My love for baking started when I was little. My mom made the most beautiful cakes (before Pinterest... I still vividly remember this one that had a Barbie top and the cake was the dress and it was a dream come true!) One of my favorite memories was getting to "help" her do demonstrations at parties when she was selling Pampered Chef. And then there was the bread machine. Nothing made my heart skip a beat like my mom letting us eat the bread while it was still beeping that it had finished baking.

In my early 20s, I baked for a coffee shop making cakes and cupcakes and donuts, which I loved! It was 100% out of necessity and overconfidence. The shop had a contract with a baker who was supposed to deliver cupcakes who never showed up... I said I could do it, because I had once made a cell diarama cake (featuring twizzler mitochondria) for a science project in high school. Miraculously, it turned out okay and I got to do lots of baking after that. I started creating recipes and flavoring cupcakes with teas. I was perhaps given too much creative freedom, but I loved it- as did my soon to be husband.

When my husband and I moved to Rwanda as missionaries for the Anglican church, I took my love of baking with me and taught classes at a local trade school. I got to work with the school to start a bakery that would offset school fees with the profit from selling the baked goods in the community. At this stage of my life, healthy eating became a high priority for me. I suffered from postpartum depression and in addition to Prozac, did everything I could to naturally recover. One of the things I did was switch to a Paleo diet, eliminating grains, sugar and dairy. During this time I learned so much about baking with natural sweeteners and nut flours and unrefined ingredients— basically how to combine a bunch of nuts to make it taste like a cookie. Then I learned about fermenting grains and have been obsessed with sourdough ever since. I like to think I've settled in a "middle ground" of nourishing, satisfying and delicious. 

It’s funny how there are points in life when you look back and you can see how the threads all come together. There is a deep spark in my heart for beautiful baked goods. I love baking and knowing someone is making that weird grunting noise of satisfaction. I also love knowing that the food I make won’t leave you with blood sugar crashes, and an overall gross feeling. My goal is to bake foods with refined taste with unrefined ingredients. 

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I'm glad you're here,

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Kayla