Sweet Beginnings…

Baking is one of my greatest passions—a hobby I can always count on to lift my spirits after a difficult day. Surprisingly, I didn't discover it until rather late in life. The way that I stumbled into this world is tied to the love of my life, which is what makes it all the sweeter!

To tell this story, I’ll need to travel back to Valentine’s Day, 2017. I wanted to do something a little extra special for my wife, but I didn’t want to just buy something from the store. While racking my brain for ideas, I remembered that she loves green tea and dark chocolate, so I spent the afternoon making this delicious treat!

Pretty good for a first attempt, right?

It was my first time ever making a ganache, first time baking a cake, first time trying my hand at decorating… but she absolutely loved it! During the process, I also discovered that I loved the process of observing the process of creaming butter and sugar together until it becomes lighted and whipped, mixing the batter to that perfect stage of consistency – combined together, but not so much that the end result would be too tough, delighting in the earthy, slightly sweet aroma of the green tea cake, and then becoming mesmerized in the satiny sheets of cascading ganache onto the finished product.

Little did I know that this cake would lead me down a path from ganaches to sourdough starters – but that’s a story for next time!