things-we’ve-done

Baking, Motherhood, and Memories

What comes to mind when you think of your mom? Chances are it is not a single image, but rather an amalgam of sensorial facets that conjure pictures, smells, and tastes. Is it an expression that you’ve seen on her face when she looks at you? The expression that acknowledges that you’re an adult, but behind it lies a thousand memories of you as a child. The expression that transmits both pride and the passage of time in one contemplative glance.

chocolate-chocolate-cookies-the-solvang-bakery Or is your mind flooded with mental aromas when you think of your mom? Her perfume that lingers after a warm hug, or air filled with the smells of a favorite dish wafting from the kitchen? An aroma that says ‘I love you’ because she knows it’s the fare that will always bring a smile to your face. Perhaps it’s just the comforting essence of bread baking or cookies on the cooling rack…the smells that gently let you know that she is there.

Marcel Proust deftly put the notion of taste and memory to paper in his novel In Search of Lost Time. When biting into Madeleines, the protagonist realized that it bore, “…in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection.” That is, the taste of the confection overwhelmed his being with memories.

At The Solvang Bakery, memories of ‘Mom’ are intricately woven with the tastes and smells and actions of baking. For Melissa, Maili, and their brothers, the bakery was a second home during their childhood. Birthdays included an ingenious cake created by Mom Susan that struck just the right note for both child and age. Now the grandchildren are the beneficiaries of the same treat.

Not having grown up in a bakery family, thoughts of my mother are not so terribly different. They are inextricably tied to food. In our house, a cookie wasn’t a cookie if it wasn’t homemade. As a December birthday girl, I remember Mom helping my gal pals and me make our own candy canes (my creation suffered from a bad case of scoliosis). After school, my sisters and I would frequently be greeted with the rich aroma of freshly baked wholewheat bread. Mom had purchased a grinder and we would be dragged in our paneled station-wagon out to a dubious little shop to buy the bulk wheat. Now as an adult, my boys can’t wait for ‘Baba rolls’ when we trek up to Oregon for the holidays. Like a textbook grandma, Mom sneaks a couple of rolls to the boys before dinner, spoiling their appetites, but reveling in the joy that they bring to the boys’ faces.

boys-baking-the-solvang-bakery Though I don’t expect to reach my mother’s level of competence in the baking arena, and I certainly know I won’t reach Susan’s, I do love to bake. And like all moms, I hope that some little part of what I do will be remembered affectionately by my children; whether it’s the act of baking, baking with the boys, or the final product itself. I recently leafed through a cookbook that our son’s second grade teacher had put together for the class. In it, each child was asked ‘your favorite thing about your mom.’ My son’s answer, “My favorite thing about my mom is she makes cookies. I like to help my mom make cookies because it is fun.” With two teenage boys now, these are magical words to read again.

The job of mother is a long protracted career; one with no annual reviews, and an 18 year product cycle. ven at product launch, you’re not entirely sure whether or not you’ve been successful. But those small moments, when a child somehow acknowledges those special efforts on your part, makes it all worthwhile.

i-love-mom-the-solvang-bakery-500 As you celebrate Mother’s Day this year, we honor the time you’ve spent in the kitchen with or for your own children. And if you’re not a baker, we hope that you can reflect on some delicious moments devouring confections with your mother or your children. Drink in the those mental smells and tastes and feelings, and savor them today.

Happy, happy!

-Julie F. - Team Solvang Bakery

PS – We’d love to hear some of your great memories!

Gluten Intolerance – Why Now?

If you’re like us, you may be wondering why there is so much talk about gluten these days. After all, haven’t we been eating wheat, barley, and rye products for millennia? How did an entire population suddenly become gluten-intolerant seemingly overnight? We decided to do a little research to better understand this new trend.

