Shanaya Allen | Creator, Artisan

Shanaya Allen | Creator | Artisan

I understand you’re also an accomplished baker. Tell us a bit about the Whimsical Vegan Bakery and how that came about.

A few years ago, I started to go vegan for my health. Even though we have popular stores with some plant-based items, it was hard to find good vegan baked goods in my smaller city in Georgia. We had a vegan bakery in Columbus a couple of years before we launched, but they had since moved away. I decided finally that we needed more options so I went ahead and started to research, made my business plan, and started moving. 

Since I started to get more into fantasy costuming, I thought it’d be fun to add a more niche element to it—something that made me happy but also attracted the nerds to something I liked. That’s how Whimsical Vegan Bakery came to be. It’s been a phenomenal response on social media, and still growing. I’m incredibly grateful for it. 

Now, as a baker myself, with a particular interest in vegan baked goods, I have to ask: Have you got any practical tips for people trying to bake vegan? Any tricks of the trade you can reveal?

Look up the recipe you are trying to vegan-ize. It is hard to try to put something together in your head if you’ve never done it before. Look up a couple of recipes, see what you’re okay with purchasing/substituting to bake the item, and go from there. Then, if you want to add your own flare, tweak the recipe. 

Have you got any cool projects in the works? What can we expect from you going forward?

I actually do! I’m working on launching fantasy events for this year with my business partner. The new venture will be an umbrella company for our business: Wisteria Café: A Plant-Based Eatery. We are launching our social media soon and using other ways to fundraise as well. Our fantasy events are going to help fund our restaurant and bakery space. Whimsical Vegan Bakery will also have more items and themed items coming out this year, so please watch our Instagram to see those come about! [For updates, check out their Instagram which is listed in the "Connect With Us" section below.] 

And finally, what advice would you give to others looking to get started in either writing or baking? What words of wisdom would you offer?

If you want to do it, just go for it. You have the passion.

Regarding baking, start small with a few items first that have good traction before launching more. This will make sure too much product isn’t being made that people aren’t buying yet and ensure that you aren’t getting burned out with baking all the time. Please budget, because baking can be costly if you’re doing it frequently! 

Now as for writing, I would say to carve out time to write and if you don’t know what to write about, try stream-of-consciousness writing, which always helps me. Just write whatever comes to mind until you find a topic you’d like to discuss. Also, have fun and pivot if something does not work out! You can always try something different or go in a way you didn’t think about.

Connect with Shanaya Allen
Instagram: @whimsicalveganbakery / @theuprootingministries