04 Jul 2007, ST, Mind Your Body
Want dessert but cannot stomach eggs, dairy products or sugar? Suki Lor meets a mother who turned those challenges into a business
Desperation, they say, gives birth to invention and so it was for Ms Sabreena Andriesz. 'My daughter couldn't eat wheat and dairy products since she was little, so I made stuff for her,' recalls the 43-year-old psychotherapist, who experimented with making cakes without eggs, dairy products or sugar.
Her daughter is now nearly 15, and a mother's devotion has been transformed into a business. The Conscious Choice offers cakes and cookies that are completely free of wheat and gluten.
Ms Andriesz was no mere hobbyist at the start. She had graduated from the Cordon Bleu culinary school in London in 1982.
But her home-based venture happened by chance more than two years ago, she says. She served a wheat-free cake to a friend who owned a cafe. The friend loved it and asked Ms Andriesz to supply cakes for her eatery. Her cakes and biscotti, a crisp Italian cookie, are now regular items at Whatever Cafe in Keong Saik Road in Chinatown.
There are 17 types of cake, four varieties of cookie and two versions of biscotti. Her cakes have luscious flavours: almond orange, carrot walnut, zucchini cashew, honey tofu, pineapple upside down and chocolate.
Besides being free of wheat and gluten, some of the cakes are also dairy-free. Canola oil is used in place of butter in the case of dairy-free cakes.
For flour, she uses mainly rice, millet, tapioca, buckwheat, soy, corn, potato or arrowroot. She also uses aluminium-free baking powder, bought from the United States.
Ms Andriesz also offers confections which are egg-free and sugar-free. She uses xylitol, a low-carbohydrate sweetener derived from the bark of the birch tree and other sources.
A few of the cakes - including sticky date, festive fruit and honey tofu - are sweetened with fruit, honey or fructose.
Each nine-inch cake weighs between 1kg and 1.5kg, and is priced from $40 to $60.
Ms Andriesz, who was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Saudi Arabia, says she has to be very organised to juggle being baker, corporate coach and trainer, and psychotherapist. She has a Master's degree in Social Science (Counselling). Singapore has been her home for the past 18 years.
Orders can be placed online at www.theconsciouschoice.com. Cakes are baked the night before a delivery to ensure freshness. They can be collected from Ms Andriesz's home or delivered (except on public holidays) for a fee of $10 per trip.
The Conscious Choice
8 Bishopswalk
Tel: 6735-4880
Email: cake@theconsciouschoice.com
Website: www.theconsciouschoice.com
Want dessert but cannot stomach eggs, dairy products or sugar? Suki Lor meets a mother who turned those challenges into a business
Desperation, they say, gives birth to invention and so it was for Ms Sabreena Andriesz. 'My daughter couldn't eat wheat and dairy products since she was little, so I made stuff for her,' recalls the 43-year-old psychotherapist, who experimented with making cakes without eggs, dairy products or sugar.
Her daughter is now nearly 15, and a mother's devotion has been transformed into a business. The Conscious Choice offers cakes and cookies that are completely free of wheat and gluten.
Ms Andriesz was no mere hobbyist at the start. She had graduated from the Cordon Bleu culinary school in London in 1982.
But her home-based venture happened by chance more than two years ago, she says. She served a wheat-free cake to a friend who owned a cafe. The friend loved it and asked Ms Andriesz to supply cakes for her eatery. Her cakes and biscotti, a crisp Italian cookie, are now regular items at Whatever Cafe in Keong Saik Road in Chinatown.
There are 17 types of cake, four varieties of cookie and two versions of biscotti. Her cakes have luscious flavours: almond orange, carrot walnut, zucchini cashew, honey tofu, pineapple upside down and chocolate.
Besides being free of wheat and gluten, some of the cakes are also dairy-free. Canola oil is used in place of butter in the case of dairy-free cakes.
For flour, she uses mainly rice, millet, tapioca, buckwheat, soy, corn, potato or arrowroot. She also uses aluminium-free baking powder, bought from the United States.
Ms Andriesz also offers confections which are egg-free and sugar-free. She uses xylitol, a low-carbohydrate sweetener derived from the bark of the birch tree and other sources.
A few of the cakes - including sticky date, festive fruit and honey tofu - are sweetened with fruit, honey or fructose.
Each nine-inch cake weighs between 1kg and 1.5kg, and is priced from $40 to $60.
Ms Andriesz, who was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Saudi Arabia, says she has to be very organised to juggle being baker, corporate coach and trainer, and psychotherapist. She has a Master's degree in Social Science (Counselling). Singapore has been her home for the past 18 years.
Orders can be placed online at www.theconsciouschoice.com. Cakes are baked the night before a delivery to ensure freshness. They can be collected from Ms Andriesz's home or delivered (except on public holidays) for a fee of $10 per trip.
The Conscious Choice
8 Bishopswalk
Tel: 6735-4880
Email: cake@theconsciouschoice.com
Website: www.theconsciouschoice.com
No comments:
Post a Comment