Simple Baking to Build Your Recipe Box

Hi everyone!

Some of you guys might have noticed that I’m really leaning into simple baking and easy recipes lately. There’s a couple of reasons for this, not the least of which is that we’ve got a 2-month-old baby taking up much of our time now.

But I also think it’s really important to build up simple recipes. These are the things that I started baking with when I was younger, and I think for most people, these are the kinds of things that actually get made and eaten. Sure, maybe we want to bake 10 layer stunning cakes sometimes, but in reality, simple baking is at the heart of why we all like to bake. Maybe that’s just me- ha!

I also know that baking at high-altitude is tough. If there is one thing that made it easier for me, it was making the simple recipes work first. Then you’ve got reliable pieces that you can whip up anytime, and you can build from these recipes into other flavors and desserts.

So, I’ve decided to make this a series. You’ll see the individual recipes coming around as usual of course, and then here I’ll collect them all for easy access and to help you build your recipe box. Btw, do you guys still use recipe boxes? Cause I love them. I own an unreasonable amount of recipe boxes, it’s silly honestly.

Alright, here we go, here’s the collection so far, I hope you guys find some great stuff here!

1. Perfect Yellow Cake – You can use this recipe for just about anything. Feel free to flavor it as you see fit, double and triple it, make cupcakes and crumb cakes and whatever you feel like with it!
2. Perfect Chocolate Cake – Chocolate cake is a toughie you guys, especially at high-altitude. Don’t mess around, just get it right on the first try.
3. Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting – Another classic, this is a combo of my yellow cake (turned cupcakes) and a sweet chocolatey frosting.
4. Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes – Chocolate and peanut butter, you know the drill. These cupcakes are not shy about piling that fluffy peanut butter frosting on top.
5. Vanilla Sponge Cake – Sponge cake is really simple, and kind of magic. It’s easy to whip up, and it can stand alone, or you can throw fruit or frosting or chocolate on top.
6. Butter Shortbread Cookies – These are super light and buttery, plus you can use the dough as crust for bars too!
7. Peanut Butter Brownies – Brownies are another tough thing to get right- these are swirled with crunchy peanut butter to bring in the win, and they’ve got that papery top layer that we all love.
8. Vegan Pound Cake – This is your classic pound cake, adapted both for high-altitude and for vegan diets. It’s easy, and it’s just as satisfying as the classic!
9. High-Altitude Sandwich Bread – This is a super simple white-bread recipe that will work on it’s own, or as a base for other recipes!