Hi Everyone,
Recently I was talking to a friend who said that she liked cooking so much more than baking. She was telling me when she bakes, her cakes just don’t come out right and she likes to improvise and be creative when she cooks.
In the world of baking, improvisation is very difficult. Baking is a science and the amount of baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour, eggs and the rest of your ingredients will make a big difference in how your cake turns out. There are brilliant bakers out there who can be creative and figure out how to change a cake recipe adding a different flavor or create a whole new cake. I am not one of those people. But I can follow a recipe. The trick in baking is to start with a good recipe and weigh or measure accurately. You can’t “wing it”. When measuring using measuring cups and teaspoons slide a knife over the flour or sugar to make sure that you really have one cup, not a little less and not a little more. Many recipes give the ingredients in pounds or ounces and then they need to be weighed. Use a digital scale and remember to make sure it is on zero with whatever container you are measuring your ingredients in, before you add your ingredients. This will help to make sure you have the proper weight. If you find a recipe with a # sign it represents the word pound.
It is also important to use the proper size tin and the correct oven temperature. You can’t bake a cake faster on a higher temperature, although it has been tried.
Happy baking.
~Love from Our Kitchen to Yours