In this world of success, and experts… of people looking for their big break, of five steps to stardom and instant celebrity… of Pinterest perfection and Instagram insanity… amateur is a dirty word. We all want to go pro. To prove our expertise.

And in the midst of this quest for perfection and professionalism we find we have lost our hobbies, the joy of mess, of process, of doing something for its own sake, because we enjoy it… rather than doing something to impress people, make money, or build a career.

My baking blog fell by the wayside in this way – I started from a love of baking, and quickly felt like a very small fish in a very big pond. I am a busy working mama, I don’t have the time, equipment or patience for taking fancy styled photos… our house is always WAY too much of a mess… the light’s all wrong… and anyway we’re usually all too greedy to wait another minute once the yummy things are just cool enough not to do us a serious injury.

One of my few “fancy” photos! But look… there’s still crumbs everywhere!

As my writing life became more professional, food blogs got uber-professional, and as I began to teach blogging, at a cookery school of all places, I felt more and more shame about my humble little baking blog. I wasn’t a cookery writer. I wasn’t a fancy photographer…. And so in one of my regular culls of “things that take too much energy in comparison for the money I earn from them” rebalancing sessions, The Queen of Puddings got the chop. As someone who had to write for a living it had become the cheese straw that broke this camel’s back.

I even stopped baking, when I cut out wheat and sugar.

And sure it freed up space. And time. And small fish feelings.

But here’s my truth. I LOVE baking. Cake makes me happy. Baking keeps me grounded. It’s how I love to share my love…

And so the blog is back.

Amateur as hell and proud.

You won’t find it via Pinterest or Instagram.

It’s unashamedly old school and will have pretty pictures almost never.

If good recipes without fancy colour photos were good enough for Elizabeth David, then they’re good enough for me too!

The recipes – they’re there for my friends. And for me. They’re my go-to goodies that are tried and tested and much-loved in our home.

So consider this an invitation to the secretest baking blog in the world. Invitation only!

There will be over half of it devoted to gluten-free baking. But only if it’s truly yummy. Starting with my I can’t believe it’s not REAL cake recipe.

Please do send me your favourite, tried and tested, cook this all the time sweet treats, and we’ll have a regular guest post spot on it too.

Welcome back – The Queen of Puddings!

And you, dear creative soul… will you join me in reclaiming a passion as a hobby… not for anything other than your own pleasure? Will you join me in being a proud amateur, and letting yourself do something YOU love following your OWN rules…

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