Separating the wheat from the chaff

wheat First of all, it’s important to separate the groups of people who are eating gluten-free diets. Celiac disease is a serious medical condition, and according to The Mayo Clinic, “People with celiac disease who eat foods containing gluten experience an immune reaction in their small intestines, causing damage to the inner surface of the small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients.”¹A 2012 Mayo Clinic study suggests that nearly 1% of the U.S. population is afflicted with celiac disease, but that only about 20+% of them know they have it. Conversely, nearly 1% of the population is on a gluten-free diet. Why are they on a gluten-free diet? There is a population of people who have what is rather opaquely defined as gluten-sensitivity. These folks suffer from symptoms such as bloating, tiredness, and irregular bowel movements when not on a gluten-free diet, yet they do not have celiac disease. Simply put, eating gluten-free makes them feel better. Some of these folks have sought medical advice for their symptoms and some have not. Anecdotally, we have friends who fall into the gluten-sensitive category, and eating a gluten-free diet has made a marked difference in their lives. The study also determined that there is indeed an increase in celiac disease since the 1950’s…it’s not just a case of it having been formerly under-diagnosed.

Why the increase in celiac disease?

Two theories are suggested for the increase in celiac disease. The first is that people are eating more processed wheat products such as pastas and yes, baked goods. These items tend to have higher gluten content. The second may have to do with the cross-breeding of wheat that began in the 1950’s. By creating hardier plants that can help us better feed the world population; we may have inadvertently modified the gluten making it more challenging for the human body to process. It appears that more research is needed on this topic.²

So what foods contain gluten?

The protein gluten is found in “grains such as wheat, barley, rye and triticale (a cross between wheat and rye).”³ So breads, beer, cakes, pies, cereals, cookies, crackers, pastas, and many other foods contain gluten. As you might imagine, eliminating wheat for a baker is not a simple task. That said, there are some yummy treats that do not contain these grains, and never have.

Gluten-free* baked goods at The Solvang Bakery

coconut-macaroons-300 Two of our favorite treats are made with gluten-free recipes. Our moist coconut macaroons contain no whole grains, and you can elect to eat them plain or dipped in rich chocolate. Meringue is another non-grain based confection that makes for a delicious dessert. Again, we can make them plain or dip them in chocolate. Fill our meringue nests with fresh whipped cream and fresh berries or peaches for a refreshing gluten-free finish to your meal. We are being asked more and more frequently to make gluten-free wedding cakes and specialty cakes. For one recent wedding, the bride’s new mother-in-law had gluten-sensitivity, so she ordered her main wedding cake plus a miniature gluten-free version.

Yes, but how do gluten-free cakes taste?

Have you tasted a few gluten-free foods that you’d rather forget? We have; cardboard springs to mind. Rather than telling you that our gluten-free cakes are actually delicious, we’ll let a customer tell it to you straight. Here’s a quote from a Santa Barbara bride whose wedding was featured in Style Me Pretty. Click here to check out the wedding.

Rebecca, Santa Barbara:

I am gluten free and Solvang Bakery took on the challenge to make me my dream wedding cake, gluten free, and no one would know the difference. Boy did they deliver. This was the best wedding cake I had every tasted, and most of our guests said the same thing. Solvang Bakery made up about 10 different gluten free cakes for us to taste and we settled on a chocolate ganache covered layered dream.
Not only was their cake amazing, they were so willing to help me, and so great to work with.

Click here for the link to this quote.

Whether you suffer from celiac disease, have been diagnosed as gluten-sensitive, or just find that eating a gluten-free diet makes you feel better, we can help you find a sweet solution to your dessert dilemmas. Give a call at (805) 688-4939 or email Melissa at Melissa@SolvangBakery.com and we can discuss options that fit your needs. Until then, be well!

* – These products are made with ingredients that do not include gluten. Our bakery does, however, produce other baked goods which contain gluten in our facility.

1 Mayo Clinic Staff, Celiac Disease, Definition, http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/celiac-disease/DS00319.

2 CBS News Staff, Gluten-free diet fad: Are celiac disease rates actually rising?, July 31, 2012,

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57483789-10391704/gluten-free-diet-fad-are-celiac-disease-rates-actually-rising/.

