15 BLACK-OWNED VEGAN BAKERIES TO SATISFY YOUR SWEET TOOTH

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted Black business owners Between February and April 2020, the number of Black business owners witnessed a sharp decline of 40-percent according to Forbes. After the resurgence of the Buy Black movement in the summer of that same year, which encouraged individual consumers to shop with Black-owned businesses whenever possible, Black businesses experienced a boom of support. In fact, Bloomberg reports, the number of Black business owners in operation increased to 1.5 million last August. 

Throughout 2022, we’re keeping the momentum going, so if you’re a vegan with an insatiable sweet tooth or are simply looking for a bakery to supply your office potluck with vegan cupcakes, here are the 16 Black-owned vegan bakeries we can’t stop dreaming about.  

The Vegan Doughnut Company

1The Vegan Doughnut Company

Founded by sisters Kharisma and Kyra, The Vegan Doughnut Company made history as Ohio’s first and only all-vegan doughnut shop. The bakery’s iconic square doughnuts are guaranteed to satisfy the strongest sweet tooth. Choose between classic flavors or opt for the duo’s one-of-kind creations such as lemon lavender, cookie dough, Dunkaroo, cotton candy, and passionfruit. We’ll take one of each.
FIND OUT MORE

Maya’s Cookies

2Maya’s Cookies

This fan-favorite, San Diego-based bakery made headlines after coming back from the brink of closure. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced owner Maya Madsen to let go half of her staff, the cookie company experienced a jaw-dropping 10,000-percent increase in sales after the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. Now, equipped with a new storefront, Madsen and her team are whipping up specialty cookies—from chocolate chip s’mores to snickerdoodle and even the Black Panther-inspired Superhero cookie. Our favorite part? Nationwide shipping—vegan cookies for all! 
FIND OUT MORE

Southern Roots Vegan Bakery

3Southern Roots Vegan Bakery

After Marcus and Cara Pitts adopted a plant-based lifestyle, Cara Pitts was determined to recreate her favorite dishes and desserts, without animal products, and earn her grandmother’s stamp of approval. She took to the kitchen, and through trial and error, Cara Pitts whipped up a dreamy vegan doughnut that her grandmother, friends, and family couldn’t get enough of. From their humble beginnings selling baked goods at their church to captivating Tabitha Brown and her millions of followers, this husband-and-wife-team doesn’t disappoint.  
FIND OUT MORE

Victor and Mika’s Bakery

4Victor and Mika’s Bakery

Mika Altidor knows the power of plants. When the former jewelry designer was diagnosed with several large fibroid tumors, her doctor informed her that she’d have to undergo surgery. Instead, she turned to a whole-foods plant-based diet and overtime, she successfully healed herself. Now, Altidor and her partner in life and business, Victor Munoz, helm Central Florida’s first vegan bakery. Between crunchy, cream-filled cannolis, Mexican conchas, and Fruity Pebble-topped doughnuts, you can’t go wrong at Victor and Mika’s. 
FIND OUT MORE

Estella’s Vegan Dessert Boutique

5Estella’s Vegan Dessert Boutique

Entrepreneur Chantele Jones made headlines last summer when she opened Detroit’s first vegan bakery. Jones, who grew up watching her mother and grandmother “turn heaps of flour into delicious pastries,” made it a mission to veganize her family’s recipes after going plant-based for health reasons. Named after Jones’ grandmother, Estella’s Vegan Dessert Boutique offers a selection of pound cakes, breads, muffins, blueberry bars, and cookies. Pro tip: the muffins, pound cake, or sweet bread loaves are available for shipping.
FIND OUT MORE

Like Mom’s Only Vegan

6Like Mom’s Only Vegan

Located inside Cincinnati’s famed Findlay Market, vegan bakery Like Mom’s Only Vegan defines family affair. Helmed by Naomi Sams and her mother Sakile Chenzira, Sams’ four children also work for the bakery in brand identity and communications, production and sales, and administrative and accounting. Vegan for over 20 years, Sams raised her children vegan and always ensured they could partake in their friends and family’s birthday celebrations with their own plant-based treats. Now, she’s making vegan cupcakes and cookies for all! Lemon cranberry poppy seed cookies, we’re coming for you! 
FIND OUT MORE

Mo’Pweeze Bakery

7Mo’Pweeze Bakery

You won’t find any top eight allergens in Denville, NJ’s Mo’Pweeze Bakery. This Kosher-certified, plant-based bakery helmed by Christine Allen has churned out cookies, doughnuts, brownies, cupcakes, pies, and more since 2013. Allen, whose family of five is no stranger to food allergies (her youngest son has over 30 himself), takes extra care to also omit sesame and mustard seed—two rising allergens of concern—from her baked treats. Allergen-friendly never tasted this good!
FIND OUT MORE

