I’m not a baker. I can cook, but I do not bake.

OK, here’s my unpopular opinion: cooking and baking aren’t that different, and the differences between them are massively overstated. If you can follow a savory meat dish recipe that spends time in the oven, you can make a cake.

I’ve worked in restaurants and as a pastry chef. It’s all the same fundamentals. People say baking has to be “more precise” and I don’t even think that’s true. Plenty of savory sauces and meat dishes require just as much, if not more, precision as baking.

I mean this to be encouraging. I hear from a lot of talented cooks that they don’t bake and I’m always like but… you could? You’re just inexperienced at it. But a passionate cook is also a passionate baker.