Welcome to my kitchen!

My kitchen is my studio, my laboratory, and sometimes my therapy office—especially when there’s dark chocolate and buttermilk involved.

I didn’t grow up with fancy equipment or glossy cookbooks. My first cake was a lopsided one-bowl wonder from my grandma’s recipe tin, baked in a toaster oven when I was twelve. It sank in the middle and tasted faintly of cinnamon and too much hope. But that was the beginning. Over the years, I baked through breakups, promotions, moves across the country, and one very long phase of infatuation with salted caramel drizzle. Chocolate has been the constant—sometimes bitter, often sweet, always honest.

What I love most about baking is the invitation it extends to experiment and to mess up gloriously. I once tried folding sour cream and avocado into a chocolate ganache just to see what would happen (not recommended, unless you enjoy mousse that tastes like guacamole at a masquerade ball). But that’s part of the magic, isn’t it? The trying, the tweaking, the surprise of finding something utterly decadent where you least expected it.

I’m not a pastry chef. I’m a home baker with callused hands, a wild imagination, and a deep respect for the transformative power of cocoa. I’ve spent years developing chocolate cake recipes that are both doable and dreamy—from impossibly moist sheet cakes slathered in espresso fudge frosting to little lava cakes that ooze like they’ve got secrets. And every recipe I share comes with the kind of detailed, no-fuss guidance I wish I had when I was first dusting cocoa across my countertops.

So, whether you’re looking to master the perfect crumb, test-drive an ambitious layer cake, or just bake something on a Tuesday because the world feels too heavy, I’m here. Let’s make chocolate cake that tastes like memory, mischief, and a little bit of magic. You bring the curiosity—I’ll bring the cocoa.

Lilia karin
Founder & Baker at chocolate cake recipes