For the autumn moon festival last week, Estela Martinez and her small team at Askatu Bakery spent hours working on mooncakes, making the filling and shells from scratch, putting them together, and pulling them from the oven every 2 minutes to brush the cakes with molasses water. These mooncakes were special because, like everything else that Estela makes, they were free from the top nine allergens; wheat, dairy, soy, eggs, nuts, peanuts, fish and shellfish, and sesame.  

Estela started her allergen-free journey when her daughter was born in 2001. Within the first 8 weeks, her daughter had already been diagnosed with 10 food allergies, and since there was no formula that was hypoallergenic enough, Estela had to cut all of her daughter’s allergens from her own diet in order to continue breastfeeding.  

For the next few years, Estela and her family’s life was full of monthly elimination diets, allergy testing every 6 months, and many dietary restrictions. Estela wanted to make sure that her daughter could still live a life that was as normal as possible, so for her first birthday, Estela did some experimentation and made an allergen-free chocolate cake.  

When Estela’s daughter was school-aged, Estela would bake her special cakes and cupcakes to take with her to birthday parties, so she could still be a part of the fun. The other kids started to try Estela’s cakes and liked them more than their “regular” birthday cakes. Soon, parents were asking her to make cakes for all of their parties, and her small business was born.  

She has worked hard to develop new recipes and keep bringing back customer favorites. Estela also works to accommodate any customer’s dietary restrictions that aren’t already covered by her recipes. She will make custom orders where she can make additional ingredient swaps, because she wants people to feel safe eating her food.  

After doing some local farmers markets, Estela opened the Askatu storefront in Belltown in November, 2019. She thinks of the bakery as a safe space for people to foster a community, as well as a place to enjoy delicious baked goods. Join Estela’s community and stop by her booth at the University District Farmers Market on Saturdays from 10-2!