Citrus Cornmeal Cake
because we still need cake in January
Hello friends and Happy New Year!
How are we all doing? I’m very glad to be back on here and in your inboxes. I’ll start by giving an extra big welcome to the wave of new subscribers that have joined over the last couple of weeks. The end of this month marks one year of writing Sweet Things and it’s been so much fun. I genuinely look forward to coming up with ideas, testing recipes and sitting down to write it all up each week. Here’s to another year sharing more of my favourite things.
I don’t know how you feel about January but for most people it brings up mixed responses. There’s the excitement of newness and starting things fresh; I’m particularly keen to start using my seasonal eating calendar and new notebooks. And I also find it’s a nice time to slow down on the back to back social gatherings and hectic diary management that comes with the festive season. But it can be a difficult month too for many reasons - if you’re in the UK, the cold and grey days can feel never ending and really impacts your mood. I’ll actually be spending most of my January in Mexico City topping up on Vitamin D which my skin desperately needs. But wherever you’ll be this month, one things remains true, we still need cake.
This week, for my first recipe of the year, I’m bringing you something rather simple. It leans into my cravings for something that feels fresh and bright but still buttery and cosy. Citrus is wonderful at this time of year and I’ve gone for maximum zestyness with lemons, oranges and grapefruit. The little 6 inch cake is the perfect size to scratch that baking itch without feeling like you’ve made enough cake to feed an army and will bring a little bit of sunshine to these long January days.
Enjoy,
Benjamina x
New Things for 2025
In the spirit of keeping things interesting, I’ll be adding a couple of new bits to Sweet Things.
I’ve decided to add a new section (or column?) where I’ll be sharing some cookery recipes. As much as baking is my thing, I really really enjoy cooking. Especially cooking for friends. Feeding others is my love language and this newsletter feels like the best space to share what I cook with the hopes that you might want to make it too. So expect casual, cosy and flavourful food that you can cook for your favourite people. It won’t be dinner party menus with multiple dishes but more of the food you’d make for those informal get togethers when your friend pops over and you just want to feed them something delicious and soul warming.
I’ll also be launching a Sweet Things Chat. What does this mean I hear you ask? The chat will be a space that can be accessed on the Substack app or webpage and is the place for us to have more of a conversation. You can ask me questions (or ask each other) about anything from specific recipe queries to restaurant and bakery recommendations, to what kitchen equipment you should buy. Paid subscribers have the added perk of being able to start their own threads. I hope it will be a useful area for everyone to get even more out of the newsletter.
CITRUSSY CORNMEAL CAKE