3 Mayo Clinic Staff, Nutrition and Healthy Eating, Gluten-free diet: What’s allowed, what’s not, . Dec 20, 2011, http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gluten-free-diet/my01140.

May We Do You a Favor? Party Favors from The Solvang Bakery

Have you ever left a fundraising event with a party favor that you didn’t really want? You know the one, you stashed it in your handbag, and lo and behold, months later, there it was all ready to go to the next party. Or perhaps you’re still pushing it around with your to-file stack – feeling too guilty to toss it in the bin? paper-bag-300

Or what about your children? They roll home from a birthday party with a sack of cheaply made toys that will be played with once, then be the source of that strange noise in your vacuum cleaner.

Why not go with a favor that is tasteful (pun intended), and won’t clutter anyone’s home? A party favor that your children can happily devour the day after you’ve spent a lovely evening out…

At The Solvang Bakery, we have increasing requests for elegant party favors that are edible and personalized; party favors that reflect the theme, essence, or personality of the party or host. Ranging from fundraisers to birthday parties to bridal showers to baby showers, we relish the opportunity to unleash our creative energy on these projects.

Here are a few of our favorites:

We had the pleasure of replicating the extraordinary tile work found in Santa Barbara’s Casa del Herrero for their annual fundraiser. Guests were given a cookie as they departed at the end of the evening; a delicious reminder of what they were helping to preserve for their community.

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Birthday party ideas abound. From cameo favors of that embarrassing teen perm for the now elegant 50 year old, to the sporty cupcake cookie favors for an energetic 10 year old, there’s no limit to the possibilities.

We recently provided both cake and party favors for a landmark birthday with a hippy/flower-child theme. We thought they were perfect for Baby Boomer party favors.

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Depending on your budget, we can expand the favor theme to something more elaborate. The party pails below included colorful candies and treats, along with hand-iced short dough cookies in the shape of the number 13.
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For bridal showers and weddings, we’re often asked to provide wedding cake-shaped favors featuring the bride and groom’s names. Another favorite is replicating the couple’s stationary/crest on a cookie.
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And finally, as a big family, we love to create special party favors for baby showers. Brights or pastels, gender-specific or neutral, “Baby Smith,” or “Hayden” and “Kate,” we’ll craft something memorable and delicious for your guests.

baby-carriage-party-favors-the-solvang-bakery

What about you: do you have suggestions for fabulous party favors? Please do us a favor and give us a call to get started on your party favors. You may call Melissa at (805) 218-2066, or email her at Melissa@SolvangBakery.com.

Sweet Love at The Solvang Bakery – Valentine’s Day and Gingerbread Houses

Love is an emotion we know well at The Solvang Bakery. Whether we’re putting the finishing touches on an elegant wedding cake for an anxious bride, or icing the words, “I Love You” onto short-dough cookies for a grandmother, we have the pleasure of observing the many flavors of love in our customers’ lives.

This last Christmas, our little shop played host to not one, but two engagements! One of the couples, Jenn and Rob, have shared their story with us. Here it is:

“December 8, 2012 will be a day I will never forget and made all the more special by all the lovely ladies at Solvang Bakery. My now fiance schemed with Melissa to create a proposal that was not only special but unique. We built a lovely gingerbread house at the bakery and when we were finished, Melissa thought there was just one thing needed to make the house perfect. She brought out a covered plate concealing a very special cookie with the words ” Will you marry me Jenn?” Of course once I uncovered the message I couldn’t believe what was happening and was completely overjoyed. I eventually said “YES!” after a lot of disbelieving “shut ups” and we are planning a our wedding for late 2013! Thank you so much Melissa and everyone for making this a day Rob and I will never forget!”

With Melissa and Billy coming up on 20 years of marriage, and Susan and Paul at 48 years, we are deeply honored that Rob chose our bakery as the locale for this momentous occasion. Many thanks to Rob and Jenn for sharing their story! Our other groom-to-be hid the engagement ring inside a gingerbread house…talk about a surprise!

