Recipe's in progress

 Here are some more pics of some of my recipes in progress. I've been having some really great success lately, I'm very excited. Now I'm just working on improving the overall look.

Plum tarts before baking

The after picture. These are very juicy and delicious, name to come.

Strawberry Lemon cupcakes. Another amazing outcome.

My prettiest cupcake next to The Chocolate Chami Vargas cake.

Close up of the cupcake.

I couldn't figure out how to remove the parchment paper without it messing up the cake. Big success though.

Deuce de Leche brownies pre baking.

They actually came out pretty great.

My baking assistant.

Apple Pecan Sticky buns... The sticky is on the other side.

Conception and Naming.

I have more recipe testing pics and stories to come, but I realized that I haven't truly explained why my business is unique.

One of the ways that I really fell into cooking and baking in particular is that it is really a stress reliever for me. I'm just coming off of finishing  a MA program and found myself burned out. I was exhausted and really just needed something to take my mind off things. So after watching tons of cooking shows I began to try these recipes, and what I found is that the actual step by step process of baking is extremely relaxing for me. I am also a complete sweet freak, I love all types of sweet dishes I simply can't get enough. As I began to bake I realized that there was another level to this stress relief, I love to see people enjoying my food, especially my family. My friends and family are a big part of my life, so finding things that they'd enjoy and I'd enjoy baking was wonderful.

So in going forward with my own confections business, I decided I still wanted them to be apart of this process. So one way I can do that is that all of my dishes are named after people in my life and people I wish were like Aarti from the next food network star( I named a granola bar after her). I have a brownie named after one of my best friends who we call Deuce, so we have a Deuce de leche brownie, Kali's A tart and so on. So I hope in this one little way you'll really get a little piece of me with ever dish.

Oh and I have the tasting date all set so more info on that to come!

Testing

The details for the tasting are almost set. I just have to finalize the date with my aunt, who's house it will be at. So another clearly important aspect to getting a confections business started is the confections. So I've been busy testing many recipes. I'm very happy to report that after many attempts I finally have found the perfect pie/tart crust. I'm anxious to try it again on more tarts but it came out amazing in the pie and tarts I've tried it on already on my peach pie, and an amazing plum tart.

My fallen cake.

Recipe testing is both fun and frustrating, because when you get that perfect dish you are ecstatic but when you make simple mistakes that causes your entire cake to fall, you kind of lose it. All in all I've been having some good results. My Blueberry buckle named after my godson came out good but it still needs a little tweaking here and there.

I also got my pocket pie mold from William-Sonoma which I eventually got the hang of and it created some delicious peach pies.... which I may or may not have eaten all by myself. I'm still working on a name for them, but they're sure to be a big hit.

Here the peaches are blanching

This is the mold, you just press it down into the dough.

Then you're left with this nice little cut out, and you put it back in the mold and fill it.

This is what they look like pre-baking. I clearly struggled with getting the little lattice cut outs, out of the mold.

The finished product, not the prettiest thing, but it will be.

  This apple tart was another big success. I wasn't crazy about the crust and I wanna change the way I did the apples but overall I'm very happy with it. It's essential flavor was really good. It's an apple cider apple tart, that I believe is going to be named after my niece. It may stay a tart, maybe even a tartlet but I'm also considering making it a dumpling. This is why recipe testing is so important because come tasting time. I want this to be perfect.

 

I'm also working on a chocolate chip cookie with both white and dark chocolate. This one's name is also still under construction. The cookie was delicious don't get me wrong, but it just needs a little something extra. This one is definitely going back to the drawing board. 

 

  I also made a mini orange cake with an orange glaze. This one is going to be named after my little cousin Isaiah, he loves oranges like nobody's business. It came out really well, I really liked the flavor I just want it to be a bit more moist and then it'll be perfect.

Welcome

Hi, my name is Elise and I decided to follow my dreams and turn my amateur baking into my career. So I started my own business called Pieces of Me Confections. It's all about making really good baked goods and sharing a piece of me in the process. All of my confections are named after people in my life, real and imaginary. So a friend suggested I document my process so here it goes. Here I will post lots of pics of my amazing food as well as keep you updated about this crazy process. So welcome and I'll be posting more soon.