Vegan bakery brings in ‘rhapsodic’ patrons

North Mills Avenue has a new vegan bakery to call it home: Raphsodic Cooperative Company, which has dubbed itself the first and only "Urban Pasty Art House."

Katherine Mosher, co-owner of Raphsodic, said she came up with the name of the bakery by typing "happy" into the dictionary.com's search engine.

As she looked at synonyms, she found the word rhapsodic.

"I clicked on rhapsodic and it said joy and happiness; that's exactly what I want because that's what I feel when I eat my stuff," Mosher said. "The ‘cooperative' would be cooperating with the community and, of course, ‘company' because we're a corporation and required by law to have it."

Note the swap of the ‘h' and ‘p' in the title: due to worries over stepping on toes of the music subscription service Rhapsody, Mosher went ahead and changed the spelling.

One thing that sets Raphsodic Cooperative Company apart from other local bakeries is that it does not have a menu.

The bakery does have some staples like brownies and cupcakes, but they switch up the flavors on a regular basis.

Mosher said last week they had toasted coconut brownies and this week they have blueberry and wasabi brownies.

The bakery also has a gluten-free cupcake line in which agave is used as a sweetener instead of refined sugar.

UCF senior Sarah Benjamin, environmental studies major, has tasted the vegan goodies at Raphsodic twice, and she said her favorite items were the cupcakes.

"I had the cinnamon bun cupcakes for my birthday," she said. "The cupcakes tasted more decent than most vegan cupcakes I've had because the texture was very similar to a non-vegan cupcake."

Raphsodic does more than serve up vegan treats.

It also interacts with the local community by acting as a venue for local artists, musicians, and small businesses.

"We are not only about pastries; we are about supporting the local artists," Mosher said.
Every month, Raphsodic showcases the work of local artists on a rotating schedule.

Unlike most  art venues,  Raphsodic does not take a portion of the art sales for the store's profit,.

"We do a 25/75 split with the artist; the artist gets 75 percent, and 25 percent goes to charity in the name of the business and the artist," said Mosher.

In addition to the money from art sales given to charity, Raphsodic donates baked foods to Food Not Bombs, an organization that serves free vegetarian and vegan food to the hungry.

Matthew LaRose, who is in charge of the front of the house at Raphsodic Cooperative Company said the bakery has a chill atmosphere.

"Katie is a great boss, and when you have someone [like that], their enthusiasm just bubbles forth and bubbles to you," LaRose said.

Raphsodic will begin to teach classes over the summer about baking, going green and achieving a more holistic approach to life.

Raphsodic Cooperative Company is located on 710 N. Mills Ave.