The Big Baby Baker

Sometimes you get married and you loose your job two weeks beforehand and EVEN THOUGH you had a two months notice that you would be unofficially laid off (but not really, you declined relocation) you’re still left feeling like you quit your job to be a stay at home wife. Hi, my name is Julia and today….

Whatever all that is true but I’m using this time to do a lot of baking so that is what I’m now here sharing. I’ve been baking more frequently since I started a weekly French class and realized I could siphon off my projects to my classmates while receiving the praise and worship I desperately need and no longer get from my art on Instagram (it is what it is). So here I am, unemployed and kind of scrounging up some thoughts for a small baking company I could pull off.

I’ve mostly been working through More Than Cake by Natasha Picowicz and Jam Bake and Nature’s Candy by Camilla Wynne both of whom speak to their audience with an assumption that they have adequate baking experience and offer interesting flavor profiles that empower experimentation. I find both authors very inspiring and DARE I SAY have revolutionized how I approach baking. I’m dead serious!!

Now for proof that I’ve been baking:

Buckwheat Breton Tarts from Jam Bake

This was actually my first PAID JOB for an employee at my French school. I swapped out the prescribed crabapple jelly for store purchased sour cherry/rhubarb jam because I couldn’t find crabapple jelly and that felt like a bit too much work for the amount I was willing to charge. This is a great recipe PERIOD I love love love, adding a cute cherry on top felt like it echoed the interior cherry jam and it felt special for this client’s birthday. I’m interested in swapping out the buckwheat for corn flower and doing a traditional meringue as a version. How the dough bakes to make basically a hollowed cupcake was satisfying and smart. Great one, I’m proud of these!! NEXT

Sesame Linzers (Two Ways)

This was kind of a clean the fridge thing. I had leftover black sesame paste and Natasha recommended swapping sesames for hazelnuts in her kumquat/hazelnut linzer recipe so that I did. I used leftover pineapple lime marmalade (from another Natasha recipe) and some apricot butter I had made earlier that week. These certainly aren’t lookers but they were really tasty. I think in the future I would keep the sesame linzer and then swap the filling for a bright yuzu curd or something like that. Even the linzers by themself were really nice as a less sweet treat, very chic…NEXT

Vanilla Bean Pound Cake from More Than Cake

This is me trying to redeem myself from many bad-to-mediocre loaf cakes I’ve been producing. I don’t know what my deal is, but I keep having an issue with the center not baking adequately which I think I’m slowly improving with the use of a thermometer (instead of a toothpick) and like….chilling tf out about it and trusting that it’s cooked. This cake was nice, my French class seemed to really enjoy it. Later I grilled it up in some Kerrygold butter and that was obviously good. In the future I’d add some citrus zest to bump it up a bit but what can I say…she’s nice! NEXT

Peanut Linzers Two Ways and Chokladsnittar

Linzers again…this time with peanuts….yeah they were good. Trying a sophisticated pb&j concept which went as well as it could have BUT I ended up using raspberry jam because I overcooked the grape jelly I attempted. Why? I was watching a damn show. Came out solid like a brick once cooled but it did taste nice. The other way I used a chocolate filling from Deb Perelman’s first book. These were a little clunky, in the future I would do a dark chocolate thing maybe with orange zest or a liqueur or something. The CHOKLADSNITTAR are from Crumbs by Ben Mims (should I buy this book? I got it from the library and am really enjoying but everything feels kind of the same like there are really only 20 recipes and everything is a version of those few principles…) and are basically brownie cookies. These were easy/fun/cute. Changes I’m making for the future: add candied cherries and dark chocolate and do circular drops instead of slicing because it’s confusing TO ME that they look like biscotti but are soft. NEXT!

Syrup-Soaked Citrus Olive Oil Cornmeal Cake from Nature’s Candy

This can be thrown in my pile of kind of mediocre bakes and one where I couldn’t tell if the center was cooking so I pulled too soon and it sank. This was fine. I’m not rushing to remake it. Should’ve used as much syrup as Camilla recommends but chickened out. Does anybody know why my batter is looking slightly denser in the lower third of all my pound cakes? NEXT

Black Sesame Cake with Pineapple Lime Marmalade from More Than Cake

I wish I had a nicer picture…I made this for the last class of my level 3 French course. This is kind of the crescendo to my class gassing me up where I was like I’M GOING TO MAKE A REALLY NICE CAKE FOR THE LAST CLASS!!!! Which I did and it was really REALLY nice. I went to Epicurus in the valley (LA) and picked up the black sesame paste which led to the whole project. Those are golden berries on top which I thought were not good but looked cute (definitely would opt for candied kumquat in the future). Added a sprig of jasmine from the yard, inspired by every damn cake maker who have been putting whole gardens on their cakes lately (I think I may avoid this in future with peace and love to those who partake). I wouldn’t make any changes for this cake, it was lovely and everyone was impressed. NEXXT

Candied Orange Peel and Whole Kumquats

Not really a bake but that with which I will end this post. They’re gorgeous, they’re useful, they’re impressive. Both methods from Camilla’s Nature’s Candy. The kumquats took about four days to complete but was overall easy and comprehensive. I’m about to make some more orange peel today because the above batch got moldy I think from me not wiping off enough syrup thus leaving too much moisture for an unrefrigerated item. Blah blah.