miglet's gluten-free bakery.

Twenty years ago, when I was in grade school, the cupcake was a novelty, reserved for fellow classmates’ birthdays. The class’ primary criteria for Official Cupcake Deliciousness was based primarily on frosting quantity. And height (the higher the better!). Today, the cupcake is a delightful indulgence – regardless of frosting height – and it’s surprising to encounter a bakery that hasn’t yet hopped on board the cupcake wagon. A rarer breed, though, is the gluten-free cupcake. And with Miglet’s, we feel you need look no further.

Not JUST a cupcakery, Miglet’s Gluten-Free Bakery is a one-woman bake shop dedicated to providing yummy alternatives for gluten-free folks. Owner and founder Katie Alin makes all kinds of delicious goodies including cupcakes – of course! –but also cookies, bread, galettes, muffins, pies and tarts. And in addition to whipping up gluten-free baked goods, she’ll also take on any requests you have for dairy-free, egg-free, casein-free, nut-free, corn-free and soy-free treats. So. How did they pass muster at the very official Gluten Free Lab taste-test?

Most of all, these little ‘cakes are legit little sweets. They’re light, they’re fluffy, they’re spongy, they bear an incredible likeness to the real deal, the cake you would buy from the neighborhood bakery that’s been just around the corner since the ’40s. And that picky GF kid you have? She won’t have nothin’ to hold against these cupcakes! We tasted an eye-poppingly huge assortment of flavors including rich red velvet, luscious lemon, creamy coconut, chocoholic chocolate, very very vanilla, black bottom, classic carrot, funfetti…and by the end of it we were stuffed, satisfied, and thoroughly sugared up. Our tasting notes consisted mostly of the following phrase:

“yuummmumph” (that’s us taking a bite while saying “yum”)

And by the end of the tasting we all looked just an eensy-bit guilty, like a binge-eater discovered in a dark closet with a flurry of candy wrappers at her feet. But instead of candy wrappers, we were staring at a littering of one dozen cupcake wrappers, cello bags from these delicious sugar-type cookies we haven’t even mentioned yet but were the surprise stealer-of-the-show, frosting gooing up our fingers and our pencils, and a few tasty crumbs clinging to our lips. Yah. It was like that.

If you’re looking for a fix – or for a sweet treat for your kid’s birthday party – you can purchase Miglet’s goodies online (bonus: they’ll deliver around the Bay for a $10-$20 delivery fee, and they’ll even stick a select few of their baked goods in the mail – look online for restrictions), or look for them in these retail shops: Mariposa Baking Company, Oakland; Van’s Health Foods, Livermore; Draeger’s Markets, Danville, San Mateo, Menlo Park & Los Altos; Gluten-Free Specialty Store, Sacramento.

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