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The crazy year 2020 is almost over and I think it is about time to review it. With this blog post I am taking part in the “food blog review 2020” (in German) from the blog Feed me up before you go-go and below I am going to answer the eight questions for my blog.
#1 What was your most popular recipe in 2020?
The most popular recipe was definitely these brownie cookies. It has been the most clicked, most rated (more than 300 reviews!), and most baked recipe of my blog. I do understand why my readers love it so much, I love it, too. As a chocoholic, 2020 required more chocolate than ever. If you can get chocolate in cookie form, what is not there to like? I have also made a version with sourdough in case you started your sourdough in 2020 and don’t know what to do with the discards. Brownie cookies with sourdough are a wonderful variation, or you can try these vegan brownies with sourdough.
Melt-in-your-mouth brownie cookies
I have also made a video of these brownie cookies:
#2 Which three blog posts did you personally find most important?
Number 1 is definitely the blog post about my favorite café in Munich called “Wir machen Cupcakes”. The first lockdown in spring was already hard on it, now I just hope it will survive the second lockdown. If you wonder whether your café will make it or not, contact the owner and ask how you can support. Many offer vouchers, delivery, anything to keep them going. You will be surprised to see how grateful owners are if you just show your concern and offer some help.
Number 2 is this recipe for German spice cookies or Pfeffernüsse, which was passed down from my grandma. She was an amazing baker. She never seemed to measure anything, everything was by touch and feel, yet everything always tasted amazing. Unfortunately, she passed away recently, but I had the honor of receiving a handwritten recipe booklet from her. I hold it very dear. Obviously the recipes are rather brief, many times you will not find any measurements or oven temperatures. I have gotten used to that. Regardless, I have managed to make her apple strudel, gingerbread for the Christmas tree, and said Pfeffernüsse from this precious recipe book.
Number 3 is this blog post about how to ship a cookie box successfully, which contains lots of tips and tricks and tons of cookie recipes. I have been shipping cookie boxes for many years already, I have even shipped fancy cakes such as Sachertorte and also shipped internationally. I don’t think I have ever had as much traffic people googling for tips and tricks. But I cannot blame you, during these weird times we do need to remind our loved ones that we are thinking about them even if we cannot see them. And mind you, cookies can be sent all year round, you don’t need to do it only during the season. Nothing is more exciting than a cookie box full of homemade cookies during a time when you least expect it.
#3 Which three blogs inspired you the most?
Volker from volkermampft (in German) invented a wonderful blogging event, in which you get to choose a recipe from another food blogger. It is so much fun looking at other blogs and deciding for a recipe. I often have a hard time since there are so many wonderful recipes out there. I started with the classic red riding hood cake from Brot und Rosen, followed by plum dumplings with semolina from Esskalation, after that quince paste from Blog Corum and most recently parfait with cranberry sauce from Barbaras Spielwiese. I hope that Volker keeps organizing these events for a long time, I am looking forward to getting to know further wonderful blogs.
Then I need to mention Zorra from the blog Kochtopf (in German), she has been organizing blog events of various kinds for many years. I have done a few and have to say, wow, she is my personal hero for doing this all the time. I especially like the baking together she organizes every month. We all bake the same recipe on the same day and share our results later on. If I took part in it, you will find a lot of the posts in my breakfast and bread category.
And lastly, I need to mention one inspiring article, which is from Mara about getting ready for her wedding (in German) Mara’s blog Life is full of goodies (in German) is amazing. That particular article is long, but it is funny and I was truly impressed by the amount of time and effort she put into her wedding cake, all of the decorations, and the entire set-up. Seriously, I have no idea how she did it. Maybe I was so touched by it because I hope to bake two wedding cakes in 2021. My own wedding took place more than ten years ago and if I had only made half of what she did, I would have probably died of stress. I really don’t know how she did it. If you don’t speak German, just check out the photos. Everything, the wedding cake, the centerpieces, everything was made by her. It is incredible.
#4 Which recipe you published in 2020 you have made yourself most often and why?
