What is Between the Layers?

It began as a conversation about life through the lens of cooking and baking, with me doing most of the talking. But in the three years since I’ve been writing this newsletter is has blossomed into a community of people who like to bake, cook, and share ideas. We collaborate. (Between the Layers readers hear first about what books I’m writing and my new cookbook, Baking in the American South, which publishes Sept. 3, 2024!)

It’s never been just about the recipe to me. There might be a backstory, another side of the story, a reason to laugh, and a reason to take a closer look. My posts lead me to that recipe. And a really good recipe. But they take some side turns along the way.

I started writing about food for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in the late 1970s, and I have seen haute cuisine, nouvelle cousine, cuisine minceur, the creation of American cooking, a 1980s decadent style of cooking that would give way to ‘90s healthfulness and then to 2000 and its endless supply of online recipes and ideas but often no substance. And that’s where Between the Layers comes in.

In my Nashville kitchen. Photo: Bob Delevante.

Is it free?

Yes, every other Tuesday a public post is free for all readers. But paying subscribers receive my post each week as well as additional content. And it’s just $8 a month or $50 for the whole year, with recipes galore. You spend that on a coffee and a new cookbook! See below…

Why should I pay to subscribe?

You get the Tuesday post each week plus some Thursday posts, a rotating mix of throwback recipes, shopping lists, sneak peeks, and open threads of discussion.
Those live Subscriber Open Threads of conversation are about cast iron, favorite techniques, seasonal topics, new cookbooks, or go-to recipes. Ask me anything!
Plus, you are eligible for monthly contest giveaways, know what I’m writing week to week because I unveil that to subscribers a week before, and be a part of building Between the Layers.
Founding member subscribers receive all of this plus a custom Between the Layers apron, and their contributions allow readers who cannot afford to subscribe to become subscribers.

Either paid or free, just join me.

Since the days I was the food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, went to cooking school at La Varenne in Paris, wrote my first of 15 cookbooks and became the fan-favorite Cake Mix Doctor, I’ve wanted cooking and baking to be easier and more accessible for all. And I want it to be beautiful, too, which is why I cook and style the food in my photos, either professionally shot or with my IPhone.