Pattycake relieves your diet guilt

Photos:

Imagine a dessert relatively free of dietary guilt, one that is not a piece of fruit or a Yoplait -- or associated with any dairy or animal products, for that matter. Imagine this dessert is a moist, delicious cake, with rich butter cream icing. Now, consider that this dessert has the ability to change the world, from the way it tastes, to the good things the ingredients can do for the body and for the environment simultaneously.

Believe it or not, this dream comes to life every day at Pattycake Vegan Bakery in Clintonville, where owner Jennie Scheinbach conjures up entirely vegan Tollhouse cookies, peanut butter mousse cake and "lovely lemon" cupcakes with lemon "butter cream" frosting. They taste as good, if not better, than the real thing. But then, there's nothing unreal about them, with all-organic, totally animal-product-free ingredients.

Scheinbach started this Columbus sensation in May of 2005. First, Pattycake goods were available at the Clintonville Community Market, then at Cup o' Joe locations throughout the city. Now treats are available for walk-in purchases or special orders directly from the friendly and sunshine-filled bakery. Pattycake is also committed to being a sustainable production, from trash composting to bike deliveries to cookie packaging that is 100 percent biodegradable.

Scheinbach took a few moments to reminisce with Metromix about disasters in vegan baking, what exactly "right livelihood" means to her and to Pattycake, and how to take a new spin on classic Valentine's Day conversation hearts this year with Columbus's own vegan bakery.

How long have you been baking vegan goods?
I've been baking vegan goods for a little over six years. I'm a sugar addict, basically...and I've been baking since I was pretty young. I was pregnant with my middle child, and my partner and I have been vegetarians for a really long time. Before I got pregnant we started talking about going vegan and if that was the right moral decision to make. Right after I had [my daughter] I contemplated going vegan, then she ended up with a drought dairy sensitivity through my milk. When I would eat dairy she would cry and scream. That happened, so it was like, "ok, well, I guess why not just go vegan if I have to cut out dairy any way." And so that was exactly when I started baking vegan because I still wanted sugar. And it's not just sugar, I'm pretty specific. In my dreams, it's cakes. I love cupcakes and cake, cookies, and not just candy. It can't be candy or something, it's got have that pastry thing going on. Because I still craved delicious, wonderful baked goods, I started baking them myself.

Out of all the vegan baking recipes you've discovered, which is your favorite to make, and to eat?
I love making peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. That's the first recipe we ever did, the first recipe we ever brought over to the [Clintonville Community Market] to be sold commercially.

What is the worst vegan baking experience you've had?
I've been working on pecan pie for 5 1/2 years and there have definitely been some pecan pies that were like, nasty. Imagine a really, really, really firm Jell-O. A little tiny bit of jiggle, very dense. It was not good. And there were many trials that were not good.

Do you remember what it was about the recipe that made it that way?
Yeah, it was agar, or agar -- a seaweed that can be used in place of gelatin -- and it was just too much of that. What's really hard about pecan pie is it's basically like a custard, in a traditional pecan pie recipe. It's got four eggs in it, and you pretty much need the eggs. I've had other vegan pecan pies that people will say, "this is so good!," and I'm like, "this doesn't taste like pecan pie." I really want a pecan pie that tastes like pecan pie.

What was your ultimate motivation for starting Pattycake?
I don't know if you're familiar with the concept of right livelihood. I wouldn't really call myself a Buddhist but a lot of the tenants of Buddhism I really agree with. One of them is basically like right action, so, when doing things that are sort of for selfish motivations or whatever, really trying to look at yourself and do the right thing. One of these ideas is right livelihood. Making whatever you make money from be something that is helpful rather than hurtful. So, ultimately, I wanted to be adding to the goodness in the world instead of adding to negative. In everything I do I want to be raising us up instead of tearing us down. And that's part of why 5 1/2 years in we're not making that much money. Because it's more important for us to do things sustainably than to do things profitably. It's not like we're running around being the perfect business, but we are trying. We are really trying to take care of each other and our Earth.

What does Pattycake offer non-vegans?
Well...our stuff is yummy. We're not a European bakery, that's for sure, but we're making stuff that's like home cookin'. So, it tastes good, and then it's better for you than any other baked goods in town because we are not using hydrogenated oils, ever. We're using whole grains when we can -- a good portion of our stuff is entirely whole grains, some of it is half whole grains. Organic ingredients. We're the only bakery in town that is using organic ingredients. We're nice, friendly, charming, cute. It's yummy stuff that you can eat with a good conscience. Sometimes people are like "oh you're stuff is expensive." Well, it's expensive compared to Giant Eagle, but it's not really expensive compared to the other bakeries. And for the ingredients that we're using. But if you are going to eat something yummy, why not spend a little more and get something really amazing from in here rather than buy a bag of Oreos at the grocery store that you're going to eat and not even really appreciate? What we have found is that once people try our stuff, they're converts. I would just encourage anyone who hasn't tried it to try it.

What should people know about your Valentine's special, Conversation Heart sugar cookies?
We'll write whatever you want on a Conversation Heart. We'll decorate it however you want, it doesn't matter how dirty.