No fun occasion is complete without a cake. Cakes are celebration foods as well as comfort foods. We crave for it and always feel to have a piece of it after a meal. They make tasty dessert food item too. But due to the high sugar and fat content, they are in the unhealthy category. But fortunately, there are healthier cake options available in the market. Laurel Gallucci, co founder of Sweet Laurel has this business where people can have their cake and have it healthily too.
Sweet Laurel: the history
Laurel Gallucci loves cakes. And she used to love to bake for self and family and friends. But things changed when doctors gave her a diagnosis of an autoimmune disease, Hashimoto’s. She recalls what her doctor told her:
“you’ll never eat chocolate cake again,”
Sweet Laurel shop in LA (Source: How You Glow)Her doctor put her on a strict elimination diet. But she did not let this dampen her spirits. She decided to enjoy her cake but in a different yet healthy and tasty way. She launched her own business called Sweet Laurel. Laurel decided to make cakes with ingredients that she could have.
Ingredients of Laurel’s cake
Laurel was allowed to have certain foods. For the cake, she narrowed down to almond flour, coconut oil, 100% pure maple syrup, and Himalayan pink salt. She found that coconut oil added to dates and a bit of pink salt tasted like caramel.
Laurel Gallucci (Source: Sweet Laurel)Thus, in her own way and with her own ingredients, Laurel made almond flour cocoa cake, brownies and chocolate chips. She made her close ones test them and taste them giving feedbacks to her. And the outcome was wonderful. Her friend, Claire Thomas joined her in her business. Claire is also a cook and writer and photographer. Earlier, Claire was a commercial director with commercial director with brands such as Kraft, McDonalds and Visa. Talking about how it started, Laurel said:
“When we first began, we were an Instagram account. We did not sell cakes; we didn’t sell anything. And we just did experiential events, workshops, and classes. I taught people how to make grain-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free recipes. Educating people how to heal themselves and how to nourish themselves if they were struggling with an autoimmune disease or just wanted something healthier,”
This all began 7 years back and most of her cakes now are gluten and sugar free.
Shops in LA
The company now has two shops in LA. They together have authored two cookbooks and have successful partnership with Williams and Sonoma and Sugarfina. The basic goal of the firm is to empower people and allow those with intolerance and allergy to have and enjoy their cake.
The latest step is the packaged consumer goods arena. They have gone digital too thereby reaching more people. They do home delivery and also make at-home mixes for various desserts. This has allowed more people to benefit and at an affordable cost.
Sweet Laurel cakes (Source: Palisades village)About clean food concept, Laurel says:
“Brands are starting to come up with better-for-you products, and it’s a shift that’s happening. I’m happy we are positioned as we are as a brand. But I do hope that this shift continues and more awareness spreads,”
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They use minimum simple and healthy ingredients for their various products.