The "Baker" in Me?
So it suddenly dawns on me that I’m not going to get away with not baking cakes and other tasty morsels for long. I have rather a lot of children’s birthdays ahead of me and the Mauritian made a comment that he wouldn’t get away with not taking eats for his birthday again. So I finally face the reality that as a “Stay at Home Mum” or “SAHM” for short I really had no excuse not to at least attempt to bake. So I whipped out my recipe books- yes I actually do own a few and I have used them on occasion stop laughing- and looked for some easy basic recipes, bought the ingredients and so began my foray into baking.
Oh me oh my we had some very yummy successes and some rather hysterical failures. The worst was the baking powder fiasco! With all due respect to my “Kiwi” readers, kiwi baking powder does not work in SA recipes. I tell you no lies, I tried three different cupcake recipes and two different cake recipes and though they cooked properly and tasted gorgeous they did not rise in the middle. I managed to make concaved cupcakes which the Butterfly insisted on icing but never ate them. By the second disastrous batch I’d had enough of them so the Mauritian got one in his lunch box every day for twelve days. At first there was an empty cupcake case in his lunch box every afternoon, then the cupcakes started coming home so I just transferred it into the following days lunch box, eventually both the cupcake and its case stopped coming home. I feel sorry for the poor sod who eagerly accepted the Mauritian offer of a cupcake; the Butterfly did a good job of making the cupcakes look even by filling up the hole with icing. One bite in the middle of the cupcake and all you got was a mouth full of icing and a thin layer of cake, makes my teeth ache just thinking about it. The good thing about these disasters was that I got a brand new mix master because the Mauritian decided that was the problem. He obviously had more faith in my ability to bake successfully then I did because I didn’t think it would make much difference, it didn’t at first. Despite my brand new “Sunbeam” and a new cupcake recipe I still had concaved cupcakes. Then I recalled my lifelong friend saying that it was the baking powder, I hadn’t paid her much attention because my cheese muffins seemed to rise okay. So I decide to adjust the recipes and make one last attempt at making cupcakes and voila it worked like a charm, finally my cupcakes have risen! Alleluia! I was so excited I didn’t care that everyone was so sick of cupcakes no one at home wanted to eat them; I surprised the Butterfly’s kindy teachers with them instead. It was during my cupcake making phase that my gorgeous niece had a birthday so I decided I’d make a batch and pipe a message onto the cupcakes and send her a picture. It was to be one of those “if something can go wrong it will” events! So the first thing I did was crack open an egg and completely missed the bowl and got egg all on the counter top instead. I managed, miraculously, to catch the egg in the bowl as it began to slide off the counter and didn’t have to mop the floor. Before you think it, no I did not use that egg I threw it out and cracked open another one, this time into the bowl. Next while adding the flour to the liquid I forgot to turn the mixer to a low speed and got covered in a dusting of flour the beaters kicked up as I added it. So there I was cursing between sneezes while the Butterfly laughed delightfully at my expense. I was very relieved once I finally got the cupcakes into the oven without further incident and just in the nick of time too as it was time to feed the Lollipop. I was playing happily with the Lollipop when the Butterfly suddenly asked me: “Mama are the cupcakes ready yet!” Oh crap, I suddenly realise I forgot to set the timer and charge through to the kitchen to rescue my cupcakes just before they started to burn. Now not only were my cupcakes concaved they were also slightly crispy. Never mind if I don’t say anything no one will notice, in the picture at least! Cupcakes cooling on the rack I start making the icing, only to discover that I didn’t have enough butter so I could only make half the icing I needed, oh well, I thought, less calories! So now the icing is ready and the Butterfly is eagerly awaiting her favourite job of icing the cupcakes, unfortunately I hadn’t waiting long enough for the cupcakes to cool completely! So now I have concaved crispy cupcakes covered in a scraping of slighted melted chocolate icing! Crap! I console myself with the fact that it won’t be noticeable in the picture I email home and begin piping the message onto the cupcake one letter per cupcake. Half way through I realise that I forgot to check if I had enough cupcakes to complete each letter of the message, so I quickly count them and realise I have the exact number I need and no room for error. This is one time when not being able to spell was really a bad thing! So there I was with three rows of cupcakes each row equal to each word in the message. I start at the top and work my way down mentally reminding myself that I had to reverse the order of the words so that the message read from top to bottom and not bottom to top as I was writing it. Finished, I stepped back and was relieved I’d managed to not make a mess of this part at least. I decided to take a picture just to make sure it came out okay and was thrilled that my concaved crispy cupcakes with melted icing looked rather nice in the picture. Thrilled I uploaded it to my email and began typing out a message to my gorgeous niece letting her know we were making a big thing about her birthday on the other side of the world. While I was engrossed in typing the email the Butterfly asked me if she could have a cupcake to which I distractedly answered in the affirmative while helping myself to one as well. Of course as I was taking a bite I suddenly realised I had taken the picture with the message reading the wrong way and I had no spares to fill the gaps. Too late too late she cried, just accept that this idea was doomed from the first egg and move on so I sent the picture anyway. But that’s not the end of the story, a few hours later I realised I had email a picture of a batch of truffles I’d made the day before and not the cupcakes!
