Meet Our March Collab: Mabel Mae’s Bakery
Written by Lauren Vega
Mabel Mae’s Bakery is a local gluten-free & vegan bakery. They are here to prove that baked goods made better for you can still be delicious & fun. They believe natural, less refined ingredients are what our bodies & minds need to be our best. They also believe that a healthy, well-lived life includes dessert, so they stripped out the gluten, animal products & junk from classic recipes, added some whimsy & voila!
Their delightfully wholesome treats are for everyone; from those with food sensitivities to new moms trying to increase their milk production healthily. The lactation niche is something they have specialized in. All of their products are gluten free, vegan and have no added refined sugar. Not to mention, their treats are made to order and organic whenever possible.
Meet Niki
Owner and founder, Niki Dube is from all over. She and her husband moved to Charleston eleven years ago seeking more affordable rent, better weather, friendlier faces, and new jobs.
“My whole life I’ve cooked. My mom raised us with a very healthy focus on vegetables and very little meat, very little gluten (unintentionally). I was in Food & Bev and I always wanted a career where I could help people, work with food, and be creative.”
Finding a career that checked all three boxes was difficult.
“I didn’t really trust in myself,” Niki remarks. “I thought I had to go to school so I ended up working for other people. And then I told myself I had to become an adult and get a corporate job.” Niki worked in marketing for Spoleto for a few years, but it was only a seasonal job, so she segwayed into a full-time marketing career at a corporate insulation company. This job brought a decent paycheck home, had benefits, but it didn’t fulfill her.
When the unexpected hits…
As many of us have experienced, sometimes it takes great trials and tribulations to make magic happen. Niki gave birth to her first child, Mabel in December of 2019. The first COVID lockdown hit about three months later and Niki lost her job. At the same time, Niki’s mother and inspiration took her life.
Niki looked at her daughter Mabel during all of this and chose to be strong for her sake. She mourned the loss of her mother and continues to do so. Her grief began to show up through cooking. More specifically, she found solace in baking.
“Up until COVID, I wasn’t a baker. It became an obsession, using the skills that my mom shared with me. Mom would always use applesauce as sweetener or whole wheat flour, so that’s what I did and I just gave it to friends to kind of brighten their quarantine woes.”
Her baking got more serious.
“I ate, slept, and breathed baking.”
Mabel was with her the whole time while she was experimenting. Niki was breastfeeding Mabel and began to notice that she couldn’t feed Mabel enough because Mabel had developed colic and would drink so much milk to ease the acid in her tiny body. Niki’s sister gave her a box of lactation treats, but she hated that they were full of junk. So she made her own.
“I tested them on moms up and down the east coast, women with dietary restrictions especially because their babies couldn’t tolerate either gluten, dairy, soy or all three. Her lactation line includes ingredients like galactagogues, which are plants that are high in nutrients that aid in milk production. You’ll find fenugreek and turmeric, which stimulate milk ducts to create more milk. The lactation line is designed to keep moms full. It’s not just a treat, but a snack with fiber and protein that won’t leave women starving half an hour later.
What we at Atlyss found so interesting was the fact that the FDA can’t officially claim many ingredients will promote lactation because testing on pregnant women and postpartum isn’t ethical. Thus, many of the ingredients Niki uses have been passed down from woman to woman, old wives tales that have proven generation after generation to keep mama’s producing and babies happy.
Growing Together
“My goal was to open a storefront this year because things have been going so well, but we’ve decided to grow and finetune as we are now. We’re looking for more wholesale opportunities. Mostly, I want to perfect the lactation line and sell it across the country,” Niki says. She also hopes to one day grow to sustain a regular donation to Suicide Awareness in honor of her mother.
Currently, they ship many products to customers across the US. The shelf life of their products is up to two weeks if kept refrigerated and since they don’t use egg or dairy, they freeze for up to two months and thaw really well.
“People were so ready for this. Charleston has always been so focused on eating. While it has historically been so rich, I think people are craving food that makes them really feel better. Every day we get new customers.”
None of this would be possible, Niki recognizes, without the immense amount of support the Charleston community has given her.
When asked what advice she might give to people searching for the ‘right’ thing to eat, Niki confidently answers, “Everything in moderation (allergy restrictions aside). That motto has helped me so much. There’s still room for being both, to balance and not restrict, to enjoy wine and food, and then unwind and educate and feel yourself.”
Want to try her treats? Order with your weekly Atlyss delivery!
For more variety, check out her website: mabelmaes.com and follow her on Instagram & Facebook @mabelmaesbakery