Spoonfae Bakery

what cake would a forest creature want to eat?

V Smiley Preserves: Can you share a little about yourself and Spoonfae Bakery for the VSP community?

Theo Houghton: I'm a small batch, queer baker from Bellingham, Washington. I love working with botanical flavors and natural colors and have recently started using foraged foods in the things I bake. Everything I make is dairy-free, and often gluten-free as well. I'm working on getting into a commercial kitchen so I can become fully licensed, but for the time being, I've been doing monthly cookie boxes, taking cake commissions, and just did the first of several pop-up markets I'll be vending at through the Summer, which was incredibly fun! I also have a tiny pet bunny named Cardamom.

VSP: What led you to food and baking?

TH: I love feeding people. There's a special intimacy and warmth about it, which is probably a feeling carried down to me from my great grandmothers, who I orbited around in the kitchen a lot as a child. Without getting too into the heaviness of it, I had to regain that feeling after developing a fractured relationship with food as a teen.

I also spent a lot of my life feeling like I had no artistic medium or good means of expression and baking filled that space for me and has helped me develop a more aesthetic eye.

Theo holding a platter of their dairy-free and soy-free cookies.

A grapefruit/vanilla bean/calendula pound cake, a chocolate/lavender cake, classic snickerdoodles, and vegan miso chocolate chip cookies. Theo made and donated this box of delights to a local auction to fund a pride summer camp for queer youth.

Theo makes the most beautiful fairy-inspired cakes. Fairy matcha moss, cocoa dirt patch, tiramisu cake with a dairy-free mascarpone buttercream, and homemade marzipan mushrooms.

VSP: Why do you invoke queerness in your professional work? Why is it important to you and your business?

TH: When I'm selling someone cookies or making a wedding cake, I want folks to know who it's coming from. I'm a flamboyant trans person who was mothered by lesbians and is a sibling to two other queers. There have been points in each of my family members’ lives (and in mine) where they didn't feel safe being visibly queer. I want customers who want to support a queer business, who I hope will support other queer businesses.

My favorite professional exchanges have always been with other queer people - there's a beautiful community of makers here that's brimming with reciprocity, camaraderie, and generosity. I think we really see the value in each others' work and encourage one another to ask for what our work is worth.

VSP: What are some things that you wish you could work on but aren’t getting to, but want to? (ie limitations of your market, time, etc)

TH: I currently bake out of my home kitchen, which puts a cap on the amount of things I can realistically produce! I can't afford to rent a commercial kitchen at this point, but once I can I really want to do weekly farmers markets and take wholesale orders. I'd also love the time and equipment to start working on breads and laminated doughs.

VSP: The food industry has changed a lot in the last few years. Have you been impacted or witnessed these changes, for better or worse?

TH: I feel like it's been such a mixed bag. I was working at a queer coffee shop that had been open for 20 years that closed its doors forever in February, but I've also seen a lot of small home businesses get showered with much deserved support in the last couple years. I've definitely noticed that ingredients and supplies are significantly more expensive, so I hope that support keeps pouring out.

VSP: What is a non-food-based place of inspiration for you? That helps empower your relationship with food?

TH: I take a lot of inspiration from the obsession I had (and maybe still have...) with fairies as a child, which has definitely colored the botanical aesthetic and palate I like to work with most of the time. When I'm coming up with new flavor combinations I like to think of what a fairy might want to eat! In a way, I think reconnecting with certain parts of my child self has helped me approach food more lightly, with a little more whimsey and less anxiety and harsh critique.