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Baking for a cause

Pastry chefs are banding together and throwing old-fashioned bake sales to raise funds for causes they care about. L.A.-based Pastry Action Network and Gather for Good are among the many leading the way, locally and nationally.

Chef Anna Posey of Elske in Chicago sprinkles toppings on her pastry. Posey was one of several chefs who took part in the Pastry Action Network’s bake sale to raise money for the Yellowhammer Fund and the James Beard Foundation’s Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Program. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Lillian Anjarjolian, left, receives a box of baked goods from chef Sasha Piligian as chef Anna Posey looks on at the Pastry Action Network’s fundraiser June 29 at Sqirl in Los Angeles. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Chef Natasha Pickowicz lays out kolaches for the Pastry Action Network’s first fundraiser. Her annual bake sales benefiting Planned Parenthood inspired the Pastry Action Network’s fundraiser. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

A box of baked goods at Jessica Koslow’s Pastry Action Network fundraiser at Sqirl. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Kristen Olsen feeds her daughter Olivia Stouffer a pastry. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Pastry chefs, from left, Anna Posey, seated, Natasha Pickowicz, Zoe Kanan, Caitlyn Jarvis, Sasha Piligian and Jess Stephens. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Jessica Koslow of Sqirl organized the Pastry Action Network’s first fundraiser. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Pastry chef Leah Chin-Katz prepares to move cakes at Gather for Good’s fundraiser at the Manufactory in downtown L.A. July 21. (Allison Zaucha / For The Times)

Pastry chefs from Manufactory look at the display of cakes for the bake sale. (Allison Zaucha / For The Times)

One of the cakes at Gather for Food’s fundraiser was decorated to read “pro-vasectomy.” The bake sale raised almost $6,000 for Planned Parenthood and the Yellowhammer Fund, which supports women’s reproductive fights in Alabama. (Allison Zaucha / For The Times)

Chef Cecilia Leung of Lincoln in Pasadena offered a cake that was decorated to read “no more hangers.” (Allison Zaucha / For The Times)

Sugarbear Bakes and others donated treats for a cake walk supporting Planned Parenthood and the Yellowhammer Fund. (Allison Zaucha/For Los Angeles Times)

Josephine Tanous and her father Will visited her mother Julie Tanous at Gather for Good’s bake sale at the Manufactory in downtown L.A. July 21. (Allison Zaucha / For The Times)