You will be pleased to know, or maybe not, that I have since mastered the art of making and icing cupcakes and have not made any since the Lollipop’s baptism. I will make the next batch when the Butterfly finishes Kindy.
I have had some successes, I’m proud to say my pancakes are always good; I am yet to make a thick “Dunlop tyre” like one. My crumpets are almost as good as the ones I remember my Gran making and my cheese muffins are so good Pierre takes a batch to work once a month. The first time I made apple muffins I was so impressed with myself I took some down to the Mauritian at work to taste. I was somewhere around 41weeks pregnant and the temperature outside was about -2 at midday, I was extremely impressed with myself and beginning to believe I may actually be able to master this baking malarkey. The first time I made peanut butter cookies they were finished by the following day, my “melting moments” are popular and the chocolate truffles and meringues’ are a hit with our favourite Kiwis. But, the one I am most proud of is my chocolate cake success! It is a recipe that I inherited from my talented mum, true to form, it’s a straight forward easy recipe that tastes awesome and as I am cooking it must be fail safe too. Of course the first few times I attempted to make it, it was also concaved, but since I adjusted the baking powder it’s never failed to rise or impress.
It’s been about a month now since I last baked anything and I’m beginning to think perhaps I should start again and try some new recipes, maybe get a little daring. It would make a good blogging theme...perhaps!
Oh me oh my we had some very yummy successes and some rather hysterical failures. The worst was the baking powder fiasco! With all due respect to my “Kiwi” readers, kiwi baking powder does not work in SA recipes. I tell you no lies, I tried three different cupcake recipes and two different cake recipes and though they cooked properly and tasted gorgeous they did not rise in the middle. I managed to make concaved cupcakes which the Butterfly insisted on icing but never ate them. By the second disastrous batch I’d had enough of them so the Mauritian got one in his lunch box every day for twelve days. At first there was an empty cupcake case in his lunch box every afternoon, then the cupcakes started coming home so I just transferred it into the following days lunch box, eventually both the cupcake and its case stopped coming home. I feel sorry for the poor sod who eagerly accepted the Mauritian offer of a cupcake; the Butterfly did a good job of making the cupcakes look even by filling up the hole with icing. One bite in the middle of the cupcake and all you got was a mouth full of icing and a thin layer of cake, makes my teeth ache just thinking about it. The good thing about these disasters was that I got a brand new mix master because the Mauritian decided that was the problem. He obviously had more faith in my ability to bake successfully then I did because I didn’t think it would make much difference, it didn’t at first. Despite my brand new “Sunbeam” and a new cupcake recipe I still had concaved cupcakes. Then I recalled my lifelong friend saying that it was the baking powder, I hadn’t paid her much attention because my cheese muffins seemed to rise okay. So I decide to adjust the recipes and make one last attempt at making cupcakes and voila it worked like a charm, finally my cupcakes have risen! Alleluia! I was so excited I didn’t care that everyone was so sick of cupcakes no one at home wanted to eat them; I surprised the Butterfly’s kindy teachers with them instead. It was during my cupcake making phase that my gorgeous niece had a birthday so I decided I’d make a batch and pipe a message onto the cupcakes and send her a picture. It was to be one of those “if something can go wrong it will” events! So the first thing I did was crack open an egg and completely missed the bowl and got egg all on the counter top instead. I managed, miraculously, to catch the egg in the bowl as it began to slide off the counter and didn’t have to mop the floor. Before you think it, no I did not use that egg I threw it out and cracked open another one, this time into the bowl. Next while adding the flour to the liquid I forgot to turn the mixer to a low speed and got covered in a dusting of flour the beaters kicked up as I added it. So there I was cursing between sneezes while the Butterfly laughed delightfully at my expense. I was