This is the runner-up, it is my beloved chocolate raspberry cake. As written before, I needed a lot of chocolate in 2020. I personally love the combination of raspberries with chocolate, so I decided to invent a recipe with precisely this combination. Apparently you love it, too. At least I got a huge crowd baking this cake, so many readers clicked on the recipe and have left reviews and comments, it is wonderful. As soon as I became aware that this was such a beloved recipe, I had to make sure I got it all right and had to bake it several times. I also decided to make a video and was requested to make this flavor combination for a cake I sold.
#5 Which cooking or blogging problem did you encounter in 2020 and how did you tackle it?
If you are running a blog, believe me, there are many problems, many challenges, so many things to learn and to tackle. I personally find it very hard to narrow it down to only one. One of the things I have been dreaming of doing is offering baking classes. First our move from the north of Germany to the south got in the way and then the Corona virus hit us. For that reason I didn’t tackle it for a long time. At least I managed to offer one virtual baking class in December 2020 with about 14 participants, some of them even including their children. We made Christmas cookies and it was so much fun. I am a teacher at heart and I do enjoy teaching. I also realized that I have been baking for so long, I forgot the feeling of being a beginner. It was so cool to see what people were struggling with and helping them with tips and tricks of the trade. I hope I can tackle this even more in 2021.
#6 What was your biggest discovery this year, which recipe, technique, food stuff, flavor, etc. opened a completely new world to you?
I don’t think that you always discover new worlds, especially not in 2020 where most of us stayed at home most of the time. I also didn’t follow the Dalgona coffee fad or the banana bread fad. I did try them, but somehow got tired rather quickly and decided not to publish any recipe as I was not fully happy. But despite the fact that we all stayed at home and didn’t have as much exposure to new stuff, I did get into something very new. I started shooting recipe videos. For that reason I established a new category with all recipe videos on my blog. For sure this category is going to grow over time. Making a video is a super exciting yet also tiring process. I have to admit, when I filmed above chocolate raspberry cake, it took an entire day with many breaks in between. It is amazing how much time goes into filming and also the editting later on.
#7 What was the best or funniest search term that somebody used to find your blog?
This is a very recent one from December and said “Christmas cookies for women”. This got me thinking how Christmas cookies for women differ from Christmas cookies for guys. If you are looking for anything that may solve problems of women, I would definitely mention these brownie cookies, chocolate is perfect for PMSing or other gloomy happenings. This is coming from a chocoholic.
#8 What do you wish for your blog in 2021?
I do feel that fewer people comment on my blog than before. Somehow people do not mind leaving comments on Pinterest or Instagram, but I don’t know why they have such a hard time commenting on blogs. I can only encourage you to do so, many other readers will benefit from it, problems you may encounter, may be more common than you think or maybe you will help to improve the recipe. Only if you are willing to share how it went, there is the chance to improve and learn.
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Does your heart break into pieces every time you stroll through your city and you see yet again another “We are closing” sign? Especially if it is a café or bar? At least I am heart-broken to see how many have been affected by the crisis here in Munich. It is a relief for me that my favorite cafe “Wir machen Cupcakes” (which translates to we are making cupcakes) is still running and open. I do desperately hope that this cafe will make it through the crisis in one piece.
Yes, you will find tons of cupcakes in this cafe, obviously. However, you will also find macarons, cakepops, cronuts, and super beautiful cakes made from scratch. My favorite among the cupakes is the one called “Chocolate Decadence” for EUR 3.50 each. As a chocoholic this doesn’t come as a surprise. The owner Maria writes on her homepage that it’s the cafe’s intention is to make you feel at home and to introduce a sparkle of joy in your everyday life. I couldn’t have said it any better, regardless of whether I wanted to celebrate my bachelorette’s party here or whether I wanted to unwind with a little treat after work.
The famous chocolate cupake called “Chocolate Decadence” from the café “Wir machen Cupcakes” in Munich
Today is the last day of 2019. Seriously? When did this actually happen? I really feel like time flies, and somehow this year extra fast. One reason most definitely is the fact that we moved from the north of Germany from Hamburg to the south to Munich. But regardless, it feels like yesterday when I was cleaning the apartment in Hamburg for handover. For that reason I wanted to participate in the blog summary event of Feedmeupbeforeyougogo (in German) to answer a few questions of what actually happened in 2019. But before I do, I wanted to say, I am grateful for my blog year 2019, more than 150% visitors, published more than 70 recipes, regardless of the move, this was a busy year. But let’s get started with the questions.
