My Brownies

Originally published in August 20, 2010 on Zelma's Workshop

You may have wondered why my Facebook page is titled “Brownies and More by Zelma” and yet I keep calling it “Zelma’s Bakery”. Well the story behind it is very simple: it’s the first thing that I sold, and at the time, my imagination was non-existent. Besides, I never thought it would become a long-term thing, much less that people would actually be interested in anything that I baked!

You see, last year, when lil man started preschool, I noticed that there were many holidays and special occasions where I would need to buy gifts for his teachers and classmates. Since I am extremely cheap and a horrible shopper (that’s a story for another day!), I decided that a good alternative was baked goods, so I started taking classes at the local cake supply store.

One day, Vanessa, a coworker and one of my closest friends, asked me for a dozen of my “White and Dark Brownies” that she had heard me talk about. I posted a pic of those brownies on Facebook and people liked them!

At first, Vanessa and her mom were my only paying customers, and I was happy to bake for them. Every time I took a different class – cupcakes, cookies, etc. – I tried out the different recipes at home and posted the pics on Facebook. That’s how it all started! Pretty soon I had friends calling me for cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and tons more.

It wasn’t until I started getting calls from strangers that I thought “hey, I might have something here!” That’s when I realized that the name “Brownies and More by Zelma” was silly. People kept asking me why I had named it like that, and after having to explain the whole story about a dozen times, I decided to change the name. However, my brain was still drawing a blank, so I ended up with the simple “Zelma’s Bakery”. It’s not very catchy, but it does the job. I actually kinda like it now, and it goes with my blog “Zelma’s Workshop”, so everything worked out.

What do you think? Do you like it? Not? Maybe? Suggestions? Sound off below, I would love to read your feedback!