Hello from the Third Shift Baker!

About Third Shift Bakery

Welcome to the Third Shift Bakery, my virtual showcase for the treats coming out of my home kitchen. As you can see the Third Shift Bakery is new and my vision for it is still developing. It’s designed to be an entry level baker’s blog where newly developed skills can be demonstrated and shared. With the interest of helping others I promise to share my successes and my failures equally. Hopefully Third Shift Bakery will provide inspiration and entertainment for other learn-as-you-go bakers.

About the Third Shift Baker

As you can probably tell from the title I’m located in the Detroit Metropolitan area of Michigan. I spend my days thriving in the middle management layers of corporate America (yes, automotive). I have multiple degrees in Mechanical Engineering and I guess it is my strong background in following formulas that makes me a much better baker than cook. My husband and I are DINKS (dual-income-no-kids) which allows me to spend the little spare time that I do have in the kitchen. In the automotive world vehicles built on the third shift are assembled between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Given our busy lives this is when I find the time to bake and write about it, hence the name Third Shift Bakery. I grew up in Boston with an insatiable sweet tooth and a love for fine food. It’s this combination that brought me into the kitchen to make (or attempt) my own fine desserts. As a family my husband and I have made fitness a regular part of our lifestyle, often running races and more recently beginning to train for our first triathlon. This discipline allows us to regularly enjoy treats from the Third Shift Bakery.

Baking Philosophy

I use only the finest available all natural products in my baking and I buy local (supporting the Michigan economy) wherever possible. While this does drive the cost slightly up the payoff in flavor and texture is noticeable. You won’t find any calorie reducing substitutions here. A diet slice of cake is simply a smaller piece. Everything in moderation!

I’m not a talented cake decorator and I’ve yet to take a class on the skill. In fact I only own a few basic decorating tools. I prefer simple elegance letting flavor and quality steal the show. I have taken some basic baking classes at our local culinary school. I believe my time is better spent perfecting the baked good and developing delicious flavor pairings. No amount of adornment can make up for a lousy cake.

Website Acknowledgments

I must admit, getting Third Shift Bakery up and running was a bigger project than I had originally imagined. First and foremost I thank my husband for encouraging me to do this, for buying me a Macbook for Christmas, and for putting up with the long hours I’ve spent in front of it. He does get the benefit of enjoying my work when the photography is complete.

The artwork you see on my site was created by Marco Design, LLC. This company turned my very rough vision into a theme that really captured the essence of Third Shift Bakery. I’m very thankful that they were able to turn my vague direction into reality. If you are interested in their work please contact me to get more information.

Third Shift Bakery is self designed and published with Freeway 5 Pro from Softpress Systems Limited. I know those guys will probably never see this but they deserve the shout-out. Their product rocks and turned a know-nothing amateur into a website author in record time. Sorry, it’s Mac only!