Founder & CEO
The Diabetic Pastry Chef™
The vision to reinvent dessert.
The conviction to build a legacy.
Author. Entrepreneur. Recipe innovator. Artist. Stacey Harris has built a culinary world around one enduring belief: everyone deserves a place at the table.
A distinction for the innovative work behind her brand, shared in her September 2024 recognition announcement.
Explore the recognitionWhile pursuing pastry at Pittsburgh’s Bidwell Culinary School, Stacey was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. She refused to abandon her craft. Instead, she began the patient work of rethinking the recipes she loved.
That determination grew into The Diabetic Pastry Chef™: a bakery, a published cookbook, a recipe-driven blog and a platform for teaching. Her work brings the pleasure of pastry into a conversation too often defined by limitation.
Stacey’s authority comes from doing the work—developing recipes, sharing techniques, meeting customers and building relationships that last. Her daughter Tara describes her as the mastermind behind the family’s sugar-free and reduced-sugar creations, and a driving force in its connections with the Pittsburgh community.
Read her story in her own wordsPastry expertise. A published body of work. A continuing conversation with the people she serves.
Stacey develops sugar-free and reduced-sugar desserts alongside traditional baking, with selected gluten-free requests considered individually. Her creations are part of the family’s Pittsburgh delivery and catering business.
Discuss a pastry commission ↗Published by Pelican, now part of Arcadia Publishing, The Diabetic Pastry Chef brings together more than 200 dessert adaptations and her approach to working with flours and sweeteners. Her blog continues that work through recipes, experiments and practical baking notes.
Explore the book & recipesStacey’s recipe journal opens the kitchen to her readers, sharing the thinking, experimentation and practical techniques behind her baking. Her work continues through recipes, books and a distinctive creative point of view.
Explore her approach to baking ↗
Stacey’s cookbook earned coverage from Publishers Weekly and Midwest Book Review. Her original portfolio also offers signed-copy inquiries through her own website.
“a welcome, trustworthy resource”
Publishers Weekly · January 2010
Read the review Visit Stacey’s website for books & availabilityThe founder’s perspective, the author’s craft and a career of sharing what she knows.
A conversation about leadership, representation, entrepreneurship and the journey behind The Diabetic Pastry Chef.
Read the featureThe 2010 review of Stacey’s published cookbook and its practical approach to adapting dessert.
Read the reviewA January 2010 review of the recipes and range within The Diabetic Pastry Chef.
Read the reviewStacey’s own account of her March 2016 Everyday Health feature, with the publication link.
Explore the featureStacey revisits the hazelnut meringue roulade recipe that appeared in her Diabetic Living magazine feature.
Explore the magazine recipeAn early entry in Stacey’s own archive documents an offer of sponsored public baking demonstrations from Bayer and thanks her supporters.
Read the original announcement
Award-winning creativity, long before the pastry.
Before The Diabetic Pastry Chef™, Stacey’s creative work extended to children’s storytelling through Mika Products.
The 1997 Parents’ Choice Special Awards Issue lists Storyteller Doll: Khalil by Mika Products among its Gold Awards—an enduring part of her creative legacy.
View the original Gold Award listing ↗
Landscapes, atmosphere, color and texture: another expression of the eye that guides her creative life. Stacey’s practice includes AI-assisted artwork, which she discusses openly on her blog. Her design background includes a 1997 Parents’ Choice Gold Award, noted in her own account and artist biography.
Explore selected works from her blog, then discover prints and framing options through her GoodMood collection.
Artwork © Stacey Harris. Selections from her artwork journal; captions describe the images. Explore all of her featured artwork
TARA-PERI brings together Tara’s culinary vision, Stacey’s pastry expertise and John’s technological vision, drone expertise and leadership in robotics and AI education. Each has a distinct creative and professional world; together, they serve the people who have become part of the family’s extended community.
Pastry commissions, demonstrations, media conversations, creative collaborations and artwork.