Here’s a Fun Way to Document Your Baking Journey and Growth as a Baker in The New Year

Baking is a fun activity, and it’s important to record your journey, including the rights and wrongs and ups and downs. Here’s how.

So picture this: baking is one of your passions. You've set baking resolutions and goals you want to achieve in 2024. You’re excited about learning new things and acquiring new skills. Maybe, you cook for friends and family or perhaps you have a baking business and are hoping to expand your menu. Whatever the case, if you bake regularly, you're a baker. And we have the perfect way for you to record your baking journey through 2024 — a baking journal.

Journaling and art journaling are great ways of recording the important moments of your life. They're also essentially just blank pages and allow for endless creativity when it comes to actually filling them in. Today, there are many ready-made baking journals in the market, where you just have to fill the info in with a pen or pencil, and you're good to go. If you're someone to whom that sounds appealing, then by all means, go ahead and purchase one.

However, if you're so inclined, we’d recommend you purchase a journal with plain blank pages and fill it all in yourself. For one, the act of making place for information and filling it in means you're engaging in another hobby, and a rather artistic one at that. But seeing the pages customized to your liking is also a way of making your baking journey more exciting. So, if you're convinced, then along with the journal, purchase some color pencils, crayons, highlighters or any other medium you prefer, and lets get journaling.

The first thing you want to keep in mind is that each new creation you bake should have a spread dedicated to it. This means two side-by-side pages. So the first thing you want to do is think of a fun little art project for the first right page, which is the absolute first page of the journal. You could perhaps write your name and then add the words ‘baking journal’. Or, you could make a sketch of a cake or cupcake or some other dish that’s particularly close to you. You could also draw a rolling pin, a blender, or some other baking equipment. The idea is to create an introduction page that sets the tone for the rest of your journal - and excites you when you look at it. Because remember, a journal isn't for someone else. It’s primarily for you to see. So make sure that each page speaks to you and makes you happy.

Once you’ve figured out the first page, it's time to plan what your spreads will look like. Just one option, perhaps for a chocolate cupcake, can go like this — on the top of the left page, you can add a drawing of a cupcake. Or, you can take a polaroid picture of what you've baked and stick that in, and surround it with illustrations of mini cupcakes as a border or added decoration. Below that, add notes or special points to keep in mind. If the cupcakes didn't turn out great, meditate on what you think may have gone wrong. If they were good, make a note of what you did differently or mindfully and jot down the things you want to remember.

On the right side page, you can put the recipe at the top. Use measurements you’re comfortable with. And in the earlier notes section, add details about anything you did differently or any experiments you want to try for the next time. The lower part of this page can further be divided into two sections. One part can simply be called ‘result’ and you can make a detailed note about how the cupcakes turned out. And below that, you can add a section for anecdotes. Perhaps you baked the batch of cupcakes for a birthday party and everyone devoured them. Perhaps your child loved them so much that they ate two or three in one go. Perhaps your decorations were so on point that a large number of people complimented you for it. Whatever fun little stories or instances happened around the dish is what you must record here. It’s a great way of adding an emotional element, and will reinforce why baking is something you enjoy so much.

This is just one spread option and the beauty of journaling is that you can customize your pages any way you want. So get baking and get journaling!