A Fly on the Wall

2217 NE Alberta St.
Portland, OR 97211
(503) 477-5022

Vegan. Baking. Two things that creative culinary Portlanders are trying to fuse together more and more. Big names in the scene include: Sweetpea,  Black Sheep, Cherry Bomb, Dove Tail and as of Tuesday, Sept. 22, Back to Eden Bakery Boutique opened a retail space destined for that list. If demand has anything to do with the continuously evolving vegan-baking scene in this town, then we have an awful lot of egg and dairy free cupcake lovers on our hands.

Now for me to make some claims: I don’t know a ton of people, but I know a few. And of those few, a scant are vegan. While I may not roll in the solid vegan community, I’m still intrigued by this growing food subculture, and I have a strong sense I’m not alone. If you were to poll every patron of specialized-vegan food businesses, I’d imagine the majority of them were actually food-conscious curious omnivores like me, which is what brought me to the doors of Back to Eden.

With that said, I’ll admit that I’m not even close to a vegan baking expert, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to try everything in their inventory – and at Back to Eden, there’s a lot of it! My ignorance also doesn’t stop me from asking the elementary questions like, “Uhh, so how do you do all this without eggs or butter?”

Owners Garrett and John are quite skilled in that department and have packed their cases full of cupcakes, scones, tartlets, pies, muffins often made with plant-based oils, Smart Balance butter and egg replacements. And that’s just the “bakery” portion. They also have a thorough selection of candies, sauces, cards, books and artwork. Of course, coffee has its place here too – they serve Cellar Door Coffee Roasters dripped to order. My visit included a cup of the Peruvian, which was delicious until I contaminated it with a mixture of soy creamer and coconut creamer (note to self: sometimes vegan substitutes aren’t always necessary).

Perhaps one of the things I loved most about Back to Eden was its frozen “yogurt” machine, or, more specifically, what came out of it. The soft serve is a soy-based creation from Chicago Soy Temptation and the vanilla and chocolate aren’t too sweet and nicely refreshing. They also have the incredible locally-produced Holy Kakow Organic Chocolate Sauce, which I recommend using whenever possible.