When first starting a blog sometimes the focus isn't always clear. When I started my first blog five years ago it was a place for me to ramble, but in the past couple of years I have narrowed it down to my two loves: writing & baking. Many may start a blog as a personal outlet for self-publication, an e-journal, or just a kind of album of images and such. For many there is a focus and once we find it there's a niche. Many writers have their blogs dedicated to their struggles and successes in the craft. And then there are the bakers and chefs who dedicate their time/space to informing the public of hits and misses in regards to baked goodies. Now that my new website design is up and I have a designated baking page as well as a writing page I figured I'd spend this post giving props to fellow bakers out there with some amazing blogs/websites.
Via Twitter and through recommendations and searches I have found some cool baking focused blogs, as well as cooking blogs in general. And there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of them on the web. I have to say Twitter has been a great resource to connect with other food enthusiasts. But bloggers themselves are often united in trying to spread the word about those they admire, influences, and things they just like.
So, here's a list (and summary) of some of these awesome baking sites (please note some sites do sweet and savory posts) that I've had the privilege to view, in no particular order.
- Gigi Cakes - Gigi Cakes was one of the first baking blogs I stumbled upon when I entered the Blogger realm. I had corresponded a bit with Gigi when I started my blog--and was directionless in terms of content--and she was very complimentary about my posts. Her blog is one of the ones that inspired my own and she introduced me to one of my favorite cookies: lemon poppy seed sugar cookies. She also has had giveaways of lovely treats and books for fans/followers. Gigi hasn't posted in a few months but her past posts are delicious and *currently drooling* lovely to look at. The best thing about blog posts for recipes is that they never get old!
- Let Her Bake Cake - I found this site through a friend's suggestion years ago. Hilary is a food blogger based in the UK and she redesigned her website to make it look nice & cohesive. Particularly I love her header a take on "Let them eat cake," a supposed quote from Marie Antoinette. Love, love it. Hilary's personality comes through in every post and her dedication to baking and baked goods is inspiring. The quality of her pictures and constant search to bring new information to readers is what makes her blog a must. She's on Twitter but doesn't post too regularly. Her blog is updated weekly or sometimes more often so definitely check it out.
- Katrina's Kitchen - Another Twitter person I follow. Katrina is a reader's choice mom food blogger so you know she knows her stuff. She makes some kick ass recipes. I love that she has a visual recipe index so you can see much of what she's made. It's not just reserved for baking but she has a lot of great baked goodies on there. My fave and something my husband now wants me to try is the chocolate chip Oreo cookie sandwich. As my husband said, that recipe is "gangsta"!
- Dessert Landscape - My friend created this site because she is all about dessert. We bonded over this and stuff. And she is picky, lemme tell you. So she is quite right in calling herself a dessertatarian. Dessert Landscape mainly focuses on desserts/sweets she's had around the world, not just in NYC. But believe me I have tried her baking and it is amazing! She's a pro and dedicated and focused and all that good stuff bakers should be. So I think you should definitely hit up her website and also ask for more posts.
- Cake Duchess - I just found Lora's site pre-Labor Day weekend via Twitter sidebar recommendations and man am I so glad I did. She's a pumpkin fanatic just as I am and had some tasty pumpkin recipes that I am currently salivating over (wiping keyboard now). She blogs pretty regularly, weekly if not twice a week, and has a variety of recipes to show. One I am pretty excited to try is nutella skillet brownies. Did you read that?! Let me repeat: NUTELLA. SKILLET. BROWNIES. The latest post I saw from Lora is from the International Food Bloggers Conference. Man, did I wish I could've gone to that!
- Flour on my Face - Another Twitter follower! I like the cleanness and ease of use of Arlene's site. A tab for recipes and another for older posts. Cute pics in the header and I enjoy participating in her regular foodie questions (this week's: What is your favorite Food Network show?). Her blog is not restricted to baking alone, so feel free to check out some of the savory items too. There's a lot of info on the sides, but if you take time to pick out the archives and popular recipes feed from FoodBuzz you'll see some key finds in terms of food bloggers. A Parents magazine nominee for best food blog is a nice add-on too!
- Kitchen Karate - Jordan is one of the nicest bloggers you'll ever communicate with. He's currently seeking new baking challenges for his site so hit him up on his site or via Twitter! He's posted some classy, lovely stuff and in vibrant hues. (Rainbows!) I like the simplicity of his site's design, the color scheme, and also how he divvies up his recipes for easy search in his menu. All hail recipe indexes! Definitely check out his recipes for cookies and cream cupcakes because we've both made those. Like minds!
- Food to Heart - A lovely blog and fellow Twitter follower. Marynika has some amazing pictures. I am in awe of these bloggers and the intense pics capturing the great colors and stages in the cooking process. Her site is also easy to navigate and simple in design but definitely illustrates her message and captures what she loves: food! She even has hearts as icons! So cool and theme-y (yes, I made that word up, just now).
- Gingerbread Bagels - Again, a great design for the site, simple, nice use of pastel colors, easy to navigate, and a nice tagline. Awesome. She makes some nice recipes. One I am eying is the Twix Gooey Butter Cake. Butter and Cake and Gooey are all great words to have in the same sentence. Lindsey just had a bunch of giveaways for her one year blog-iversary! So nice and generous. People won cookbooks and doughnut pans (I lost that one dangit), and Peanut Butter Company's peanut butter. All great things for baking. Thanks for the generosity, Lindsey!
- Sweetapolita - Marynika suggested this blog to me as one of her faves. And I can see why. Rosie is an avid lover of food and beauty. She's a mom and an entrepreneur and is pursuing not only her love of cakes but of photography. And she has a penchant for pink it seems. She has a recipe index (must have!) and also offers a list of baking supplies she loves (uber helpful). After looking at some of her fancy cakes and confections you'll want one. And you're in luck! She takes orders. She's located outside of Toronto, CA but definitely email her for some of those decadent looking cakes. I'm currently craving the very-vanilla butter sponge cake.
So, that's just a taste of the wonderful baking/cooking blogs out there. I know I love viewing the luscious designs, pristine pics, and organization of their sites and it's definitely something I can learn from for the next web re-design (years in the making). I'm up for more suggestions as to good baking bloggers and feel free to check out my baking page and suggested links. I'm already compiling notes for my annual year-end baking posts and look forward to more posts this and next year. Here's to great baking!