Hi there, I'm Jess.

An Aussie girl who loves to create American-inspired recipes.  A foodie at heart, I love to travel and taste test along the way. I'm particularly fond of the USA and get much of my baking inspiration from their expansive culinary culture. Peanut butter cheesecake, red velvet whoopie pies and smores galore, I am in my element when creating, baking and shooting calorie-laden desserts.

We moved to Sydney at the end of 2016 and we LOVE it. We've fallen head over heels for the city's vibrancy, world-class beaches and amazing food scene. Monday to Friday, I earn my pay check working for a food magazine. On the weekends, you'll find me satisfying my sweet tooth in an American candy store, sampling macarons in a quaint patisserie, and slowly working my way through our 'must eat' list. That is when I'm not washing up an ever growing pile of baking dishes or trying to find the perfect stream of sunlight for a great cake photo. 

My husband, aka the taste tester, is as keen on American barbecue as I am on donuts. I can usually find him concocting a new barbecue rub, making the world's best chipotle tacos or hunting down authentic American barbecue sauce (hello Stubbs!). We also have a black and white cat called Henry. He loves to stand in the middle of my photo shoots, knock over my boards and step in my cakes.

So far we have been blessed to visit Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Boston, Washington DC, San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Seattle, as well as Vancouver and Montreal in Canada. We plan to explore more of the South on our next adventure, so I can taste sweet pies and peach cobbler and enjoy real Southern hospitality. I also have my sights set on Chicago, because I really really want to go to the Bang Bang Pie Shop. 

For mouth-watering food photos, follow me on Instagram or Pinterest. And don't miss a Sweetest Menu post by signing up to our newsletter or  join me on bloglovin' or Facebook. Check out our Features to see where Sweetest Menu has popped up over the place or find your new favourite treat in our Recipe collection.  

Happy baking y'all! Jess x
thesweetestmenu@gmail.com