When I grow up…
When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up to be a scientist. I always had a passion for creating "potions" using things around the house. I would combine soaps and lotions as I concocted the world's next greatest moisturizing hand soaps. Or I would combine (with often questionable outcomes) different foods to try to make the most delightful of culinary mixtures.
Throughout the years, I never lost that passion to create. I have always had a mixture of the scientific and the artisanal within me, and this mixture has manifested in different ways over the years. I studied Pre-Medical Biology and Biochemistry at four different colleges, and I worked in various labs. One of my favorite positions was when I worked as a Research & Development Scientist, doing the very thing that I so thoroughly loved as a kid. At this position, I would be given a prompt for a product, and my job was to create the product completely from scratch using scientific knowledge on a molecular level, combining different substances, then testing and re-formulating and re-testing until I achieved the objective.
During this time, I began to personally grow more interested in food science, and I began to be more conscious of where my food came from and how it was made. I applied these same scientific research and development skills from the lab to my kitchen at home, and I began creating recipes for myself and my family, based in health and good nutrition. I love a good challenge, and one of the biggest challenges was re-creating the desserts that I love, but in a healthier way. I have always had a huge sweet tooth, and I especially enjoy a good cake or cupcake. But I was finding it very difficult to obtain healthier versions of these desserts that I loved.
As I started posting about my creations on social media, friends around me with dietary restrictions began taking notice of these desserts, and they started asking if I could create healthier desserts that they could also enjoy. I quickly realized just how large of a gap there was for people who have dietary restrictions. If it was very difficult to find good, healthier versions of desserts for the average person, it was seemingly impossible to find this for people who had to adhere to a stricter diet. Every gluten-free and/or vegan dessert that was available was either a very poor representation of the item that it was trying to replicate or it was packed full of unhealthy fillers. Even every online recipe that I could find provided nothing close to what people were searching for.
Like I said, I love a good challenge, so this is when I spent years creating my own recipes, completely from scratch, that would provide what people were looking for. This is how The Better Bakery was born. It is a place that provides better pastries so you can be a better you. The Better Bakery is a completely dedicated space for gluten-free, soy-free, vegan (includes dairy-free and egg-free) and dye-free desserts, and the ingredients that we use are largely organic. Now, every time someone says to me, "I have never felt so good after eating a dessert," or "I thought that we could never have a wedding cake before we found you," or "My son has not been able to eat a cupcake in years, and he was in tears when he ate one of your cupcakes," or "None of the guests at my wedding had any idea that the wedding cake was made in a dietary inclusive way, and I had so many people telling me that it was the best cake that they have ever had in their life," ...I think little Shawnté lets out a little squeal of joy because now her "potions" are bringing happiness to so many people.
- Shawnté Michaels (Founder/Owner)
