When baking starts as an act of survival...
No, I am not that kid. But this is the book I started baking from as a kid. And the one I used to burn several baking sheets with.
Well, it depends on what you call survival. When I was a kid my parents decided it was time to stop buying cookies and sweets. How would I do without chocolate chip cookies, twinkies, ding dongs and fruit roll-ups? I took the matters into my own hands and taught myself how to bake. In retrospect, no child should ever have unsupervised access to a gas oven, or any oven at that. But I started making my own treats. They were horrible. I would substitute pancake mix for flour, oil for butter, extra baking soda for baking powder... you get the picture. With a bit of parental supervision, I became better at it, and in no time I had gone through a couple of cookbooks, including one with 40 cheesecakes.
Then I stopped. And it wasn't until many years later that a good friend, Dora, challenged me to cook from a Julia Child book that another friend had gifted me. And a passion was rekindled. I would usually post the results of the desserts on Facebook and Instagram, and after a while, friends would ask for recipes. I often hesitated because I like using recipes with a lot of steps in them, the kind that you don't usually cut corners with. Frankly, not everyone likes to bake. But when you decide to try it, you don't want the drama or surprises that come with figuring out if a recipe will work. So using tested recipes is a great way to at least make sure that someone, somewhere, can make it happen.
I started this site to share what has worked for me. Each recipe is sourced back to a book or website so that you can go and look at what other amazing people have done. Other recipes are inspired by bits and pieces of numerous recipes, and hopefully you'll be doing the same in no time. I'd like to empower home bakers to try out bold new recipes by taking some of the hesitation away.
Techniques, Recipes and Inspiration
Baking on a cabin weekend. That night we had a Gateau Basque, preceded by some roast chicken.
Making remarkable desserts is as much about executing the right techniques, as it is about finding the inspiration to create your own variations. I have included posts on techniques and some of the components, or building blocks, that keep coming back in many of the recipes. The full step-by-step recipes give you an a to z guide to follow, along with photos and comments. And finally, the inspiration section is meant to share some of the variations that I've prepared over the years. With a bit of time, you'll surely come up with your own variations and start building your own recipe collection.
Sit back, enjoy, and have fun in the kitchen.
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Get in touch
If you're curious about any of the information on this site, or would like to get in touch, feel free to drop a line.