Gemma Matherne writes for Curious Confections, a Texas Cottage Food producer you can find on Sundays at HOPE Farmer’s Market.
Tell us about yourself!
I moved to Austin from England almost 5 years ago (the things we do for love!). I had spent two years in culinary school there and part of the move was to go to the Le Cordon Bleu Academy here to specialize in patisserie and baking.
Together with my husband we have opened Curious Confections – a cottage bakery so we blog mostly about the things we’re experimenting with to potentially go on the menu, or talking about cakes that we’ve made.
How did you start blogging?
I started blogging initially to let my family know what I was up to and to chart my progress through the culinary school here in Austin.
When Curious Confections looked like it might be able to become a business I switched to blogging there so it was well established by the time the cottage food bill passed in 2011.
What items are always in your fridge or pantry?
Always the baking staples; flours, eggs, butter etc and I have a sourdough starter that lives in my fridge called Bready Kruger!
We’ve started getting a veggie delivery box from Greenling and I’m very happy to be keeping constantly stocked up with a nice array of fruits and vegetables.
We seem to keep a constant stream of cheese and salami on hand too.
If you could share dinner with anyone, who would you host and what would you eat?
While I might dream of a dessert tasting menu with my culinary heroes so I can sit and pick their brains, in reality I’m much less adventurous and I see my family to rarely that being able to get together with all of them in one place would be wonderful.
What is your favorite AFBA memory?
I haven’t been able to attend many of the functions. I had a fabulous time with the cookbook though, the pre-order party and especially the recipe testing potluck! Even though I don’t get to join in often everyone is always so friendly and welcoming.
What is your most popular post?
We did a month long series on homebrewing that seems to top the popularity charts, particularly week two that was about the brew-day itself.
