Jackson Free Press

The banner for Patti Igoe-Bett's business, MsPattiCakes, features a Charles H. Spurgeon quote: "There is hardship in everything, except eating pancakes."

Igoe-Bett began making pancakes when her grandson, Kayden, began asking her to make them for him. Because he has celiac disease, he has to have special foods. With the illness, the ingestion of gluten triggers an immune response that damages the insides of small intestines, making it hard for those affected to absorb nutrients.

She says that when she began tasting celiac disease-friendly foods, she thought they were dreadful.

"I think (not having a traditional cooking background) has worked to my advantage," she says.

While many pastry chefs may go by the book, Igoe-Bett says that she didn't have a book to go by, so she went straight for nutrition and flavor.

"That's what makes (MsPattiCakes) so different," she says.

Igoe-Bett, a native of Grand Rapids, Mich., went to Davenport University and graduated in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in software information. Over the years, she trained businesses and law firms in information technology, ultimately moving to Jackson in 2007. 
 She started MsPattiCakes in May 2014.

The business began as a cottage-food one, which basically means she sell her products from home. The state didn't have any incubator kitchens for small businesses, which made moving away from just being a home-based business no small feat for Igoe-Bett.

To get MsPattiCakes out of its "cottage-industry" status, she had to use that type of kitchen.

She called the Mississippi Department of Health and Human Services to inquire about kitchens and learned that Jackson had none.

But the health department did refer her to Joe Donovan, the director of entrepreneurial development at Millsaps College, who told her about the kitchen at The Hatch that Ray Horn, who owns Mississippi Cold Drip Coffee & Tea Co., uses to make his products. She now works there part-time, packaging and labeling her products.

At first, she says she wanted her business to be online only, but since people are less trusting of ordering food products online, she began selling at places such as the Mississippi Farmers Market earlier this year.

To make her products, Igoe-Bett orders her flours for the pancake and waffle mixes wholesale through a distributor named Koerner Mills, because most Mississippi stores don't have what she needs, she says.

"I need 50-pound bags of high-protein flour. Can't get it here. Can't get it at Sam's. Can't get it at Costco, so I was so frustrated," she says. "I called the first bakery I could think of." It was Broad Street Baking Co.

Within five minutes, the bakery's pastry chef, Jen Adelsheimer, gave Igoe-Bett the number to their representative at Koerner, the company from which Broad Street gets its gluten-free flours. Now, Igoe-Bett's supplies get delivered with the bakery's orders. She picks the products up on Monday, and then portions the mix out in brown paper packaging that she purchases in bulk.

For many of her mixes, she uses flours such as unbleached white and wheat flours and oatmeal-based ones. For her gluten-free mixes, she uses a mix of flour and oats with almonds and walnuts, grinding the nuts to a powder to make sure kids don't choke on anything. She even has options such as grain-free mixes. While the baker uses the sugar substitute stevia as the sweetener for all her mixes, don't be fooled: They're definitely not flavorless, as mixes such as her strawberry cheesecake one proves.

Igoe-Bett offers her favorite tip for pancake and waffle success: People should mix the batter very little, and then immediately pour it on the griddle or pan. That way, the pancakes turn out soft, and not hard, like they would after over-mixing.

Pancake and waffle connoisseurs can pick up MsPattiCakes mixes from businesses including Livingston Mercantile Store (106 Livingston Church Road, Flora, 601-667-4282) and Mississippi Gift Company (themississippigiftcompany.com).

For more information, find MsPattiCakes on Facebook or visit mspatticakes.com.