#1 Which was your most sucessful blog article in 2019?
Definitely these lava cakes. Consisting on five ingredients, you will be surprised how easy they are to make. Many readers have told me that they made them sucessfully, which I love to hear. I will give you one secret tip in the article how to be sure you can have success with them, too.
#2 Which three blog articles of 2019 mean the most to you?
First I have to mention my cookie week with Uruguayan cookie recipes. It was so much fun doing research and finding Uruguayan recipes. It definitely is not as common in Latin America to bake as it is in Germany. For that reason it was quite a challenge to even find proper recipes. I learned a lot about the country I was born in and somehow I really enjoyed watching old Youtube videos showing usually moms in their homes making cookies without any proper measurements, let alone a kitchen scale. I guess this is a challenge for me who likes to measure everything as this is the best way to ensure consistent results. I have had to test a lot of the recipes several times to get to anything good. My favorite recipe from this week is currently the chocolate salami, which in my opinion truely resembles a real salami.
My second favorite recipe are the Colombian pandebonos. When I made them first, I had beginner’s luck and they turned out great. However, don’t ask me how many times I had to try over again before they finally tasted great again. Of course I will give you the secret in the blog post how to be sure they are perfect the first time around. Maybe this is the perfect party snack for New Year’s? They are completely gluten free.
And lastly I truely enjoy this pumpkin layer cake, which I prepared for our Friendsgiving.
#3 Which other three blogs inspired you the most?
This would be Emmas Lieblingsstücke (in German) who does the most beautiful cakes. I had the chance to meet Emma personally and I just love her easy-going personality.
Patrick Rosenthal (in German) inspired me with his food photography. Of course I had to bake his oatmeal cookies (delicious by the way!).
And lastly I will never understand how Tieghan from the blog Half baked harvest even has the energy to publish as many recipes as she does every single week. She is such a workaholic. Definitely an inspiration.
#4 Which of the recipes you published have you baked/cooked the most and why?
This would be the basic recipe for porridge. Especially in winter I love to eat warm breakfast. I don’t mind getting up a few minutes early and I love preparing some warming porridge for my husband and me. Currently I love it with some apple slices browned in some butter and with some cinnamon.
#5 Which baking problem did you encounter in 2019 and how did you solve it?
Due to our move from Hamburg to Munich I haven’t had the chance to offer baking classes as I had planned to do in 2019. Regardless, I am sure this is going to happen in 2020.
#6 What was a culinary discovery in 2019?
It was not a new discovery per se. However, I have to say, I love how much the caramel cream dulce de leche is used in Latin American cuisine. I feel it does add some new flavor to anything. If you are into regular caramel, for sure you will love dulce de leche, which is made of sweetened condense milk. In this blog article I offer an easy way how to make it and also several recipes to incorporate it in.
#7 What was the best or funniest search term which visitors used to come to your site?
I don’t have anything that funny to offer. However, one thing I really don’t like and which many search terms did contain was the word Columbia. My dear friends, it may be British Columbia, the university may also be Columbia University, but if you talk about the country, please spell it with two O’s, it is Colombia. If you want to see all my Latin American recipes, check this link.
#8 What do you wish for your blog in 2020?
I am so very happy that I get emails, comments and the like for my recipes. Many are positive, a few negative and each time somebody sends a picture or provides some feedback, it fills me with joy. The reason for my blog is that people actually make the recipes, so whether you want to use Facebook, Instagram, or would like to ask me via email info at jennyisbaking dot com, I am always happy to hear back and if you have an earnest baking question, I will do my very best to answer it.
To 2020! (the featured picture shows my number cake recipe)!
It has been exactly two years that I started this blog. Unbelievable! For that reason I posted this delicious strawberry chocolate cake last week, check it out, I just love the combination of chocolate and strawberries, don’t you? I didn’t want to publish another recipe today, but only wanted to do a review. I am going to answer Sabine’s questions from the blog Schmeckt nach mehr (in German) again.
