Former lawyer raises the bar on gluten-free confections
ARLINGTON -- Vita Cohen's kitchen counter is covered with homemade fondant, gum paste, edible white glitter, and pale pink food coloring. These ingredients will eventually be transformed into decorative lilies. "My younger daughter's name is Lily," says Cohen, and, she adds, "I make lilies whenever I get the chance." The flowers will adorn the top of a two-tiered cake with intricate lace piped along its sides. As it happens, this is a very important cake.
Later in the week, the confection will be served to an influential group who may be able to help this lawyer-turned-baker get her new business off the ground.
Cohen is auditioning the cake before the board of Healthy Villi, a celiac support group with nearly 1,000 members in the Greater Boston area. In her business, "Celia Cakes," she creates gluten-free celebration cakes. With Healthy Villi's support, Cohen can gain critical publicity in the early stages of her business. Until recently, she practiced law at Menard, Murphy & Walsh in Boston, and so she approached the baking opportunity as she would a legal motion: be prepared and assemble your strongest argument -- in this case, a showpiece cake.
On the day of the board meeting, Cohen concentrates on constructing and decorating the cake. She smoothes the frosting with painstaking exactness before she buffs it with a paper towel. As she decorates, she works with a steady hand, concentrating on the intricate lacework. "As you are decorating," she says, "your everyday worries slip away."
There probably aren't many lawyers who would give up their legal education to bake cakes for a living. The move for Cohen was prompted by her husband's diagnosis in 2005 with celiac disease, an autoimmune response to gluten that interferes with the absorption of nutrients. Treatment requires a strict adherence to a gluten-free diet. The common baking flours are off limits. Rather than bake specially for him, Cohen found it was easier to make her entire kitchen gluten free. "There are lots of great gluten-free products so we still enjoy pasta, bread, and cookies," she says.
One thing was missing. She couldn't find fancy cakes for birthdays, anniversaries , and other milestones. She decided to make her own, improvising her favorite recipes to rid them of gluten.
In the process, she realized what an important symbol a cake is at a celebration. Cohen heard about unhappy parents whose children with celiac disease were never able to enjoy their own birthday cakes. While others ate, the guests of honor were often nibbling gluten-free cookies. Says the entrepreneur: "A lot of people with celiac disease feel cut off. They can't simply grab a slice of pizza or a burger with co-workers. For special times, it's even worse. At a celebration, they often can't share in the centerpiece."
When she saw how touched her husband was when she baked an elaborate gluten-free princess birthday cake for their 3-year-old daughter Mia, Cohen, 32, realized she could fill a need in the celiac community. She quit law and donned an apron.
She handles the new venture with the same discipline she brought to her legal career. Each recipe has withstood a battery of tests. To develop her white cake recipe, for example, she used four different recipes. She chose the best and then revised that in a half-dozen more trials, making small adjustments in the proportions and blending of various rice flours, xanthan gum (to create the consistency that wheat usually provides), milk, and butter.
During the three days each week that she has child care, she says, "I own the kitchen." Child-free, she can test two or three cakes. When the kids come home, they're happy and squeal, "Cake for dessert." Her best -- and worst -- critic is daughter Mia. Cohen laughs, "One day Mia said, 'Mommy, why did you bake me a bread cake?' That recipe got thrown out."
The Healthy Villi board meeting is a potluck affair, with multiple tables groaning under the weight of main courses and side dishes. The dessert table is also full, but Cohen's cake stands out.
The top tier is cut to reveal four layers filled alternately with vanilla butter cream frosting and raspberry preserves. The lower level is layered with almond butter cream and apricot preserves. It's a moist cake that begs to be eaten slowly and savored. Board member Lauren Komack says, "It tastes just like I remember birthday cakes tasting."
That's exactly the response Cohen hopes for -- friends and family sharing a taste that reminds them of happy memories and promises future good times. "I love telling people what I do now," she says. "It's so much different than when I told them I was a lawyer. It's funny. I'm the same person. I still care about people and want to make a positive difference in the world. I just don't have to prove it anymore."
Her cakes do that for her.
For information on Celia Cakes, go to celiacakes.com. For information on Healthy Villi, go to healthyvilli.com. 