Do you like baking? I LOVE to bake. My sisters used to call me Betty Crocker and made fun of me when I told them I wanted an Easy Bake Oven for my birthday one year. But I cheat when I bake–sad, I know–the Pillsbury cake and brownie mixes are easier than making cakes from scratch because there is less potential for failure.

Now you might be wondering why I’ve spent the past paragraph telling you about my love of baking when this article is supposed to be about one of our lesser known activities at the high school. It’s like one of those “Okay, we get it, get to the point already, you’re wasting my life!” moments. Well here’s that segue you’ve all been waiting for: Minnetonka has a Baking Club!

The Baking Club at MHS has been around for 2 years now, but it’s just been under the radar. This year, under the faculty advisement of Mrs. Markert (Foods and International Foods teacher) and student president Emily B., Baking Club will be meeting two Wednesdays a month until the end of the school year and they will take on different recipes each time. Even though they’ve already kicked this year off, new members are more than welcome and encouraged to join.

Now, baking club isn’t just for the professional pastry chefs and Cake Bosses of the world to gather and flaunt their culinary skills. It doesn’t matter if you “cheat bake” like I do, or if you don’t even know how to turn on an oven, the baking club welcomes you. Chef Gusteau from Ratatouille always says, “Anyone can cook.” The same applies to baking at MHS. Mrs. Markert’s goal through baking club is “to inspire many young people to try baking…and [to provide] a place for friends to share the love of baking.” They plan on focusing this year on pastries and desserts, like stained glass sugar cookies and chocolate soufflé.  If that sounds intimidating to you – like it does to me – don’t worry, an adult will be present if you have problems or questions and they will know how to turn the smoke alarms off (in case of a…minor incident).

According to Mrs. Markert, “We also may have guest pastry chefs come in.” Maybe if you don’t really like baking, but you like cooking, you should join baking club, learn how to bake well and talk to professionals about possible career tracks for you. But if you have any interest whatsoever in baking, learning to bake, or eating what you’ve baked, join Baking Club; I can assure you that if anything, it will be delicious.