So exciting to see our first "big" press out today in the Patriot Ledger. We've been getting a great response to it as well. Check it out
here.
Yes that's right. We do gluten free cakes, cookies, brownies and wedding cakes here in Weymouth, MA! We're so excited to provide our delicious baked goods to those who need them in the area. We love making people smile and happy with our sweet stuff. So keep ordering and being excited and we'll hopefully keep living up to your expectations.
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Two South Shore women answer the call for tasty, gluten-free baked goods
By VALERIE A. RUSSO For The Patriot Ledger
Posted Jun 30, 2009 @ 06:00 AM
An estimated 12 million people in the United States have food allergies,according to a 2008 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The figure includes 3 million children – four out of 100, an 18 percent increase from a decade ago. An additional 3 million Americans have celiac disease, the inability to absorb nutrients if they eat any foods containing gluten. Whether these statistics indicate an overall increase in sensitivities to certain foods or an increase in testing and better reporting of food allergies, the result is the same: greater demand for tasty food that is safe for people with food allergies and digestive ailments.
Two local business owners – Carolyn Shannon of Cal’s Baking Company in Hingham and Heather Diamond of Diamond Baking Co. in Weymouth – have stepped up to the plate with original baking mixes and custom cakes for this growing market.
HAVE IT YOUR WAY
On any given day, Heather Diamond of Milton is up to her elbows in gluten-free flour in her commercial kitchen one floor below Shaw’s Supermarket in Weymouth.
“I’ve always loved baking; it’s my passion. I’ve done it as far back as I can remember,” said Diamond, who attended Johnson & Wales University for baking and pastry arts and worked as a pastry chef for five years before launching her own business, Diamond Baking Co., in 2008.
But you won’t find her cakes, cookies, brownies, scones and tea breads on the shelves of supermarkets or other retail stores. Diamond’s baked goods are made to order, usually for special occasions, such as weddings, anniversaries, showers, birthdays, christenings, First Holy Communions, bar and bat mitzvahs and graduations.
“Gluten-free is growing in popularity,” Diamond said. “There are more and more cases of celiac disease being diagnosed, but it’s not just celiacs who are on a gluten-free diet. It supposedly helps kids who are autistic and anyone with Crohn’s disease. Some people switch to a gluten-free diet because it makes them feel better, more energized.”
Diamond also supplies gluten-free desserts to one local restaurant, Peppercornz On Main in Weymouth, and sells her gluten-free cookies, brownies and cupcakes from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursdays through October at the farmers’market in Plymouth.
Diamond’s first experience with gluten-free baking was making a birthday cake for a friend with multiple allergies. In place of wheat flour, she substituted a mixture of three gluten-free products – brown rice flour, tapioca flour and potato starch. Instead of butter and cow’s milk, she used canola oil and rice milk.
“It was fun and a challenge creating recipes that actually tasted good and were not too crumbly,” Diamond said. “The wheat is going to bond it, and that’s missing.”
She also uses fresh local ingredients, such as organic cage-free eggs, stone ground organic chocolate and fruit from local farms. To date, Diamond has developed a dozen recipes for cakes and more than a dozen recipes for cookies, brownies, muffins, scones and tea breads.
Don’t ask for copies – her secret recipes are the result of many months of work and taste testing by friends and family to get the right proportions of the gluten-free ingredients.
“Every recipe is gluten free and nut free, but I can also make something dairy free, soy free or egg free for someone with multiple allergies,” she said. Her favorite recipe is for gluten-free, dairy-free carrot cake. “When I give that cake to people who are not on a gluten-free diet, they say it’s the best carrot cake they’ve ever tasted – melt-in-your-mouth moist. It has real carrots,” she said.
Her baking schedule varies, depending upon orders. April through October are her busiest months for wedding cakes and wedding cupcake towers. She makes just one wedding cake per day because she does everything herself, from the baking to the decorating to the delivery.
Year-round, she makes gluten-free baked goods with 48 hours’ notice. Customers can pick up orders at her commercial kitchen or receive delivery for orders more than $100. Customers planning a wedding or other special event can schedule a tasting. For more information, visit
www.diamondbakingco.com.
