A Toodyay mother, who turned a struggle to find gluten free goodies into a successful business, will be featuring at the upcoming Perth Gluten Free Expo for the second consecutive year.
Baked goods business, Champagne and Gumboots, owner Stacey Dadd said her passion for baking was momentarily sidetracked.
“I've always been passionate about baking,” Ms Dadd said.
“I started collecting cook books when I was about 10 years old and fell deeply in love with Nigella Lawson and the way she cooks.
“I wanted to be a chef in high school but illness in my last year stopped me from doing it and my life changed track.”
Ms Dadd, who was diagnosed as gluten intolerant seven years ago, said at the time access to gluten free goods was limited.
“I started looking around for amazing gluten free cake recipes and the likes and I stumbled across a blogger in the US,” she said.
“This particularly huge baker made it look easy, so I decided to whip up a lovely gluten free victoria sponge cake for my Mum's birthday.
“Needless to say the sponge made a better door stop than a cake.
“So I went back to the drawing board and realised that we just didn't have the same flours and products available here as they do in the states.”
During her move to Toodyay to be closer to family, Ms Dadd started a lifestyle blog called Champagne and Gumboots where she shared recipes that she had converted to gluten free.
“After some time I realized all the hits on my blog were coming for my recipes,” she said.
“This is when I truly started to realize there were very few people doing gluten free recipes in Australia, let alone anyone focusing on baking.
“I switched my pretty average blog over to a beautiful food blog and went hard at it.
“I tested, baked and created almost one new recipe every week for that first year; from classic choc chip cookies to lamingtons to swiss rolls and sausage rolls.”
After realising that not everyone had time to be baking, Ms Dadd said she decided to sell her homemade products.
“I dove straight in and started offering a selection of baked goods,” she said.
“I started attending markets where word mouth spread of what I was doing and I was asked to attend the Gluten Free Expo and one of the largest artisan markets.
“The last year and a half has been a whirlwind of markets, wholesaling to cafes, and some truly amazing cakes and cupcakes all gluten free and all scrumptious, but most importantly safe.”
Ms Dadd is in the process of writing a cookbook, launching a gluten free baking YouTube channel and running a series of gluten free baking workshops and classes.
You can see Ms Dadd and try her creations at the Perth Gluten Free Expo at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre on March 16 and 17.
The expo coincides with Coeliac Awareness Week which runs from the March 13 to 20.
