Small Town Baker

I'm a lover of all things sweet and find so much pleasure in taking a few simple ingredients and creating a dessert that brings joy to my family and friends. I have a large, food loving family. My dad is the youngest of eight and almost all of my uncles live on the same street as we do. Our family can always find some excuse to have a cookout; whether it's hamburgers and hotdogs or roasting a pig for homemade BBQ to making homemade Banana, Peach and Vanilla ice cream. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of those family get-togethers. Everyone always enjoyed the food, but I always looked forward to the dessert, which normally consisted of my mom's famous 10 Layer chocolate cake. I remember sitting on the barstool watching my mom when she was making the cake, I never took my eyes off of anything that she was doing. Once she finished the layers she's let me help make the icing, which is a cooked chocolate icing. I would do whatever she'd tell me and couldn't wait to watch as she poured all of the chocolatey goodness on top and let it ooze down the sides. It also didn't hurt that she'd let me lick the spoon once she was finished, so I'd always stick around for that. It's hard to describe how amazing that icing is; the smell of it bubbling away on the stove, how it feels when the warm chocolate coats your tongue...I really need to stop, my mouth's watering just thinking about it. Those experiences, watching my mom in the kitchen and spending time with my family with all the great food, really brought out my love of food, cooking and baking.




Baking is my passion but that wasn't always so. One boring summer after eighth grade I started watching the Food Network. I can't remember which show I watched, but I remember thinking I want to do that; and I did. My first love was cooking; the smells, the process, the results, they always thrilled me. I had numerous failures in those first attempts, but I never let that discourage me. I'd start over with a new sense of what I was doing and learned many things about cooking that summer. Then I started my freshman year of high school and I had no time for cooking, I was so busy and was finally enjoying school. I think middle school years are the worst for everyone?... and I was so glad to be away from that environment. Toward end of my freshman year I started back up with my cooking and dabbled a bit in baking, but I still wasn't hooked yet.




The summer after my freshman year our family found out that my mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a really hard time for me because my mom and I were so close. The beginning of that summer is a blur, I remember being so angry that my mom was sick. I couldn't understand why we were having to go through this. The thought of losing your mom, your best friend, is one that's really hard to process, especially at such a young age. I'm not going to sadden you with anymore of that story right now. We did get through it though, my mom has been in remission for almost five years. That summer was hard, but it was when I fell in love with cooking and even more so with baking.




While my mom was sick, I took over the cooking duties of the house. After living off of my dad's sausage and eggs for a few days straight I was ready for something else. So I spent my days watching Food Network and perusing recipes online looking for something that would please not only me, but my picky family as well. I kept it pretty simple making things like cheeseburgers, tacos, spaghetti and baked chicken. Once I started to become comfortable with different ingredients and cooking techniques I ventured out making things like soups and side dishes that were more complex than boiling potatoes or heating up a can of Campbell's for dinner. I also started thinking about what I was eating and wanted our family to start eating more veggies, so I adapted a Giada de Laurentiis recipe and made a vegetable marinara that I still love today. Then I started making cookies and cupcakes and I was a goner.




I was so inspired that I took foods classes in high school. We started out baking and I immediately fell in love. When I first started I wasn't great of course, but I kept at it and now I'm impressed with the things I can whip up. Baking is very relaxing to me, it helps me unwind and I always love the compliments that I get when I make something that looks great and tastes amazing. Most of my weekends are consisted of measuring and sifting and stirring and I love every minute of it. I'm a pretty clumsy person, so I've had numerous flops when I've been trying new recipes, but I can always take a break and start over and keep at it until I'm successful. One of the first cakes that I made on my own was a Hershey cake, simple but still good. I took it to a family gathering and I was so nervous it would be terrible, but everyone loved it and I've never looked back.




I'm starting this blog because I'm joining Daring Bakers and I want a place to keep track of all of my baking mishaps and successes. I also hope that I will be able to blog about my other cooking and baking adventures as well. I have to get my camera fixed first though and once I do I'm hoping to post pretty regularly. I will go ahead and say that I'm no photographer nor am that great of a writer. My camera doesn't work because I don't use it that often , which is pretty bad. I'm hoping though that this blog will help me better my photography skills, along with my writing and baking skills.




I've been reading numerous blogs lately and they've inspired me to start blogging. I don't know how far this will go, or if anyone will read, but I hope that people will and be as inspired as I've been by other bloggers.