very relieved once I finally got the cupcakes into the oven without further incident and just in the nick of time too as it was time to feed the Lollipop. I was playing happily with the Lollipop when the Butterfly suddenly asked me: “Mama are the cupcakes ready yet!” Oh crap, I suddenly realise I forgot to set the timer and charge through to the kitchen to rescue my cupcakes just before they started to burn. Now not only were my cupcakes concaved they were also slightly crispy. Never mind if I don’t say anything no one will notice, in the picture at least! Cupcakes cooling on the rack I start making the icing, only to discover that I didn’t have enough butter so I could only make half the icing I needed, oh well, I thought, less calories! So now the icing is ready and the Butterfly is eagerly awaiting her favourite job of icing the cupcakes, unfortunately I hadn’t waiting long enough for the cupcakes to cool completely! So now I have concaved crispy cupcakes covered in a scraping of slighted melted chocolate icing! Crap! I console myself with the fact that it won’t be noticeable in the picture I email home and begin piping the message onto the cupcake one letter per cupcake. Half way through I realise that I forgot to check if I had enough cupcakes to complete each letter of the message, so I quickly count them and realise I have the exact number I need and no room for error. This is one time when not being able to spell was really a bad thing! So there I was with three rows of cupcakes each row equal to each word in the message. I start at the top and work my way down mentally reminding myself that I had to reverse the order of the words so that the message read from top to bottom and not bottom to top as I was writing it. Finished, I stepped back and was relieved I’d managed to not make a mess of this part at least. I decided to take a picture just to make sure it came out okay and was thrilled that my concaved crispy cupcakes with melted icing looked rather nice in the picture. Thrilled I uploaded it to my email and began typing out a message to my gorgeous niece letting her know we were making a big thing about her birthday on the other side of the world. While I was engrossed in typing the email the Butterfly asked me if she could have a cupcake to which I distractedly answered in the affirmative while helping myself to one as well. Of course as I was taking a bite I suddenly realised I had taken the picture with the message reading the wrong way and I had no spares to fill the gaps. Too late too late she cried, just accept that this idea was doomed from the first egg and move on so I sent the picture anyway. But that’s not the end of the story, a few hours later I realised I had email a picture of a batch of truffles I’d made the day before and not the cupcakes!
You will be pleased to know, or maybe not, that I have since mastered the art of making and icing cupcakes and have not made any since the Lollipop’s baptism. I will make the next batch when the Butterfly finishes Kindy.
I have had some successes, I’m proud to say my pancakes are always good; I am yet to make a thick “Dunlop tyre” like one. My crumpets are almost as good as the ones I remember my Gran making and my cheese muffins are so good Pierre takes a batch to work once a month. The first time I made apple muffins I was so impressed with myself I took some down to the Mauritian at work to taste. I was somewhere around 41weeks pregnant and the temperature outside was about -2 at midday, I was extremely impressed with myself and beginning to believe I may actually be able to master this baking malarkey. The first time I made peanut butter cookies they were finished by the following day, my “melting moments” are popular and the chocolate truffles and meringues’ are a hit with our favourite Kiwis. But, the one I am most proud of is my chocolate cake success! It is a recipe that I inherited from my talented mum, true to form, it’s a straight forward easy recipe that tastes awesome and as I am cooking it must be fail safe too. Of course the first few times I attempted to make it, it was also concaved, but since I adjusted the baking powder it’s never failed to rise or impress.
It’s been about a month now since I last baked anything and I’m beginning to think perhaps I should start again and try some new recipes, maybe get a little daring. It would make a good blogging theme...perhaps!
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