Owners Nancy Castillo and Racene Mendez both come from a pastry background. Mendez is a cake decorator who has been vegetarian for five years. Castillo, a vegan for 18 years, went to pastry school and worked at traditional bakeries before opening Reverie.
“Everything is DIY. We’re still small,” Castillo says. “We have to do everything ourselves.”
All of their menu items are vegan and some are gluten-free as well. Some of Reverie’s best-sellers include tiramisu, tres leches cake, kolaches and the gluten-free “faux-stess” cupcake, a traditional (Hostess) ding dong with chocolate cake, marshmallow filling, chocolate icing and ganache on top.
“It’s been an up-and-down roller coaster of experimenting with recipes,” Castillo says. “Sometimes people come in and ask, ‘Hey, can you create this?’ and we’ll try our best to do it. Our staff loves getting to taste new things. Customers taste them as well; we go off everyone’s opinions.”
The need for plant-based and dairy-free bakeries is expanding beyond the vegan demographic. Castillo has noticed an uptick in customers who aren’t vegan, especially those who have allergies or have children with allergies.
“We get a lot of dairy and egg allergies, probably more than the vegan crowd," Castillo says. “We also see a lot of the Jewish and Kosher communities. A lot of our stuff is coincidentally already Kosher-certified. And we get a lot of people from the Buddhist community; they eat at the Thai restaurant down the street and then they come here because they’re vegetarians. ... It’s been growing.”
Reverie has plans to move their kitchen offsite and expand the storefront.
In DFW, the customer base for vegan baked goods is on the rise. Here are the best vegan bakeries in DFW:
Reverie Bakeshop
1930 N. Coit Road, RichardsonReverie is the OG of Dallas vegan bakeries, and it's a must even if you eat animals. On weekends, they serve a fun breakfast menu of doughnuts, gluten-free jalapeño "honee" butter chicken biscuit sandwiches and sweets like apple fritters.
Nature's Plate's brownies
Nature's Plate
Nature’s Plate
Multiple locations; naturesplate.comNature’s Plate offers plant-based meals, snacks and baked items to-go at locations in Lake Highlands, North Dallas and Plano, you can sign up for a weekly meal plan or pop in and grab something a la carte. All of their baked-good recipes were developed by co-founder Marianne Lacko through an exhaustive process of experimentation. In addition to being vegan, they exclusively use whole grains (no refined flours) and unrefined sugars like maple syrup, dates and coconut sugar. Nature’s Plate also offers gluten-free options using oat and almond flours. Day to day, they offer cookies, brownies, muffins and quick breads. You can order cakes and cheesecakes specially made.
Cinnaholic
Multiple locations; cinnaholic.comCinnaholic, a franchise with DFW locations in Richardson, Southlake and Fort Worth, takes a different approach to its vegan baked goods. There are no signs that the sweets they offer are dairy- and egg-free. You can fully customize your own cinnamon roll, or they have preselected combinations for you to choose from. The most popular are the Old Skool Roll, Texas praline pecan, blueberry pie, and strawberries and cream. Cinnaholic also serves other baked goods, things like Cinnacakes, brownies, cookies and cookie dough by the scoop.
El Palote Panaderia serves vegan doughnuts as well as traditional Mexican baked goods.
El Palote Panaderia
El Palote Panaderia
2537 S. Buckner Blvd. (Pleasant Grove)Family-owned El Palote Panaderia, Dallas' first completely vegan Mexican restaurant, boasts an array of plant-based baked goods as well as savory menu items. Opened in late 2015 in Pleasant Grove, El Palote initially was a traditional Mexican restaurant, except for Thursday, when it went vegan. Because of the overwhelming response from their customers, they went completely vegan in late 2016. El Palote’s vegan sweets include a variety of pan dulce, pudding and beverages. El Palote’s most popular items include their conchas, doughnuts and tres leches cake.
Spiral Diner
Multiple locations; spiraldiner.comA mainstay in DFW since 2002, Spiral Diner and Bakery serves hearty vegan comfort food: breakfast all day, burgers, sandwiches, hot plates, sundaes, cakes and more. Bakery items include cookies, brownies, mini bundt cakes, cheesecakes, pies and tarts. Try a few items party-style with the sampler, which serves 12 or 24 people. Spiral Diner also offers an impressive number of custom cakes, with flavors like carrot cake, pistachio, spiked mocha, PB&J and banana split. All of their cakes are baked to order, made with nonhydrogenated oil and organic and fair trade ingredients. They also taste exactly like a delicious non-vegan cake; your taste buds won't even know the difference.
Sugar Fang Vegan Bakery
BrainDead Brewing, 2526 Main St. (Deep Ellum)Vegan bakery Sugar Fang is based in BrainDead Brewing in Deep Ellum. Sugar Fan is a two-person operation, headed by Amaris Riddle, pastry chef and operator, and Susana Soto, decorator and baker. Sugar Fang are most known for their skulletes, a cross between a cupcake and doughnut, shaped like a skull. While their specific offerings change daily (check out their Instagram to see what they’re serving today), they always have skulletes and chocolate creme cupcakes. Other items you might find include cake balls, cookie sandwiches, pop tarts and custom cakes. During the month of June, Sugar Fang did a lot of pride-themed sweets; the skulletes were rainbow colored, and the cupcakes featured positive LGBTQ+ messages, among other things.
