The Lemonade Bakery: a gluten-free treat

It would be very easy for me to use the old cliché  “when life gives you lemons...” when describing Tracey Kadanoff and the Lemonade Bakery, but I’m better than that. I promise, for this entire review, I’m going to refrain from going for the obvious. Anyway, I digress.

After perfecting her craft as a baker for 22 years, Kadanoff was given a sudden wake-up call when she developed an allergy to wheat. She had been working with wheat her entire baking life, suddenly, her entire repertoire had to change.

“I had to quit my job, and I thought, what do I do now?” said Kadanoff. “I started eating some gluten-free desserts and I wasn’t really impressed with them, so I thought, ‘I can do better than this.’”

That fleeting  thought quickly changed into a reality. Kadanoff is now the proud owner of the Lemonade Bakery, a gluten-free bakery located on 3385 Cambie Street in Vancouver. She couldn’t have come along at a better time, either. The gluten-free diet has been sweeping the nation, something that Kadanoff recognizes.

“I really think I’ve had great timing,” she chuckled. “I know that gluten-free is a new fad, and I’m hoping to ride that wave and take off.”

When you first walk into the bakery, you notice that it has a rustic, almost country-like atmosphere. The décor is simple, homey and charming, enough to make you feel at ease while you stuff your face with goodies.

The menu is extremely diverse for a specialty bakery. In addition to the usual assortment of mousses, cakes and finger desserts, you’ll also find decadent treats like Chocolate Bark, and even homemade jam. Kadanoff’s best work is with her mousses; she counts the Chocolate Peanut Butter mousse as the best dish on her menu.

Of course, the mousse has been in her baking repertoire for years now, so she’s had plenty of time to perfect the creamy texture and vibrant flavours. She manages to mix the flavours together perfectly without overpowering either main ingredient. It’s a perfect marriage of Peanut Butter and Chocolate, and it will make your knees buckle.

As I was leaving, I had to ask her the most obvious question: why call it the Lemonade Bakery, when you’re a bakery that focuses on gluten-free snacks?

She told me that she tried to think of a name for a while, and nothing seemed to be the right fit. Then one night, she spoke to a friend about becoming a Celiac, and the imminent opening of her bakery. His response was, “Well, when life gives you lemons...”

Well, I almost made it out of the article without using that cliché; but when a story fits together so perfectly like that, sometimes you really do just have to go for the obvious.

The Lemonade Bakery is located at 3385 Cambie Street, Vancouver