Wow! Can you believe it’s almost time for the new year?? Wasn’t January just last week?

Anyway, I decided to take some time this December and reflect on how things went on the blog this year. Here is my 2022 Year in Review!

January

Shortly after the holiday season, I made the goal of getting halfway through the recipes in the book. Which means I would have had to reach 52 recipes.

(Though I started out on track to meet the goal and remained so for a while, I did end up coming up quite short. But more on that in a future post.)

The first thing I baked during January was actually an Ina Garten dessert. It was perfect for cold January nights and since I used some out-of-season fruit it helped hold me over until the warmer months arrived.

Then the boyfriend and I experimented with bread baking. This would be a repeat theme at various points in the year. I also made a vegan dessert.

In the month of January, I only made one MBC recipe. And it was a Blueberry Pie (Recipe 19). As you can see, I sometimes have to use out-of-season produce to bake during the winter months. *shrug*

I also baked by son’s birthday cake. A chocolate cake out of Claire Saffitz’s cookbook Dessert Person. You can read how I was underwhelmed by it.

February

February saw the introduction of the monthly (or not-so-monthly) round up posts. You can read the full post here. But in February I baked three recipes for the Challenge: Cappuccino Muffins (Recipe 20), Confetti Sugar Cookies (Recipe 21), and my grandmother’s birthday cake which was the Super Rich Chocolate Cake in its normal form (Recipe 22).

Also, to celebrate my first Valentine’s Day with my boyfriend, I made a little Confetti Cake for us.

March

March was an interesting month here on the blog. I started to introduce posts on one of my other hobbies: Crochet. (Read all the Crochet posts!) Long time, regular readers were treated to occasional updates on Sophie’s Universe, a blanket that I’m crocheting.

In the kitchen, I was able to chalk up two recipes for the Challenge: Lemon Zest muffins and my dad’s birthday cake, the Super Rich Chocolate Cake (again!). You can read the full March recap here.

April

This was a busy month in the kitchen! It was also filled with lemon-flavored treats like this Lemon Cake. It was also one of the prettiest things I made this year.

But the dessert that really took the cake in terms of beauty (see what I did there??) was the chocolate pudding pie! Made for Easter, this pie was a huge hit and the photos I took made me feel like a full time food blogger who knows how to work a camera!

The full April recap can be found here.

May

Despite being a busy month for me, May was actually a productive month in the kitchen. Even though I opened my first show since 2020, I was able to make cupcakes for the Opening Night celebration. The play was Irish-themed and I tinted some of the frosting Orange and Green to make it look more like the Ireland flag.

I also decided to try my hand at scones…there’s a lot of scone recipes in the Magnolia Bakery Handbook. This time it was Lemon Poppy Seed Scones.

June

My birthday month was full of posts! I think it was the busiest month blogging-wise. I also continued to post about some of my other hobbies too, including some new crochet projects.

First, I made the easiest cookie ever and was impressed with the results. Then, for my birthday, I went all out. I made a raspberry chocolate cake. I still catch myself thinking about it from time to time.

You can read the full recap for both May and June right here.

July

During the long days of Summer, I returned to this blog’s roots with an Ina Garten recipe and knocked a few off the list from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. I also offered readers some tips about saving money on groceries, which can still be used today, even as inflation seems to be slowly easing. Here’s the monthly recap.

August

During the month of August, I started production on another show, which meant my time in the kitchen (and free time in general) was limited. But this is the month where I introduced the most popular post on the blog this year. The Hummingbird Cake! Even to this day, it is the most popular post on the site and helped me reach new heights when it comes to views and visits.

Have you tried making it yet? If not, you really should. Though it’s perfect for spring or summer, it can be enjoyed at any time during the year!

September

Another busy month for me, I’m surprise to see that I was able to get a couple recipes completed. The Dirt Bomb muffins and some lovely lemon and blueberry cupcakes both made my kitchen smell amazing (in different ways, of course). Using the last bit of in-season fruit as we turn away from summer and towards fall is always a bittersweet day for me.

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October, November, and December

I’m combining these months together since there isn’t much to say about them in general. In December, I barely posted at all (except for these end of the year posts).

October was the month where I shared the recipe for the cake that took the blog by storm! The Magnolia Bakery’s Hummingbird Cake recipe quickly became a popular post on the site. October was also the month where I returned to baking after finishing the production of Cabaret that I worked on.

In November I shared about my year of going to the theater (in two parts!) But also managed to bake a few things. I celebrated Ina Garten’s newest cookbook with a lovely recipe for a pound cake. I also managed to spice-up a snickerdoodle recipe for fall using the MB recipe as a guidepost.

As we entered December, it became hard for me to find the time to bake and blog. Actually, if I’m being honest, I’ve been having trouble finding the desire to blog, not so much bake. I’ve made a few things this month, including some brownies for a holiday party I went to a few weekends ago. I am also finishing a post for a cake I made out of the newest cookbook in my collection. I also have my yearly Top 5 Posts coming out next week so keep an eye out for that one.

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Well, there it is! My Year in Review post. This one took a lot of work and time to put together. It was a nice little trip down memory lane for me. Thank you for reading my little corner of the world wide web. I do appreciate it!