Who needs milk and eggs? Vegan baking is on the rise, and it has convinced one baker to ditch traditional ingredients.
Local baker Alissa Ayers, who uses she/they pronouns, said she hopes to provide more vegan options to the community with her business "Flour Child Bakery." She began selling pastries to local markets in June 2023 and has since been providing Columbia patrons an opportunity to try vegan twists on classic treats.
Ayers is the manager at Azalea Coffee Bar, a coffee shop that emphasizes supporting women and minority-owned small businesses. The cafe started out selling non-vegan baked goods, but Ayers took it as an opportunity to share her take.
“We have just been getting desserts from different local bakers over time, and we just didn’t have any vegan options, so we decided to try it out,” Ayers said.
For Azalea Coffee Bar, she focuses on more breakfast foods, like banana bread loaves and cookie "sammies."
Customers have been surprised when they found out the baked goods are vegan, said Jenna Burton, a barista at Azalea.
"I feel like a lot of the time people think that vegan pastries or vegan desserts are not good or they're going to be bland or boring, but Alissa’s are never like that," Burton said.
Ayers started baking at a young age with her mom but later got more professional experience at two local bakeries. Then, she started baking for their friends, who always encouraged her to sell her goods.
Ayers stopped baking when she started working at Azalea in 2021. However, she restarted her passion in 2023 when she did her first market in Lexington called Flora and Fauna.
A oatmeal cookie sandwich from Flour Child Bakery sits on a plate on Sept. 12, 2024. Flour Child, owned by Alissa Ayers, began in June 2023 and operates out of Azalea Coffee Bar where Ayers is an employee.
"I applied to do that last minute not really expecting anything, and I got picked,” Ayers said.
There is plenty of room to experiment in baking, Ayers said, so she usually chooses to make treats she wants to try out.
“Sometimes I get inspiration from friends. I’ll ask what they want to do,” Ayers said, “One of my last desserts was a peach oatmeal cream pie because one of my friends was just really wanting an oatmeal cream pie.”
Over time, Ayers' love for baking unintentionally combined with her active involvement with the queer community, whether it's attending local events or baking for different businesses.
“I am a big part of the queer community, locally. I go to a lot of the local shows ... I feel like I just kind of incorporated that in (my branding)," Ayers said, “I did a raffle for a cake one time for a local performer who needed some medical bills paid."
Queer Haven Books, a local queer bookstore in Columbia has worked with Ayers since the opening party for their brick-and-mortar store. Matti Kourtney, co-owner of Queer Haven said that they got involved with Ayers when they met at a pop-up for Queer Haven.
“(Ayers is) amazing, and they're vegan, which is really good because a lot of people are into that now," Kourtney said.
Not only does Ayers make delicious food, but she comes from a queer and indigenous background, which is a major part of Queer Haven's mission.
“Everything we carry we try to either for it to be like minority-owned, or queer-owned or women-owned because we want to support that", Kourtney said.
Even though Ayers started small, they have come to be a strong part of the Columbia community. Burton said that customers come to Azalea and are well aware of Flour Child.
“The amount of people we have coming in here, specifically having tried her treats at other places, they get so excited when they realize that they're the Flour Child ones,” Burton said.
Flour Child can be found at Azalea Coffee Bar and on The Hoot menu in Columbia.