the cook stack

Welcome to State of the Kitchen, my monthly update on all things in my cooking life.

I am slogging, I mean really slogging, through my 2026 cooking goals of cooking my way through Cook This Book and Snacking Cakes. Here are the reasons why:

Reason #1: I have a baby who is not sleeping, meaning I am mega-low on energy after the kids go to bed and I have “cook for fun” time

Reason #2: I find the recipes in Cook This Book to be *just* out of reach. Meaning, the recipes are either just a bit too involved for my low bandwidth these days, require at least one ingredient that has been hard to find, and/or just do not excite me. I have made 13 recipes, and, while there have been a few superstars, there have been several I did not like at all. I have only made the broccolini recipe repeatedly. The others just take too long! All of these things together make it hard to find motivation to keep cooking through this book. To be decided as to whether or not I shelve this goal for the year….

Reason #3: Snacking Cakes certainly makes decent cakes. The recipes are simple and straightforward. I have now made 6 cakes, and there has been one true winner (the Brown Butter and Pecan White Chocolate Cake). The others were decent and truly what I would call a “snacking” cake – something I can just have a small piece of here and there. I keep them in a glass cake dome on our kitchen counter, and my husband and I eat a piece when the sweet tooth strikes. It feels very domestic goddess-like to always have a bit of cake around. However, I am *yawn* bored of making simple cakes! I want to flex my baking muscles a bit and eat some other sort of treats here and there.

So, I am thinking of freeing myself from these self-imposed goals and just cook what I want to eat. I will give it a try for a few weeks. Stay tuned!