The 7 Month Hiatus

All right guys, I thought it was about time to get my elbows dirty and wipe the dust off of this blog! I've been away for a little bit longer than I had originally planned (the break was supposed to last 1 month) and everybody knows that an abandoned project is the hardest to restart. I've already haphazardly documented my body of work, and to rebuild it all over again on here? I've imagined a few better ways to spend my Friday nights.

Of course, when you're being lazy, the negative thought demons always decide to make an appearance too. "I'm just a drop in the ocean of bakers and bloggers" and "Why waste time when no one will read it" have been taking up residency for half a year now. To painfully stretch out this metaphor, I've decided to revoke the lease and evict them for good because I love food photography and conceptualizing desserts way too much not to! 

After much poking and prodding by my family and friends, I went for it and joined all the social media (yay, grammar). And so now this "online presence"-averse chick has a: Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and a website: ChocolateMyHeart. All that on top of managing social media for two other companies, although that's another story altogether. 

So what's happened so far in 2014? After selling cakes from January-May in San Diego, I went ahead and "launched" CMH in the Bay Area in June. And it was a mess. And I had a few failed orders. And I basically lost my interest, and was just going through the motions. And when that happens, this happens:

I mean it was a perfectly lovely, Coconut Mango cake, but the icing was wilty, the layers weren't leveled, and by the time I took the photos I didn't care enough to match my props to the dessert, or iron out that lace napkin. I mean it was a decent picture, but so forced and kind of sad. My heart wasn't in it.

But I bit the bullet and just posted it on my Facebook page and Instagram anyway. And the likes just started pouring in! And that's when I realized that I was actually *gasp* allowed to fail. One misstep is never enough to close any operation.

So now I'm going to try really hard and figure out this blog thing. Because besides those cliche revelations, I got some new photography equipment that I'm absolutely stoked about and can't wait to post pictures on here!

But here are the links to the recipes for the Coconut Cake with Mango Curd! A word to the wise, the cake is a bit dense so put in the effort and make one that requires 10 egg whites. The frosting was great, but didn't hold shape too well. The curd though, make it now! I highly recommend it

Coconut Cake

Mango Curd

Cream Cheese Frosting


Happy hunting everyone!

- Neha x