Meet the Funny, Unfussy Woman Behind 'Crepes of Wrath’

All photos courtesy of Sydney Kramer

Your first instinct when you hear the name of Sydney Kramer’s blog, Crepes of Wrath, might be to laugh. It’s OK — that’s exactly Kramer is going for.

“I don’t take anything too seriously,” the Brooklyn resident told Yahoo Food, which explains why her posts are peppered with pop culture references — “I like TV a lot… I’m really into Hannibal right now” — and sarcastic, self-deprecating comments. Which also explains why Kramer’s personal hero in childhood was the famously glum cartoon character, Daria. “I cried when she went off the air,” she recalled.

Kramer’s sense of humor translates to her recipes, which are whimsical and fun, but never too fussy. “I don’t want to perceived as perfect — not that anyone would believe that,” she said, adding that she has a preference for rustic-style dishes that look like they’re meant to be enjoyed, not admired. (Though, let’s be honest, they’re totally worthy of admiration, too.)

Among them? Gooey lemon bars messily dusted with powdered sugar, ruby red-hued roasted lamb stained with beet juice, and a red wine-infused mushroom ragout. Then there are recipes that just plain make you smile, like fried peanut butter sandwiches, jelly doughnut coffee cake, and “Reptar bars,” which ‘90s kids will remember as the candy immortalized in the Nickelodeon cartoon Rugrats.

“I promise that these are the thick, chewy lemon bars you’ve always wanted,” Kramer writes of her lemon bars.

Crepes of Wrath has been around since 2008, when Kramer decided she wanted a platform to show off the dishes she’d whipped up between classes in college. “I had five roommates at the time, so I was cooking a lot,” Kramer recalled. OK, that’s not the full story, she admitted: “When you have five roommates, it’s easy for people to be pissed off at each other… It was this nice thing I could do after I yelled at them for using all the paper towels.”

While other bloggers aspire to turn their sites into money-making ventures, Kramer is happy to keep Crepes of Wrath a passion project. By day, she’s the office manager for Business Insider, which mean that her weekends are consumed with recipe testing and photographing in her apartment. But Kramer thinks she’s struck a good work-life balance.

Kramer’s fried peanut butter sandwich is the real deal.

“People have asked, ‘Why don’t you do this full-time?’ But I don’t know,” she wondered aloud. “My blog is mine and I don’t have to do anything for anyone for it. I feel that if I did this full-time, I would hate it.”

That doesn’t mean Crepes of Wrath isn’t turning heads. This year, the blog was a finalist in Saveur’s annual blog awards in the “Most Delicious Food” category, and she has thousands of followers on social media. Kramer admits that there’s one “professional” thing she’d like to come out of her blog: a cookbook. But it’ll happen when it happens.

“I look at Crepes of Wrath as a portfolio,” she said. “It’s a long-term project with no end goal.

Previous bloggers of the week who should be on your radar:

Mexican food gets a healthy makeover from ‘Muy Delish’

‘Lady and Pups,’ a Beijing blogger who isn’t shy about being angry

Why ‘A Brown Table’ gave up a career as a scientist to become a pastry chef

Who’s your favorite food blogger? Tell us below!