may | june 2020 28A
s “Can’t Help” by Parachute reverberates across a spacious home
kitchen in Minneapolis, Minnesota, morning light hits gleaming
copper pans that hang on a rack, ready to become the vessels for asweet jam fi lling, sticky caramel, or a boozy reduction. In the corner, double
ovens preheat and fi ll the room with effusive warmth while a stand mixer is
posed at full tilt, waiting to whip up a velvety batter or shiny meringue peaks.
At the center of it all is Zoë François, dancing around the room as she moves
from one step in her baking process to another. Her two sons, Henri and
Charlie, 21 and 19 respectively, rush into the kitchen with their two standard
poodles, Miles and Roffman, in tow, hoping for a taste of Zoë’s latest recipe.
This pastry chef and cookbook author turned blogger has made her kitchen
into her ultimate happy place. It’s also the scene from which Zoë shares her
love of baking with more than 200,000 followers around the world through
her popular Instagram, @zoebakes.
The author behind the blog Zoë Bakes and coauthor of the Bread in Five series
with Jeff Hertzberg, Zoë is a heavyweight in the blogging and cookbook
industries. She’s known for her showstopping recipes that range from
meringue-topped tarts that she toasts with a blowtorch to elegant white
cakes painstakingly decorated with handmade white chocolate feathers.
Thanks to her Instagram story tutorials, YouTube videos, and blog posts, Zoë
has established herself as a baking teacher, helping her readers and followers
conquer techniques they never thought they could before. With her videos
averaging 40,000 views, Zoë’s followers voraciously make her recipes and
share them on social media almost as soon as they’re posted.Zoë’s drive to spread her love of baking started long before social media ever
came along. Flash back to Zoë’s childhood in Vermont, where she grew up
on a commune and seldom had access to traditional cakes and candies made
with refi ned sugar. Instead, the baked goods she had were fl avored with what
the community could grow and sweetened with fresh honey from nearby
beehives. When she got ahold of a Twinkie from a friend’s lunch box in
elementary school or cakes made with refi ned sugar in her home economics
classes in high school, she didn’t take it for granted. “Because I never got to
have typical sweets growing up, baking has always been special to me,” Zoë
shares. It was in those home economics classes that Zoe truly learned to bake