Are you plotting something special this Valentine’s Day? We’ve created a special Valentine’s Love Shack for 2013. To achieve those pretty pink walls and roof, we used short-dough rather than gingerbread. As always, you may personalize it with names on the roof…or perhaps a message…or a question… We also created a Valentine’s Love Shack Kit. Build and decorate one together – it serves as a tasty metaphor for things to come! (Of course, your children and grandchildren will love them too)

Tis’ the Season for Gingerbread – Custom Gingerbread Houses and More

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Gingerbread houses awaiting personalization

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Custom animal print

We do love holidays at The Solvang Bakery; each celebration presents a new opportunity for expressing our culinary creativity. But we must admit that the Christmas season has a special place in our hearts. Back in 1995 we held our first gingerbread house workshop at the Buellton Parks and Recreation building, and since then we’ve been hooked.

We’ve shipped our cheery holiday gingerbread houses and gingerbread house kits throughout the country to celebrities and people just like your family and ours. We’re honored to have our Hanukkah and Christmas gingerbread houses in the homes of sports stars, rock stars, movie stars, and TV stars. Authors whose books sit on our bookshelves, and folks you read about in The Wall Street Journal celebrate the holidays with gingerbread houses from The Solvang Bakery.

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Custom Gingerbread House for a Serious Yankees ‘Fan’

Not comfortable resting on our laurels, each year we make improvements to our standard designs. They might include a slightly different window configuration; new characters perched outside the front door, or a whole new product like our Winter Hanukkah Gingerbread House. Each gingerbread house is carefully crafted by hand in our Santa Ynez Valley bakery.

While we take pleasure in creating our standard gingerbread houses, our Custom Gingerbread Houses represent the opportunity to unleash all of our artistic talents. Customers call us requesting complete installations for their dining rooms. They might choose to replicate their own homes or that of a friend’s. We’ve reproduced barns for our equestrian-oriented customers to display at their ranches and plantations. As our country changes, we adapt. We’ve had several customers request gingerbread houses representing a merge of Hanukkah and Christmas as their families celebrate both of these wonderful holidays.

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Custom gingerbread manor house

We hope you’ll find a holiday gingerbread house that interests you on our pages. If not, just call or email us. We relish the opportunity to create something new!

Phone: (805) 688-4939

Direct Line to Melissa: (805) 218-2066

Email: Melissa@SolvangBakery.com

Origins of Seven Sisters Cake (Almond Butter Ring)

“Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades…?”

We’ve been baking our Almond Butter Ring pastry for over 30 years. Three decades may seem like a long time, but the Danes have been making it for over three centuries! The more traditional name for this gooey pastry is Seven Sisters Cake or Sosterkage.

Sandwiched between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, Denmark ‘s geographic location meant that the Danish people couldn’t help but be seafarers. Danish Vikings roamed the northern seas and beyond. With no modern gadgets like GPS devices available, steering by the stars was the only means of navigation available.

Pleiades or Seven Sisters. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

So what does this have to do with our delicious Almond Butter Rings? An open star cluster known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, lies in the Taurus constellation, and is particularly prominent during winter in the northern hemisphere. In fact, it the month of November, it shines from sunset to sunrise. Because it is one of the closest star clusters to Earth, is can easily be viewed with the naked eye.

Legend has it that the Seven Sisters’ Cake takes its name from the Pleiades. According to Greek Mythology, the seven sisters were the companions of Artemis, goddess of hunting and the moon. The hunter Orion (a nearby constellation) pursued the sisters. Eventually through the predictable antics of the Olympians, both the sisters and Orion were placed in the night sky. We like to imagine the Seven Sisters guiding Danish sailors of yore safely home.

Our Seven Sisters are safely nestled in a ring of six rolls circling one center roll (one of the seven stars disappeared during biblical times…a fact supported both historically and astronomically). Made from pastry dough and layered with almond paste and custard filling, we top it off with a vanilla icing. We like to think that any sailor returning from the northern seas in the last three centuries would be delighted to sit down to a slice of our Almond Butter Ring and a hot cup of coffee.