Who is the average baker behind Average Bakes?

Joanne Goldy
Nov 6 · 3 min read

Hey 👋 I’m Joanne and I’m just an average person baking in my spare time.

It may sound like a weird introduction, but it’ll make sense as you read on.

I’ve introduced myself a lot in the last 28 years— at school, University, family gatherings, on holiday, in interviews, at events etc—and this means I’ve thought about the topic of “myself” quite a lot. I guess you could say I’m an expert 🤷‍♀️.

My typical ruminations include:

  • How do I best describe myself?
  • What details of my life should I share with this stranger?
  • What will this stranger think about me?
  • Should I tell them about that time I did x, y or z?
  • Why am I worrying so much about this?!

As someone who identifies as a high achiever, it’s difficult not to feel a huge amount of anxiety around these questions.

For me, personal introductions have always been a struggle because I’m not that confident inside and although I’ve been very fortunate to do amazing things in my life (aka I have experiences I could share), I’m a pretty shy person and don’t find it easy to big myself up. I worry about what people think of me, so not making a really positive first impression is always a concern.

This leads back to my average intro. Over the last year, I’ve gone through a hugeee amount of personal growth (basically I’ve grown up a lot in a short space of time) and in the last few weeks, I came to the realisation that it’s perfectly okay to just be average. 🥴 Wow, let that sink in for a moment.

So, what does alllll of this have to do with baking? I’ve always enjoyed baking (kudos to my encouraging and patient family of home bakers) and thanks to years of failed bakes and practice, I’m not bad at producing bakes that taste good most of the time (don’t ask my husband about my cookie-making skills back in 2016 though!).

But — my bakes always look average. I’m not skilled in decoration and whenever I’ve tried to fancy things up in the past, they still have that homemade look. For a long time, this bothered me as I wanted my bakes to look as amazing as the showstoppers on Instagram or TV baking shows.

Rather than worry and fret about producing professional-looking bakes though, I’ve decided to share my Average Bakes here and fill a small gap in the world with images of baked goods that are just regular/normal/homemade and made by a literal average Jo. The mission is to train myself to be less critical and more forgiving with my baking — and more forgiving of myself in general. There’s nothing wrong with embracing the average in life!

TLDR: This blog and my Instagram are spaces for me to share my thoughts on mental health through the medium of baking as a hobby! ☺️

Average Bakes

Joanne Goldy

Written by

The average baker behind Average Bakes!

Average Bakes

Just an amateur baker sharing average bakes — because life is no fun when you’re always striving for perfection.

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