Chocolate cupcakes and iced sugar cookies fill the glass display case, and the smell of homemade lasagna wafts through the air at Yum-Yum’s Gluten Free Bakery and Café.

Owner Erin Gridley, a single mother of four, is celebrating the two-year anniversary of her business with a newly-opened restaurant located at 116 Seeley Road, Syracuse. The catalyst behind her business hits close to home and started in 2006 when her son, William, was diagnosed with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder in which the body cannot digest gluten. Later on, one of her other children was also diagnosed.

“I was extremely overwhelmed, I didn’t even know where to begin,” Gridley said. “I went to the grocery store and it took me three and a half hours to grocery shop. I had to read every ingredient on the label.”

Over the next four years, Gridley experimented with different recipes and soon discovered the challenges to perfecting great tasting gluten-free food.

“At first it was really bad, I was throwing a lot of stuff in the garbage,” she said. She went through the mixes and prepackaged foods until she decided to modify the recipes on her own. People began complimenting her gluten-free recipes and suggesting that she sell them due to the growing need in Central New York. So in February 2010, Gridley set up shop in Paradise Market on Erie Boulevard. Unfortunately, the market closed 15 months later.

“I knew I had to figure out something, I have four kids to support,” Gridley said, after discovering the market was closing. Her children who motivate her to keep going, she said. “I always think to myself how am I going to do this? But then I dig deep and I know in my heart that I can do it, I believe in myself.”

Gridley continued on, and just a few months ago, her dream became a reality, when she opened her eatery, Yum-Yum’s. She said her hope is to establish her business as the gluten-free version of Panera Bread. For more information and a list of menu items, visit her website, www.yumyumsglutenfreebakery.com or call 315-314-7542.

The establishment’s success motivates her to help women in similar situations. “I want to start an organization to help women better themselves. To fund a program that will assist and teach women they can be successful on their own, while raising a family,” she said. “Along with Yum-Yum’s, that’s where I want to put my time and energy.”

By Jennie Pikowsky