Last Edited on 12/27

I haven’t posted here in a while but I’m ending my year here with a summary of some thoughts on baking. It’s late and the last couple months with a newborn have been a whirlwind.

Baking as a hobby, relaxation time, technical skill, and creative outlet

I was originally going to talk about these as 3 separate headings but I’m too tired to really have any structured thinking around it.

Baking has recently offered itself as a task that I can bury my head in. It includes following directions (which I LOVE), an endless universe of gadgets and gizmos to spend money on (they make specific tools for freeing your bundt cake from a pan), and some combination of skill/creativity/gratification.

While I’m more inclined to bake because of the rule following elements, I do think others excel at the creativity/artistic aspect. I don’t know how much room there is to get “creative” with the amount of sugar you put into the recipe, but from an artistic perspective, there are definitely an infinite number of ways to spin a creation.

Anyway, I’ve gotten into it and it’s been nice.

I’m attaching some photos as well as some notes on some of what I’ve baked this year.

Sour Cream and Chive Dinner Rolls

I can probably make these in my sleep now. I’ve made so many batches.

Common mistakes

  • Killing the yeast

Cinnamon Rolls

This one took a lot of work. I mistakenly thought that it resembled the Dinner roll dough (it kind of does by using the TangZhong), but there was SO much more downtime/waiting around for the dough to do certain things (or needing to refrigerate the dough so it operated a certain way) that really made the whole process last longer. I think I could do it the next time around twice as fast though.

I would definitely make again.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

I’m still in the process of perfecting these since its a type of cake my wife grew up with and I’d like to replicate.

Whoopsies so far

  • Having an angel food cake pan with no removable bottom
  • Baking it too long so the outside is deep brown (I am still playing with the oven temperature/baking time to get this to an acceptable range)

Red Velvet Cookies

I don’t like cookies are thick and have adopted the recent “bigger is better” trend aka Crumbl cookies or any type of cookie shop. I appreciate more Insomnia Cookies than Crumbl. The cream cheese frosting that accompanied these was also just “OK”.

Baking Wishlist for 2025

  • Biscoff Cheesecake
  • Croissants
  • Mint chocolate dessert
  • Pandan cake with coconut frosting
  • Carrot cake?