Up Early With the Rain

A thunderstorm in the old house, a quiet morning in the kitchen, and a chat with baking legend Dorie Greenspan.

Friends, hi!

Not to talk about the weather, but we had the loveliest rainstorm this weekend after nearly two bone-dry months here in Central Texas. The pasture was dust-colored and crisp, the bit of lawn I managed to water was hanging on by a thread. We were all just parched.

Then, in the early hours of Saturday morning, a storm finally rolled in. Thunder had the dogs pacing nervously around the bedroom while wind pushed sheets of rain against the old windows. There’s something about a thunderstorm in this 1888 house that feels like a full-on event. I always imagine how many storms these walls have witnessed, how many nights families before us have stayed awake listening, waiting it out.

I was up, of course, listening for leaks (a reasonable precaution in a house this age) but mostly just feeling the house hold steady while the trees outside shed a few limbs that softly landed in the yard for morning cleanup. I couldn’t sleep for it - the noise, the wonder of it all - so I gave in and got up to make pancakes at 4 a.m. I flipped them one by one in butter and leftover bacon grease, snacked on a few with my pot of half-caff coffee, and tucked the rest in the oven for when Will and the dogs woke up.

Unexpected, sure. But it was one of those quiet, right-sized mornings that make you glad to be awake.

Now, let’s get into a few good things for the week—including an incredible interview with my baking and caking icon, Dorie Greenspan.

Let It Be Sunday, 537!

Karlee’s leaning fully into the cozy shift of fall which means slower mornings, softer nights, and the art of scheduling a proper couch rot (because some rest is productive). In this week’s post, she shares reflections on nesting, the false rituals of control during infertility, and why the Mona Lisa’s fame started with a heist. There’s also a case for Apple Butter and Cream Cheese Kolaches, a debate over whether the viral Lola Blanket is worth the splurge, and a gentle reminder to decorate for the holidays in whatever way makes you happiest - Ralph Lauren Christmas or not.

Read the full post here: Nesting Season Has Officially Begun!

Last Week on the Blog

We’re taking it back to basics with one of my forever favorites: Brown Butter Banana Bread. Because honestly, who among us doesn’t have a few spotty bananas on the counter giving us the side-eye?

This loaf is comfort incarnate with warm with cinnamon, nutmeg, and that unmistakable nuttiness that only browned butter can bring. It’s the kind of bake that makes a house smell like home, whether it’s your first kitchen or your fiftieth.

A Conversation with the Baking Legend Herself: Dorie Greenspan

If you’ve spent any time baking from blogs, cookbooks, or Sunday afternoon daydreams, you already know Dorie Greenspan. She’s the five-time James Beard Award-winning author, New York Times bestseller, and culinary icon who somehow makes even the most technical pastry feel like a love note.

Dorie’s new cookbook, Dorie’s Anytime Cakes, joins a collection of fifteen (!!) beloved books that have taught us to trust our intuition, celebrate imperfection, and find joy in every crumb. Her career has spanned decades, kitchens, and continents from collaborating with Julia Child and Pierre Hermé to penning classics like (my favorite) Baking From My Home to Yours and Dorie’s Cookies. She’s earned France’s Mérite d’Agricole, a spot in the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who, and, perhaps most importantly, the undying affection of bakers everywhere.

I had the privilege of meeting and interviewing Dorie a few years back, and I can confirm: she’s every bit as delightful, generous, and curious as you’d hope. Talking to her feels like baking beside a friend who’s quietly teaching you everything she knows - about pastry, sure, but also about how to live with warmth and wonder.

I’m so thrilled to welcome her back here for a chat about her new book, the cakes that mean the most to her, and the secret to baking joyfully.

Let’s start with the origin story. What was the spark that made you think, Yep, this cookbook needs to exist?

