Good-Bye 2022
And hello 2023!
Greetings friends. I hope this final message of 2022 finds you with satisfied bellies and full hearts. I need to keep it brief as parenting duties call, but since I had a morning “off” I thought I’d try to squeeze in one last note to you.
Mostly I just want to say thank you for bearing with me as I’ve navigated a pretty major life shift in 2022. Working for myself has forced me out of my comfort zone more than any other job I’ve held, and it has tested me in a lot of fascinating (and sometimes frustrating) ways. I’ve “failed” some, “succeeded” some, and learned dizzying amount.
Although it was often easy to chase these various paths of new knowledge, thanks to this newsletter and all of you, I somehow managed to avoid spiraling too quickly in too many directions. You all graciously kept me motivated and accountable by subscribing, reading, commenting, and messaging me in private. So above all, I am grateful to you for sharing this newsletter journey with me.
Now because Fridays this month have felt rather empty without some shared recipes, I’ll leave you with this cake I made for my mom’s birthday. It’s a two-tiered version of the Chocolate Hazelnut Torte from Zoë François’ book, Zoë Bakes Cake. I made it using the cake part of her Hot Chocolate Cake recipe (dividing the batter into two 8” and two 6” pans) and following the instructions in the book for making her pralined Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
The finished cake was a big success and praline forward in flavor. If you’re someone who would want more chocolate, I would recommend using Zoë’s Devil’s Food Cake recipe (shared here from Dorie Greenspan’s Substack newsletter). It’s a little moister and denser — being oil-based — whereas the hot chocolate cake is lighter and fluffier. You can’t really go wrong either way, of course.
I’ll leave you there, and look forward to continuing our time together in 2023. Please eat well (in whatever way that means for you) until then, and reach out if you have a particular goal for 2023 that involves cooking or baking. I’d love to know about it and/or share whatever knowledge I can.
All my best,
Charlotte