Dessert
@RestingBakeFace
BY ANGELA MATUA
AMATUA@QNS.COM
If you’re a fan of baking or merely
gawking at the delectable creations of
those more talented than you, Astoria
resident Marissa Troeschel’s Instagram
account is the place for you.
Troeschel, a Maryland native who
moved to Astoria three years ago, began
baking at a young age when she helped
her grandmother in the kitchen by bak-ing
Christmas cookies, Thanksgiving
pies and other desserts. She still keeps
her family’s traditions, baking about 600
cookies during every holiday season and
delivering them to friends and family.
After moving to Astoria, into an apart-ment
with a “really awesome kitchen,”
she started to experiment with bread
recipes and expanded her baking
repertoire. Her Instagram account, @
restingbakeface, is filled with photos
of mouthwatering cakes, pies, cookies
and freshly baked bread.
“I’ve been baking more cakes and
improving my skills on decorating and
different flavors,” she said. “I love mak-ing
pies. That’s probably my favorite.
You can experiment with so many
different fillings and flavors and stuff
that’s seasonal. It’s kind of a blank
canvas.”
In addition to more traditional flavors
like apple, Troeschel has been using
plum hybrid fruits like plumcots (plum
and apricot) and mixtures like nectarine
and blueberry for fillings. She also makes
bread using a sourdough starter that
she’s been “feeding and growing” for
the past two years.
“It’s just natural fermentation. There’s
no commercial yeast in it,” she said. “It’s
usually a daylong process, but it’s worth
it and really delicious.”
Though Troeschel has a personal Ins-tagram
account, her husband persuaded
her to create a new one to show off her
skills. As a result, friends and coworkers
at the Manhattan restaurant she works
at have ordered her cheesecakes and
pies, but Troeschel is hoping to make her
hobby into something more substantial.
“I would love to expand it further to
outside of my sphere of friends,” she
said. “It’s kind of a scary venture but
as I do it more and more it seems like
something I’m good at and might be
worth expanding.”
She’s looking into renting space in a
commercial kitchen in Long Island City
and possibly starting a blog.
“I want to go beyond Instagram, and
I’ve been keeping track of recipes and
tweaking so I think maybe a food blog
might be in the future,” she said.
To follow her baking adventures,
follow Troeschel on Insta-gram:
@restingbakeface.
Photos courtesy of Instagram/@restingbakeface 26 OCTOBER 2017 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
