tuesday.
