Local Baker Brings Health, Creativity To Her Kitchen

NORWALK, CT — Combining her personal interests in health and wellness with deep creative passions, Danielle LeBlanc has discovered that her gluten-free baking enterprise is a delicious way to blend those special ingredients.

Cloudy Lane Bakery, based in Norwalk, has established itself over the past four years as a tasty and reliable provider of cookies, muffins and much more to a range of stores running from Greenwich on up to Fairfield.

Further, as a frequent guest at various farmers' markets throughout the area — including Darien, Fairfield, Rowayton and Westport — LeBlanc's individual customers are getting a good taste for this bakery's unique spin on some old favorites.

"It's sort of a fun challenge for me to make something that people always think of as cardboard," LeBlanc said, referring to traditional perceptions of gluten-free and dairy-free products.

Relying on things like coconut oil instead of butter, she has devised remarkable recipes that don't taste the way restricted gluten-free items are supposed to taste.

In LeBlanc's words, her creations are "decadent, indulgent and delicious," while still adhering to the parameters of gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free and grain-free.

"We look to offer and feature the best from local artisanal bakeries," said Ed Freedman, founder and owner of Shearwater Coffee Bars in Fairfield and Westport.

Freedman noted many of his customers are health-conscious as well.

"In the gluten-free category," Freedman said, "Danielle LeBlanc's Cloudy Lane Bakery offers the best available in the area."

Her products, which can be found at several other locations throughout the region such as the Art Space Cafe in Norwalk, include classic cookies like chocolate chip, ginger molasses, maple pecan and snickerdoodle.

LeBlanc herself has been gluten-free for more than eight years, having embraced the myriad health benefits after looking for ways to solve stomach discomfort and the like when she was younger.

"I've always been into health and nutrition," LeBlanc said.

She trained as a downhill ski racer in her early years before ultimately being sidelined by injuries.

"It kind of got to a point where it was too risky," LeBlanc said.

Since an early age, LeBlanc has also been an accomplished violinist, singer and songwriter, and studied voice at the Berklee College of Music. After trying her hand in theater and performance for a period, however, she found herself drawn back to one of her original passions.

"Cooking has always been something I love, as well as health and nutrition," LeBlanc said, "so all of that kind of aligned."

Baking, in particular, she said, while sometimes considered a less refined culinary art, became of special interest because of its precise nature.

LeBlanc said she also finds the craft both fun and uplifting.

"Creating my own recipes in baking showed me the freedom I had," LeBlanc said, "even when there seemed to be limits."

For more information, visit cloudylanebakery.com.