Desserts by Marshelle, a locally-owned baking and catering business, has begun to stock some of the shelves of Alvin’s supermarket with desserts for all, including gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan, and many more dietary-restricted-friendly desserts.
“Desserts by Marshelle is a from-scratch bakery,” owner and baker Marshelle Walker said. “We specialize in regular desserts as well as dietary-restricted desserts [such as] gluten-free, sugar-free, egg-free, dairy-free, [and more].”
Walker stated that her business can also cater to the needs of diabetic customers.
“We have a large clientele of diabetic customers because we do bake from scratch and use low-carb flours and things like that,” Walker said. “We’re able to pretty much create whatever a customer needs.”
Walker stated that it has been her life-long dream to own her own baking business.
“I started baking when I was a little girl probably around 7 years old,” Walker said. “I’ve been baking ever since. I started this business officially in 2016, and we’ve just been growing ever since.”
Walker opened up about her granddaughter being diagnosed with celiac disease, which led her to experiment with making dietary restriction-friendly desserts.
“One of my biggest pet peeves [is] when my granddaughter found out she had celiac, she would bring home some desserts and she’s like, ‘This is gluten-free,’ and it didn’t look that great,” Walker said. “I started creating because I think to eat a dessert… it’s an indulgence. You should be able to enjoy your dessert.”
Walker said she works to make sure that whatever she prepares is a good dessert.
“My philosophy is I don’t sell anything that I won’t eat myself,” Walker said. “Even [though] I don’t need a gluten-free or sugar-free diet, I taste everything and make sure it’s a good product before I put it out the door.”
Walker stated that she operates under the Homemade Food Freedom Act which allows homeowners in Oklahoma to produce and sell food items with some restrictions.
“I operate under those guidelines, however, I kind of take it a step further, personally, because of my granddaughter and her disease,” Walker said. “I took my 400 square-foot garage and converted it into what I call a baking studio. That allows me to have the two separate kitchens in the home, and I’m able to separate all the dietary-restricted desserts and regular desserts. It’s allowed me to really expand the business.”
Due to Walker’s attention to the delectability of desserts for customers with dietary restrictions, she has formed a partnership with Alvin’s Supermarket to sell desserts to students.
“I learned about the Fall Festi-full at OCU, and from there, [the campus and I] started speaking about how [we can] get these products into the store, especially when they saw that I was able to offer the dietary-restricted desserts,” Walker said. “They said they had quite a few requests for gluten-free and sugar-free desserts, and I was able to fulfill that need.”
Along with attending OCU’s Fall Festi-Full in October, Desserts by Marshelle has been heavily involved with the Oklahoma City community.
“I’ve catered for the Oklahoma City Thunder a couple of times,” Walker said. “They’ve ordered several small desserts, anywhere from 600-900 desserts. Then we also participate in six different farmers markets around town.”
Walker said she’s always changing the menu as well, changing throughout the year to fit the seasons.
“I have the holiday menu, and typically how that’s developed is every year I put out a survey to all my customers and they respond and tell me what they’d like to see on the menu,” Walker said.
She also experiments with dishes to create new choices each weekend for the different farmer’s markets Desserts by Marshelle attends.
“I am always growing the menu [and] creating new recipes,” Walker said. “That’s part of our growth, I feel, that customers can come in each week and see something totally different, and [because of that, they become] curious about flavor combinations.”
Desserts by Marshelle engages with the community by donating to several causes around town as well as giving baking lessons.
“We always, at any opportunity, [give to] certain events going around in town that ask for donations,” Walker said. “We’re always giving in the community. That is the best way, to me, to share the love.”
Students can review Walker’s business on their Facebook page, Desserts by Marshelle, as well as receive notifications of restocking times and what desserts will be brought to Alvin’s.
“I’m just excited to be a part of the OCU community and provide great stuff,” Walker said. “We received a few reviews personally on our site, and that was heart-warming. I just enjoy what I do and I’m glad other people enjoy it.”
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