TA S T E M A K E R S
Let Them Eat Cake Cottage baker provides endless options for diet restrictions. Written by Ava Diaz
Photos by Chris Emeott
A B A K E R S I N C E S H E WAS A C H I L D, Donna Mehta remembers
being inspired by the techniques of her grandmother and mother. She began to develop her passion for the craft when she was attending high school in Turkey, where she took the same home economics course twice. She says it was in this class that she truly learned the ins-andouts of home baking. “My teacher really instilled in me that you only bake from scratch,” she says. Taking to baking, she continued to experiment with it throughout the following years and was in the process of working her way through the entirety of The Joy of Cooking cookbook. However, it wasn’t until her young daughter developed celiac disease in 2013 that she tried her hand at allergy-friendly treats—a challenge she was not ready to face at the start. “When my daughter was diagnosed, I didn’t realize how many things had gluten in them. It is kind of crazy,” she says. Mehta says the diagnosis immediately changed the kitchen protocols in her home. She quickly removed the contaminated utensils and appliances from cupboards, drawers and countertops. “The remnants of gluten can linger in just about everything,” she says. “The molecules are so tiny and can get into things … you could have cross-contamination without even knowing it.” But allergy-proofing the kitchen was just Mehta’s first step. Next, she needed to learn the science behind allergenfree baking. The year 2020 found Mehta in the kitchen, but she wasn’t creating crusted sourdough like so many other people that year. Instead, she began her own culinary experiment by acquiring every gluten-free box cake mix she could get her hands on. From there, Mehta says her family conducted taste tests. After seeing what
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December 2022/January 2023
plymouthmag.com
