Hello there fellow cake people!  Hope you’re having a lovely 2018!  It’s time for new year’s resolutions … um in my case a list of cakes I’d like to make this year!  Yay!  First looking back at 2017 in the featured photo above you can see last year’s top nine posts with the most views while the runner-up posts are below, numbered 10 to 18.  Many of these starred in last year’s top 18 too but there are some interesting newbies and the basics section’s still getting a good share of visits!

Here’s a screenshot of the stats (the posts and pages are listed with links at the bottom).  If you’re not keen on figures please just look at the photos.  🙂

Neutral mirror glaze (to cover tarts or mousse cakes) has stayed on top.  The simplicity of the ingredients is handy:  just sugar, water and gelatine.  Some cakes are still popular from people saving them on Pinterest:  the macarons, Dreams of Florence and Moka gâteau.  But most people who visit have done google searches, often looking for instructions to make basic elements like pastry and the newly popular raspberry jelly layer, meringue discs and caramel mirror glaze.  Caramel…yum.  The Black Forest gâteau is another newbie along with the ‘slightly healthier’ walnut, coffee and carrot cake.

Healthier cakes?  Vegan?

Last year I often went off piste from the classics experimenting with healthier desserts and a few vegan cakes.  Only one of these made it to the top 18 but ranking according to the number of ‘likes’ received from WordPress people (my fellow bloggers) shows a different story!!!  The screenshot below shows the vegan chocolate layer cake top left as the most liked, followed by healthier pink grapefruit or plum almond tarts, vegan chocolate cupcakes, fruit puff pastry tarts with healthier options, healthy chocolate brownies, healthier pineapple tarts, Moroccan chicken pie, and Black Forest gâteau.

Conclusions? 

Um some bloggers are experimental healthy eaters?  I imagine different factors make recipes popular:  usefulness, good photo, visibility on google, clear tagging, good timing or making classics people search for.  It’s amazing how food trends like macarons flood social media.  Anyway in the end stats are stats and variable, but cake is always cake.  So enough nostalgia looking back at my little babies… err cakes I mean.  Now to plan this year’s baking spree and posts…

Big cake plans!

I managed to post many cakes from my to-do list last year (see top posts 2016) but not the croquembouche.  Okay, I admit I’m scared of it… eek!  So this year I’ll face my fears and make it along with other stuff that may often be ‘healthier’ (my body’s saying ‘thank you, thank you!’) which could mean gluten-free, lower-gluten, refined sugar free or lower sugar.  I enjoy experimenting with vegan cakes and aquafaba too.  But let’s not give up yummy decadent cakes for the new year.  I suggest sharing bakes or freezing them and having small slices or portions.  This year I’m using the word ‘mini’ in my plan!  Lol.  Here’s the dream list in no particular order (why oh why did I put the croquembouche at the top?!):

Psst…I’m ticking things I’ve made as I go along and adding links to the posts in case you’re interested.  Plus it’ll help me feel a sense of achievement and see what I have left to do! 🙂

• Croquembouche (with craquelin and sesame nougatine)
• A crazy Sicilian-themed drip cake – I’ve never made a drip cake before!   √
  
• Mini cannoli
• Mini cassatine
  
• Pretty lemon macarons (on the Sicilian-themed drip cake post)   √
  
• Cassis (blackcurrant), raspberry and chestnut log cake
• Vegan maple syrup marshmallows (failed! eek)
  
• Flan parisien (classic French custard tart)   √
• Healthier crepe cake
• Lower-gluten sourdough bread – mum’s helping me!
• Apple strudel – with the proper strudel pastry  √
• Mini layer sponge cakes with fruit and cream
• Mandarin, yoghurt and crumble verrines (trifles in a jar) – on the yule log post   √
• Mandarin almond biscuits (cookies)

Some stuff is already in progress (or in the freezer) but needs further testing or posting.  Here are the photos and list:

• Mandarin dream log cake – ‘Mazing mandarin mousse cake   √
  
• Merveille praline log cake
• Mini galette des rois soleil (king cake in sun form) – mandarin and almond filling
• Mandarin and chestnut mont-blancs (with Gavottes wafer bases)
• Praline chocolate bars

• Apple entremets (with caramel mousse and apple compote inside)
• Lower-gluten or spelt plaited brioche   √
• Bostocks (almond French toast)
• Healthier pink grapefruit meringue tarts
• Glutenfree savoury salmon and redcurrant loaf cake

Oh my.  Maybe I got a bit carried away!  Oops.  Let me know if there are any favourites you’d like to try out soon.  Do you have any other cake suggestions?

Now I suppose I’d better be off and start working on this to-do list!!!  You see I’ve been a bit distracted by the festivities and holiday with mum in Sicily, where there were some lovely cakes and inspiration …

Mum’s still here visiting me in Barcelona.  She’s as great and enthusiastic a cake tester as ever and we’re having fun around Catalunya whenever I’m not working.  Though our wine and cava (champagne) tour all day yesterday slowed us down a little.  Ahem. 🙂

Before I amble off to finally make cakes please have a slice of healthier apricot sunshine mousse cake.  It’s one of my favourites from last year because it was ‘pâtisserie’ delicious but ‘healthier’.  Kind of my dream really.

So farewell and happy new year again dear reader!!!  What are your plans for 2018?  Hope you enjoy lots of lovely baking, cooking, eating and sharing this year!  🙂  Lili x

P.S.  Here’s that list of the top 18 with links (click on the recipe):

1. Neutral mirror glaze (nappage neutre)
2. Savoury goats cheese macarons with fig, walnut and black sesame
3. Easy fresh raspberry jelly layer/insert for tarts and mousse cakes
4. Caramel mirror glaze
5. Dreams of Florence caramel and raspberry dome cakes
6. Chinese baozi (steamed bun) dough recipe
7. Gâteau Moka
8. Citrus cotton soft Japanese cheesecake
9. Inverted or inverse puff pastry
10. Italian meringue macaron shells
11. French meringue discs and nests
12. Genoise sponge
13. Lining a French tart ring with pastry and blind baking
14. Traditional Black Forest gâteau recipe with pastry layer
15. Traditional Monas de Pascua – Spanish Easter egg bread
16. Ispahan raspberry, rose and lychee cupcakes
17. Swedish princess cake
18. Slightly healthier coffee and walnut cake with carrot

And photos of the latest experiments are up on my instagram account if you’re interested.