This innovative vegan pastry chef bakes literal works of art, designed to make you feel fabulous

Brigitte Oger always knew that she wanted to be a business owner. She just didn’t know how long she’d have to wait to make that dream a reality.

Working in the pastry industry, Oger knew that she didn’t want to do everything. She didn’t want to be making loaves of bread, cookies, pies and every other baked good under the sun, all at the same time.

“I wanted to specialize and be really good at one specific thing, and cake was always something I was really good at,” Oger said.

But in her previous baking roles at various establishments, Oger didn’t like what she saw being put into cakes. Eggs, milk, bleached flour, white sugar—she knew there had to be a way to make cake without these ingredients that had somehow become the industry standard.

So before founding her now-thriving local business Craft Cakes CLT, Oger started experimenting.

She swapped out bleached flour for an unbleached variety that was less refined. She traded white crystal sugar that’s been stripped of any nutritional content for organic, unrefined sugar. She tossed the butter and opted for coconut oil.

“I started doing research and figuring out that you can use apple sauce in place of eggs,” Oger said. “I tried it, and it worked amazingly. So I thought, ‘What about dairy?’ We tried almond milks, rice milks, and none of them affected the product negatively. The cakes tasted just as good, if not better, without using an overabundance of animal products.”

Oger stressed that she didn’t set out to make vegan products intentionally. “I don’t say ‘cruelty-free’ or describe my cakes in a way that subscribes to one type of lifestyle or identity, because I don’t want people to put me in a box,” she explained.

At the end of the day, Oger says, she’s making cake. “More than making sure it’s vegan, I just want to make sure what I put into my cake is going to make you feel good,” she said. “When you eat my cake, I want you to feel f—ng fabulous. You don’t feel like you sacrificed your health that day. You treated yourself, but in a good way.”

And in case you’re wondering: no, you’d never know that her cake is vegan just by tasting it.

“I’ve done tastings with couples before who had concerns because they weren’t vegan, and they didn’t want the cake to ‘taste vegan,’ whatever that might mean,” Oger said. “And when we do the tasting, they can never tell.”

Oger explained that when you compare her cakes to more traditional cakes, hers will taste creamier, with a more dense mouthfeel thanks to the apple sauce and coconut oil.

“We have a lot of things at our fingertips now,” Oger said. “We’ve learned so much about food and non-animal based products that we’ve got a lot of things now that we can use for ingredients. I don’t even like to say ‘substitutes,’ because… just make it! Cake recipes only ‘usually’ use eggs and butter because that’s all we uesd to know how to do. But we don’t need to be tied down to that now. We have options.”

Photo by Andres Salizar, Oger’s partner at Craft Cakes CLT (and in life)

And let’s not forget the aesthetic appeal of Oger’s masterpieces at Craft Cakes CLT.

Oger makes her cakes using seven year-round cake batters, then uses three different frostings: dark chocolate ganache, coconut maple buttercream and signature buttercream (the last one isn’t vegan, but is made with cultured butter and local pasture-raised eggs).

But they aren’t frosted in the same way that your average cake might be. Each cake’s frosting is its own custom-ordered, abstract work of art, crafted in a wide variety of colors and adorned with gorgeous floral arrangements.

The final products are mesmerizing to behold — as you may already know, if you’re one of the thousands of people following Craft Cakes CLT on Instagram.

People often ask Oger, “If you’re not vegan, why do you make vegan stuff?”

Her answer? Because it’s fun.

“It’s a non-traditional way to cook that’s different from how I was taught,” she said. “I like the challenge. I honestly enjoy doing it.”

But beyond that, for Oger, it just comes down to what feels right.

“As someone open to all kinds of food, my biggest thing is ethics,” said Oger. “I want things to be raised humanely and produced ethically, so whatever that entails, I’m open to it.”

As a non-vegan herself, Oger said she has an objective view of what’s going into her cakes.  “I’m not just looking for it not to use animal products,” she explained. “I’m not going to throw a bunch of garbage in here and say, ‘It’s vegan! It’s great just because it doesn’t use animal products!’ It still has to be good, you know? It has to be pleasing to the palate.”

In addition to baking cakes, Craft Cakes CLT also makes hand pies using seasonal fillings. You can find Oger and her products at Central Food Hub on Saturdays and Sundays — but if you’re interested in getting some cakes or hand pies for yourself, you’ll have to contact Oger, since that’s done by appointment only.

“Everything is made to order,” Oger explained. “Everything has to be made fresh. It’s all intentional. I want you to value what you’re eating, and feel good about it.”

You can check out all of Craft Cake CLT’s offerings here.

Feature Image by Rebecca Stone

This story was originally published July 30, 2018 at 12:00 AM with the headline "This innovative vegan pastry chef bakes literal works of art, designed to make you feel fabulous."