#1 What was your most successful blog article of the second year?
I already had a hunch when I started preparing this blog post. It has definitely become a fashion to make cake or letter cakes, such as the one I made below. I knew that it was going to generate a lot of clicks. However, if you want to know why I almost didn’t publish the recipe, check out my blog post.
Today on the first day of 2019 I thought it would make sense to do a best of 2018. From your point of view. For that I am going to introduce your ten favorite recipes here, the ones you click and commented the most. As some recipes got featured in MSN and Yahoo in December, I had to patiently wait until the last day to actually have a look at the final result. I have to say, this was also very interesting for me, you know checking and realizing what you actually enjoy. But let’s get started:
#10 No-bake lime cheese cake
This no-bake lime cheese cake is completely gluten free and needs no baking at all. You may want to give it a try during the cold season as well. Especially if you have any limes left over after your New Year’s celebration 😉
#9 Colombian sweet bread or roscónes
This is a sweet yeast dough filled with guava paste. In my opinion the best sweet bread from Colombia, hands down.
#8 One-pot vegetable lasagna
Yes, you will find savory dishes on my blog occassionally. Apparently you like this dish a lot. What I like about this recipe is that it comes together so quickly, all you need is a good skillet. The recipe can also be made vegan and is perfect for a healthy dinner.
#7 Colombian cheese balls or buñuelos
I am very excited that this recipe made it into the top ten, considering that I only published it in December. The best part? They are deep-fried and gluten free, the best snack on earth!
#6 Plum tart with cinnamon streusel
This recipe has been passed down and been circled around friends and family. I can’t believe it took me so long to finally introduce it here. No wonder you loved it, too.
#5 Vegan Oreo chocolate cake
I am excited that this guest post from Ramona from the blog somegreenlife made it to number 4. And in case you didn’t know, yes, Oreos are vegan and this cake tastes like a gigantic Oreo cake!
#4 Colombian corn bread with cheese filling or arepa boyacense
Yes, these are gluten free (do you start seeing the pattern?) and they are filled with mozzarella. I love this as a snack, no wonder you loved this recipe as much as I do!
#3 Chocolate lava cake
You will need only few ingredients to make this happen. I provide tips on how to be sure for the center to actually be lava.
#2 Heidesand cookies
These cookies have very few ingredients and are the most tender and buttery cookie you can possibly imagine. The best cookie for vanilla shortbread lovers. No wonder it is in the top three.
#1 Letter cake with raspberry cream
I made the famous letter or number cake with sponge cake and filled it with raspberry cream. Apparently you love this fluffy cake with macaron decoration, too! For that reason I made another number cake, this time I filled it with lemon cream and a touch of mint, you know after all that heavy Christmas food 😉 Feel free to check out the recipe here.
I hope you had a wonderful New Year’s celeberation and that 2019 has a lot in store for you!
I am excited to say that tommorow a new blog event gets started! Spring is here and finally all things fresh and bright are popping up. I want to encourage you to get some color into your food so therefore I am organizing the blog event “Colorful Food”! The basic idea is that you pick one rainbow color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, or pink) and create a dish with it. The color has to come from the ingredients themselves, no artificial food coloring allowed. On top of that I present a fruit pizza here with all rainbow colors, because how else can you celebrate this event? For the recipe, please scroll down.
Are you interested in taking part? This is what you have to do:
- From May 1, 2018 until June 30, 2018 you have to create a recipe/dish in one rainbow color (yes, you have to color-code this time, your recipe should only be in one main color), no artificial food coloring allowed, only natural coloring. The recipe can be anything, ranging from sweet, savory, drink, dessert or main dish as long as it is in one color. Please don’t use posts from your archive, but only newly created ones.
- Post the recipe with at least one picture on your blog, come back here, leave your blog post via inlinkz (scroll down) and have a look what the others created.
