When she found out she had celiac disease seven years ago, she had to give up baked goods. Dawn Gullusci finally had enough of this exclusion from her diet and decided to create her own cakes. “I worked for weeks to develop a gluten free chocolate cake for the head of my children’s school. He loved it and asked for another one.” Dawn began to develop other recipes and word of mouth spread, not necessarily about her cakes being gluten free, but about her cakes being delicious and beautiful.
“As more and more people asked me to make cakes, I developed more and more recipes playing with different flour substitutes. ” Dawn had tried to eat the commercial gluten free products but the chemicals and starches didn’t sit well with her. So making her own baked goods was a the perfect solution for her and clearly for others. “I really fell into the business.” Adding muffins and cupcakes all of Dawn’s creations have no fillers, stabilizers or preservatives, using only whole foods, and this gave her the idea for her name, Whole Food Lady Desserts.
So many moms of kids with celiac have been known to bring a piece of gluten free cake to a birthday party and it usually isn’t very attractive. “I always felt kind of bad for that child.” Now, the entire cake for the party can be gluten free, delicious and fabulous looking too.
She even got a spot on News Channel 8. This gave Dawn the courage to approach The View and make a cake for Elizabeth Hasselback who had celiac disease. She was friends with a writer on the show and through countless calls and submissions, Dawn was finally asked to appear in 2009.
Her appearance on The View got noticed by a pizza company in Boston who wanted a gluten free pizza dough and Dawn was just the person to develop it. “It took about three months but I perfected a dough and sold my recipe to Stone Hearth Pizza.” With so many people now looking for gluten free products, it made perfect sense to expand her business. Dawn’s recipes are her edge and she guards those carefully, “When someone asks for a recipe, I have to say no because it’s my business.”
Whole Food Lady Desserts offers lots of cake flavors like chocolate fudge, almond, lemon, peanut butter and strawberry shortcake. And the frostings are numerous including chocolate butter cream, mint chip and chocolate ganache. Mmmmmm, makes you hungry just thinking about the combinations.
“Most of my cakes are like “the Cake Boss” cakes and have extreme designs.” Dawn makes cakes for all kinds of special occasions including weddings. With time to make about 8 – 10 regular cakes a week, Dawn and her decorating assistant only commit to 1 or 2 extreme design cakes a week. “It’s a big commitment but it’s something I love, so it doesn’t feel like work.” She even finds it meditative to bake a cake, something we could all use, a bit of meditation and cake too.
Contact: [email protected] Be sure to tell Dawn VentureMom sent you for a special bonus.
VentureMom Tip
Make your own creations proprietary.
