Let's Get Baked

Young, heavily tattooed bike aficionados Brad Baker and Megan Blackburn have managed to craft an old-school, homespun feeling at Champs Family Bakery, their new vegan treat outpost in Williamsburg. And they aim to build the same sort of high-quality, familystyle business that’s made Boneshakers, their vegetarian, bike-themed café on Kingsland Avenue, thrive.

Champs, like Boneshakers, is a throwback to the days when pluck, elbow grease and some hard-earned cash were the main ingredients for a successful business. Baker and Blackburn opened Boneshakers in November 2008 with very little money, and started Champs in August on a similar shoe-string budget. But by offering some of the tastiest vegetarian food in Williamsburg, they have already drawn a steady stream of loyal customers, many of whom they know on a first-name basis.

“I don’t know if people know...everything we have, every upgrade, it’s only because they kept coming,” Blackburn says. “We don’t have any backing investors, we have no loans, we don’t use credit cards. We’re just flying by the seat of our pants.”

The seed for Champs was planted when their homemade vegan goodies began selling out at Boneshakers, and they realized that they couldn’t meet the demand in the tiny kitchen there. When the storefront at the corner of Ainslie and Leonard streets that they had originally wanted for Boneshakers opened up, they seized the opportunity.

Now they’ve converted what used to be Pat’s Grocery Store into a spacious sphere for egg- and dairy-free baked goods that not only supplies Boneshakers, but also serves the neighborhood. The simple interior, with its red quarry tile floors, white wood and red brick walls and a trio of vintage tables with brightly colored chairs, gives it the feeling of an old-time bakery.

Using mostly organic ingredients, non-hydrogenated oils and, of course, no trans fats, they create a rotating assortment of baked goods, some of which are also gluten free. Fabulous chocolate chip, oatmeal fudge, peanut butter and snickerdoodle cookies make regular appearances alongside a variety of luscious fruit-stuffed pies, cakes, scones, muffins, biscuits, brownies and danishes, with Gimme! Coffee and sodas on hand, and soy ice cream for pie a la mode.

Using vegan alternatives to some traditional ingredients, from non-dairy margarine to tofu cream cheese, they churn out dynamite treats like the soft, chocolatey Rocky Road cookies ($2.75), packed with walnuts and vegan marshmallows, and the moist carrot cupcake ($2.75), loaded with shredded carrots and topped with a smooth, rich frosting that has just the perfect amount of sugar. The whole-grain, protein-rich Superman muffin ($2.75), with quinoa and raisins, is a dense, healthy snack, and in the peach cream cheese danish ($4), with its ample fruit atop a sweet creamy layer, it’s clear that dairy and eggs are superfluous when it comes to baking a delicious pastry.

Though some are attracted to Champs because they know its pastries are vegan, Blackburn says they purposely play down the vegan angle in an attempt to broaden the appeal.

“There may be a lot of people who buy stuff who don’t even know that it’s vegan,” she says. “I didn’t want to scream ‘vegan’ because I figured that might isolate us and scare people off... But just by being a bakery, everyone comes in.”

>> Champs Family Bakery 176 Ainslie St. (betw. Lorimer & Leonard Sts.), Brooklyn, 718-599-2743.