From February 15, 2018 until March 15, 2018 I asked people to take part in the coffee invite event. The basic idea was for you to make something from scratch and invite somebody over. There was no give-away. So today the event is over and the question is how it went. The answer is, it was great, yet different than expected. I received a lot of messages of people telling me that they were inspired and that they invited somebody over. I also know that the four guest bloggers Nina, Lisha, Marileen and Lizet invited people over. Usually people would either come over to me and be like “You inspired me, I actually baked something and invited my best friend.” I would then reply: “Wonderful, did you take a picture of it?” And the typical reply was: “Oooops, I forgot.” So unfortunately I don’t have a lot of proof of all these coffee invites. However, people did take part. And that is what counts for me. I didn’t want people to just make a recipe in order to generate clicks, I didn’t want people to bake to post later nice pictures on Instagram, I simply wanted to inspire people to share what they had baked.
So as stated, I don’t have a lot of proof other than messages, but below you will find the pictures that were actually submitted. Some bloggers also took part, so yay! I will still call the event a success. As long as people had fun, as long as they were inspired to make something from scratch, I would say we achieved great. Some people also pointed out to me that I was basically doing this during lent. But seriously, there is more than cake you can make, for example I also have some sugar free muffins on this blog I am sure don’t count as sweets during lent. But whatever, I know for a fact that people did bake and did invite somebody over, that’s all that counts!
It is very common to present a “Best of” either at the end of the old year or beginning of the new year. Which one were the favorite posts of year X, which ones were liked most, etc. However, I’ve decided to do my review for my first blog anniversary. I know, it is not that common, but somehow I feel it’s the perfect time. I was inspired by Sabine’s questions from the German blog Schmeckt nach mehr. Instead of only presenting the most liked and clicked recipes, she invites to answer eight questions about the blog and do to a review. Very suitable after the first year, don’t you think? For that reason may I present the eight questions:
#1 What was your most successful blog post from your first year?
I am happy to say that the Molten Lava Cake made it to the top quickly, it is the most clicked blog post as of now, but also faires very well on Pinterest. It not only makes me happy as I love chocolate, but also since it is a rather new post I posted towards the end of my blogging year. So it doesn’t necessarily need to be an “old” recipe to make it to the top. And here is a little secret about the pictures I took: I took them in a record time of ten mintues. Normally I am fairly slow taking pictures, I am still learning the ropes. But for two reasons I had to be ultra fast this time. One, the lava part disappears quickly if you don’t react fast. Two, I usually take pictures on the balcony since we live in Hamburg and have crappy light about half of the year. I distinctly remember it being very cold, almost freezing and me doing my best to get back in quickly…
Exactly one year ago my first blog post Lemon Tarts went online. This means “Blogger Happy Birthday To Me”, yay! I thought really long and hard as to what to do for my first birthday. Somehow I feel everything has been done already. And since I am a stubborn person, I also wanted something more than a boring give-away just to lure in more readers. That’s simply not me, regardless of what marketing says.
Yes, this is a baking blog and I hope that my recipes are mouth-watering for my readers. Yes, I also started this blog since I have been asked to share recipes many times and I simply find baking relaxing. But for me the main purpose of baking is to share the baked goods with others. That’s why I invite you to my event. I ask you to bake something, regardless of whether this is a recipe which was passed down in your family, whether you find a recipe you want to try on my/a blog or whether it is one from a cookbook. It doesn’t matter whether you follow a recipe to the dot or whether you alter a recipe to your liking. Be it cookie, cake, something small, a complicated layer cake, whether you spend hours in the kitchen or you whip something in a jiffy, it all doesn’t matter, as long as you follow one rule. The one and only rule is that you have to share your baked goods with at least one guest.
This is the core of baking for me. That you share, sitting together at a table, chatting, laughing, crying, that you indulge yourself in some cake and learn about the other. I strongly believe that it doesn’t matter if you spent hours baking or went for a simple cookie, as long as you did it with love and passion, I am sure your guest(s) will notice.
For that reason I invite you as of today, February 15, 2018 until March 15, 2018 to invite at least one guest and to bake something for this person for that occasion. I invite you to take a picture, either just of what you baked, or with the permission of your guest, also of your invites and to tell me how the event went. Once the timeframe is over, I will do a roundup on this blog.