Lorraine Fagela is serving up gluten-free sweet and savory treats at her newly opened Saco cafe. Contributed / Sweets and Co.

Lorraine Fagela never would have called herself a baker. That is, until she became gluten free about 10 years ago.

“I missed the foods I loved, so I started making everything from scratch,” Fagela told the Courier. “I felt a need to make baked goods.”

While living in Singapore during the pandemic, Fagela began virtually teaching people how to bake through cooking classes and demonstrations.

Then, when her son began school at Thornton Academy and the family moved to Saco, she felt it was the perfect time to open a gluten free bakery downtown.

Sweets and Co. officially opened in mid-October, serving up gluten free cinnamon bites, tortes, and their award-winning flan cake.

“It’s my passion,” Fagela said.

Everything Fagela bakes is made with her own gluten-free flour blend, which she created by mixing different gluten-free flours together and eliminating them until she found the right consistency.

Oftentimes, gluten free products can be too gritty, dry, or dense, Fagela said. This is because of the flour blend.

Sweets and Co. is now open in downtown Saco. Contributed / Sweets and Co.

“I was like a scientist with all of these different flours,” she said.

Now, with her perfected flour blend, Fagela is able to create any gluten free treat she wants, including her famous tortes and flan cake.

The tortes are her favorite thing to bake right now, she said, because they’re “versatile.” So far, Fagela has introduced a lemon torte, a lemon blueberry, and a caramel apple.

But the most important recipe to Fagela is her flan cake, which pays homage to her Filipino heritage.

“The flan cake is like my baby,” Fagela said.

Although the bakery has only been open since October, Fagela has already seen great success.

“People have been loving it,” she said. “We’ve heard great feedback.”

Downtown Saco, she said, is a great place to open a new business. Even before she opened Sweets and Co., Fagela found Saco to be a charming town with supportive people.

“I just fell in love with the community,” Fagela said.

As a parent, Fagela said her “heart” has always been providing for kids. Partnering with local nonprofits, Sweets and Co. has a mission of giving back to the children in the Saco community.

Fagela often tells her staff that they are not working for her or for the company, but for the children that the company is feeding through donations.

“There are so many kids that are hungry, even in our backyards,” Fagela said. “A lot of kids that go to school don’t have money for school lunches, so our hope is to support them in that way.”

In the future, Fagela hopes to expand her ability to give back to the community.

For now, she is happy to provide sweet and savory gluten-free treats for the gluten-free community.

“As someone with celiac disease, I was thrilled to see it open,” Saco resident Sydney Hobart said.

Even those who can eat gluten have enjoyed the pastries, Fagela said. The store has nearly sold out of baked goods every morning.

“Their pastries are beyond delicious,” Saco resident Stacy Skinsacos said.

From Singapore to Saco, Fagela is excited to see what the future of Sweets and Co. holds.

“We built it because of the passion that we have, but we’re sustaining it because of the mission that we have,” Fagela said.