Vegan Treats, Delicious and Animal-Free Bakery

“Vegan cheesecake” is not a misprint or an oxymoron. It’s one of dozens of delicious cakes and pastries from Vegan Treats in Bethlehem made without ingredients of animal origin. What’s left to work with in this bakery’s kitchen is enough to keep customers, vegan and non-vegan, coming back again and again.

Vegan Treats began in 1998 when owner Danielle Konya sold her peanut butter bomb cakes to a friend’s Philadelphia restaurant. Today, she supplies customers from New York City to Washington, D.C., including Wired Café in Bethlehem. Those peanut butter bombs, chocolate cakes covered in peanut butter mousse swathed in Belgian chocolate, are still her most popular item.

Today, a staff of 25 includes seven bakers working to fill special orders for wedding cakes and birthday cakes. They also fill the display case of the Vegan Treats retail storefront with an ever-changing selection of 30 different jewel-like cakes and pastries.

Favorites include strawberry shortcake enrobed in chocolate, "Death by Chocolate" and sticky buns, but there's so much more. Doughnuts, cookies, brownies, fruit pies, petit fours, sheet cakes, cupcakes, whoopee pies, dozens of French pastries and dozens of different kinds of vanilla and chocolate cakes are available. So are gluten-free options, too.

For immediate gratification, with a cup of coffee, seating is available at the bakery’s counter (with a view of the action in the kitchen) and tables. The final enticement: soft-serve ice cream in a rotating list of flavors, including chocolate marshmallow, peanut butter, black cherry, vanilla, mango, cake batter, key lime, passion fruit, prickly pear or strawberry. Whenever possible, the bakery uses locally grown fruit for its products.

On the wall next to the display case are numerous framed articles from national and local publications about Vegan Treats and awards from organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

“I do this 100 percent for the animals,” Konya says. “I am passionate about animals and do not feel it is OK to use them for food or products. We can easily live without harming any other creatures, so in my opinion it's simply the rational decision to live cruelty-free.”

Many Vegan Treats customers are not vegan, or don’t know what vegan means. The staff is happy to inform them. “I love that people love our desserts,” says Konya. “If it makes just one person consider a more compassionate lifestyle I feel like everything I've been through is worthwhile!”

Sign up for the bakery’s Tweets at your own risky pleasure. Recent example: “We made vegan baklava today! Soft serve is coconut and pineapple so if you get a twist--Pina Colada!” They send TwitPics, too. Even more dangerous.

Vegan Treats

1444  Linden St., Bethlehem

Phone: 610-861-7660

Hours: Wed.-Thurs. 10 a.m.- 9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Website: www.vegantreats.com