Brewer Bakes

8Brewer Bakes

Growing up, Tasheka Brewer’s happy place was in the kitchen baking alongside her grandmother. Watching people’s faces light up upon tasting the desserts the duo created further ignited her passion. Today, Brewer is keeping Indianapolis satisfied with her soft-batch vegan cookies made with organic ingredients. Choose between gluten-free sunbutter, double carob chip, the crowd-favorite snickerdoodle, chocolate chip, or sugar varieties for a better-for-you treat. 
FIND OUT MORE

Brown Sugar Baking Company

9Brown Sugar Baking Company

When the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic began shuttering businesses worldwide, chef-owner Lillian Hill decided to temporarily close her kitchen and focus on helping other small, BIPOC-led businesses succeed. Now, the Seattle-based chef is “back in the lab” working on creating new vegan desserts free of the top eight allergens. Between Hill’s chocolate açai cake, Pumpkin Squash Spice Cake with a Hint of Maple Creme, and Strawberry-Filled Lemon Glazed Breakfast Croissants, we can’t wait to see what she whips up next. 
FIND OUT MORE

Devi’s Donuts & Sweets

10Devi’s Donuts & Sweets

16 years ago, Eva Ognibene acquired a doughnut recipe from a friend and soon started making fresh doughnuts for family celebrations and events. The positive reviews were plenty, and Ognibene, alongside her husband Tom, launched a vegan boutique doughnut business. After six years of selling their specialty vegan doughnuts at local farmers markets in Long Beach, CA, the “Vegan Doughnut Queen” and Tom Ognibene opened their first shop last spring. Whether you pay a visit to their doughnut shop or stop by their weekly Sunday booth at the marina, don’t miss the Oreo Crumb, Chocolate Pistachio, and Coconut Maple Bacon varieties. 
FIND OUT MORE

Heavenly Vegan

11Heavenly Vegan

This Bronx-based bakery is helmed by Diamond, a self-taught vegan baker with over 19 years of baking experience. In 2014, she began selling cake pops, cupcakes, and cake to her friends and family, and soon after, Diamond’s Corner was born. Two years later, Diamond began her transition to a vegan lifestyle, and knew her treats needed to change, too. Enter: Heavenly Vegan. Between banana pudding jars, Oreo chocolate chip cookies, and strawberry-filled vanilla cupcakes topped with cinnamon cookie crumble, we can’t decide where to start. 
FIND OUT MORE

Jalen’s Bakery

12Jalen’s Bakery

14-year old Jalen Bailey knows nothing is impossible. The young entrepreneur is on a mission to buy a house, and he’s getting there one cookie at a time. Rachel Ray-approved, Bailey’s chocolate chip cookies are soft and chewy with perfectly crisped edges. Order a box of six, or two, and enjoy with a tall glass of oat milk. 
FIND OUT MORE

Plant Based Sweets by Lotus

13Plant Based Sweets by Lotus

After husband-and-wife-team Allen and Maria Howard went vegan in 2019, they were on the hunt for plant-based Southern favorites such as biscuits, pound cake, and cornbread. Unable to find vegan treats in Baton Rouge, LA to satisfy their cravings, the duo took matters into their own hands. Now, they’re whipping up unimaginable eats such as chocolate-dipped oatmeal cream pies, fluffy cream cheese biscuits, candy-studded cookies, pecan praline king cake, and more. Brb, we’re driving to Louisiana! 
FIND OUT MORE

Shyah’s Vegan Bakery

14Shyah’s Vegan Bakery

Yis’Shyah Yisrael is at the forefront of this Raleigh, NC-based vegan bakery. The culinary pro, with a decade of experience in plant-based cooking, launched her enterprise in 2014 after a lack of high quality vegan and gluten-free bread options left her wanting more. A determined Yisrael soon began crafting her own breads, and after a positive reception from her plant-based family, she started selling her creations around town, soon adding cakes, pies, doughnuts, and more. Now, she’s slinging cranberry orange rolls, chocolate chip doughnuts, cinnamon raisin rolls, and more nationwide. 
FIND OUT MORE

Vegan Dream Doughnuts

15Vegan Dream Doughnuts

Vegan for over 30 years, Ras Izes utilizes natural, organic ingredients to create tasty, better-for-you doughnuts. A prominent figure in Atlanta’s West End neighborhood, Izes has come to be known for his entrepreneurial, health-minded spirit, whether he’s making juices or selling his food on the go. At Vegan Dream Doughnuts, a rotating array of endless vegan flavors such as Banana Strawberry Caramel and French Vanilla Almond Hazelnut is keeping West Enders coming back for more. 
FIND OUT MORE

Read the original article here