Love Every Plate has been in the works, more or less, since 2007. You know, back when it was cool to have those stick straight diagonal bangs. I know it wasn’t just me. It was you, too.

I baked my first from-scratch dessert, a black forest layer cake, and spent an entire afternoon putting it together. I always look back on that cake with lots of love, because even though it was a disaster every step of the way, it uncovered my joy and passion for baking and cooking things. But make no mistake, that doesn’t mean I was basking in the joy of accomplishment. I just mean that while I was wallowing in self pity (a habit that I have yet to break) I knew that I’d try it again when I cooled off and got a plan together.

The layers were unevenly baked, and I didn’t bother to level off the tops. I added way too much flour and overbeat the batter, which made for a very dry and crumbly cake. I bought sour cherries for the filling and garnish, and used granulated sugar to try and make a buttercream that ended up grainy and greasy. (You use a sweetened whipped cream for a black forest cake, FYI.)

You do the math. Trying to stack that thing up was an exercise in patience that I did not have. But I did it anyway. I had a little purple Kodak EasyShare digital camera, and did my best to manipulate the angles and the light. A frustrating 15 minutes later and the cake started to slide apart because I couldn’t wait for it to completely cool before assembling. Barely warm was good enough, right?

But despite the pitfalls, that black forest cake is one I look back on fondly. It really was the beginning of learning how to love every plate. It’s easy to dislike or even hate the things we eat. Either it’s too time consuming to make, too fattening or just too frustrating to try and perfect. I should know – a few too many times (unsuccessfully) testing the same recipe is enough to put me off of cooking for a week, and make me question why I do this – why I even love it in the first place.

And I always go back to that black forest cake. It was awful from top to bottom. But I LEARNED. And once I finally perfected my black forest cake, years later, the joy and confidence that came from completing that journey was immense. I could have given up, but I didn’t! Whether it teaches you how to make something, sharpens an existing skill set, fills you with joy because ‘look what I made!’ or simply feeds you, there is something to love in every single plate.

If you find even just one of my recipes that brings you a small spark of joy, sense of accomplishment, and of course a full belly, then all the work that has gone in to Love Every Plate has been worth it. Thanks for visiting!!