I was creating three unfussy holiday cakes for The New York Times and calling them “kitchen cakes” – they were the non-showstoppers, the cakes that would sit on the counter inviting people to have a nibble as they came in and out of the kitchen. As I was working on these recipes, I was reminded of how much I love simple cakes, how comforting they are and how satisfying they are to make. I hadn’t been planning to write this book, but the pleasure of making those three cakes was so great that I didn’t want to stop. Of course those cakes are in the book. They are Baked-in-a-Skillet Gingerbread, Maybe-This, Maybe-That Ham and Cheese Loaf and the Holiday Bundt, which is the cake on the book’s cover.

What’s the recipe in the book that people will come back to over and over again? That one deeply satisfying dessert, cozy weeknight dinner, or “this always works” recipe that feels like an instant classic.

It’s so hard to say, since you’ve essentially called out all the things I hope every recipe in the book will be. Also, I’m terrible at choosing only one of anything. I make the Buttermilk Plum Cake a lot not just because it fits the “cozy weeknight dinner” criterion perfectly, but because I love any recipe that you can play around with, and this one is a definite play-arounder.

Marry, shag, kill: buttercream frosting, whipped cream, jam.

I’d marry jam – I love it as an ingredient in a cake, a filling or a glaze; I’d shag whipped cream; and while I wouldn’t kill buttercream, it would take me a while to miss it if it were gone.

What’s a cooking or baking hill you’re willing to die on?

Hmmm, given how I’m always playing around with recipes, it’s hard to think of a practice or a principle I’d insist on. But now that you’ve mentioned sifting … I avoid it whenever I can. What I don’t avoid is weighing ingredients, particularly flour. Don’t you wish there were a standard measurement for all-purpose flour? I do.

We’re going to a dinner party with a recipe from your book?

I love bringing something that looks simple but is full of flavor or has an unexpected texture. I might bring the Cafuné Corn Cake, which is made in a blender and baked in a Bundt pan – I love Bundts because they make every cake look gorgeous. Or the Berry Yogurt Cake, which is so easy that it’s the first cake French children learn to make, but which, with a little glaze and some fruit, goes from kitchen to cake stand in a flash. Or maybe my decades-old Bill’s Big Carrot Cake, that I remade as a sheet cake and which, when cut, stacked, filled and finished with frosting, earns the term “impressive”.

What’s the most chaotic recipe in the book?

There isn’t one! There isn’t one! There isn’t one! Hooray! While your description of a “chaotic recipe” made me simultaneously giggle and cringe, you’ve outlined just the kind of recipe I didn’t want to have in Anytime Cakes. Sorry – next question, please.

What’s a kitchen task you secretly love that everyone else seems to dread?

I love doing a mise-en-place. Not only does a mise-en-place make me feel more organized than I am by nature, but it’s saved me more times than I want to admit – you know, like when you take a phone call in the middle of baking and then forget the sugar? Saved by mise-en-place. Also, I like the way the ingredients look all set out on the counter.

What’s the most you recipe in this book?

Another near-impossible question. I love recipes that have a touch of whimsy. I love the ones that might be a play on a classic or a new way of looking at something we know well. And so I love recipes like the Chocolate and Almond Tabby-Not-Tiger Cake, a plain cake with a great glaze and a funny backstory; the Moko Cake-O, a cake version of a chocolate-chunk, rye and cranberry cookie; and the Rum-Raisin Visiting Cake, a revisit of a cake I’ve adored for ages. Oh, and the Devil’s Chocolate Cake, another treasured recipe made new. You didn’t think you were going to get a one-and-done answer, did you?

What’s your current cookbook crush?

I’m loving What Can I Bring? by Casey Elsass. I love the book and I love the author.

✨ Dorie’s Anytime Cakes Giveaway! ✨

To celebrate the release of Dorie Greenspan’s new cookbook, Dorie’s Anytime Cakes, we’re giving one lucky reader a copy!

💬 To enter: Comment below and answer this week’s question:
Do you have a go-to “kitchen cake”? What’s the unfussy, comforting cake you reach for again and again? (It’s ok if it’s a Costco cake, no judgement here.)

(Open to U.S. residents only. Giveaway ends Friday, October 31st. Winner will be contacted via Substack message.)

Purchase your copy of Dorie’s Anytime Cakes, here! And subscribe to Dorie’s fantastic Substack, here!