Big News on the Baking Front!

My baking challenge has been fun.  I waste hours of my time on allrecipes.com or foodgawker.com looking for new recipes, ideas and challenges.  I am able to quickly finish grading workbooks knowing that I will soon be home baking again.  And while I have been emailing multiple admissions counselors about getting my teaching certification in the States, I can't stop thinking about my bakery.

About a month ago, my baking challenge was taken to a whole new level.

A few of the teachers at my school spend a lot of time at a coffee shop across the street.  It opened this year, and it reminds me quite a bit of a trendy coffee spot back in America.  The teachers love the coffee, but they are unimpressed with the baked goods.  David, a teacher, and one of the biggest supporters of my baking began speaking with the owner of the coffee shop about her baked goods.  He told her he thought that nothing was that great, and that he knew of a baker.  He called me one day after I finished my class and asked me to come to the coffee shop.  Sure enough, he introduced me to the owner and began raving about my baking skills.  He told her that I am interested in someday opening a bakery and she would be a fool to buy her baked goods from anyone else.  On the spot the owner, Mae, asked me to bring a few things in to try.

Monday morning I came armed with pound cake, cookies and brownies.  I handed everything over for the taste test, giving her everything for free samples.  She was quite impressed because as I was about to leave she gave me the terms.  I bake what I want, when I want, set the servings, set the price, and I keep 80% while the shop keeps 20%.

I was ecstatic.  I walked back to school in a daze, shocked by what had just happened.

I have since brought Mae banana pecan muffins, red velvet cupcakes, almond shortbread, brownies and other treats.  Every time I bring her new treats I ask for feedback, and she simply tells me how impressed she and her customers are.  I keep making what I want, trying different things, just attempting to gain experience.

My phone rang on Saturday morning.  It was Mae.  She needed more brownies.  They sold out, and she had customers asking for them.  Had I not been standing in the middle of a grungy bus station in Chaiyapum I might have cried, but I held it in.  People pay for my baking.  People request it.  This is crazy.  And amazing.

But don't worry, none of this will go to my head.  I promise not to charge more than 30 baht for anything at next year's family Christmas party.

Just FYI- the owner of the shop has a facebook page, and she posts photos of the products I bring in.  You can see photos of my "A Few Extra Pounds Cake" and "Perfectly Simple Brownies" at Horm Coffee.