blog anniversary Archives - Jenny is baking

Review after Two Years of Blogging

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.

Letter or number cake with sponge and raspberry cream

15/02/2019

Summary of my Blog Event

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!

16/03/2018

Review of my first year of blogging

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…

Molten Lava Cake

16/02/2018

Blog Event: Invitation to a Coffee plus a Whisky Chocolate Caramel Cake

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.

15/02/2018