Aanu’s Baking Corner is born…………..YAY!!!
Hi people. Let me start off by thanking God for the privilege of sharing some of the things I’ve learned in this baking journey I’ve been on for a while now. Everything I know has been a gift and an indulgence of God’s grace over me. I thank Dunni (Dooney) for the opportunity to be a part of this beautiful blog, and I thank you for your attention, questions, and interest.
Now, a little about myself. While I have baked since I was a young kid, I’ve baked professionally for about two years now. I’m working on my Pastry Arts degree so this process, and the ideas I will be sharing, will be as much of a learning process for me as it may be for you. My creative outlet is VictoriaGrace Cakes et al, and thank God people are willing to pay me to do what I love.
Okay, all that formal stuff aside, I’m a little nuts, yeah I said it. I had to wait till the third paragraph to let you in on this not-so-secret so as not scare you off. And because you’re reading this, IT WORKED! LOL. I’m crazy about cakes because those suckers can be challenging. How many times have you baked the SAME recipe in the SAME oven using the SAME ingredients and tools and that thing just decides one time it wants to be glorious and the next it prefers to look like the Grand Canyon? I love challenges, and cakes kick butt; so I’ve made it my life’s mission to kick the butt of cake all over the U.S. and across the pond too if y’all will give me a visa.
Baking vs. Cooking
Folks, there is a difference. You can’t approach baking, especially cakes, like you would general baking. Now since I’m not a culinary chef like Dooney I can’t speak to cooking as a chef but general cooking. Regular folks cooking and baking are worlds apart.
1. Baking is an exact science. I’ll give a few examples.
X amount of baking soda neutralizes Y amount of acid. It could be the vinegar, buttermilk, and natural cocoa in that red velvet cake or the molasses you decided to add to a recipe because you thought molasses would go with the recipe. You can’t just substitute things in a recipe like you would habaneros for jalapenos or ata rodo for bell peppers because you want to modify the spicy-ness of a culinary dish for example and not pay attention to how you are changing the balance of your recipe.
Baking powder and soda are not always interchangeable, and when they are, baking soda has 4 times the leavening power of baking powder. So substituting 1:1 for example would likely be a death knell to your recipe.
What am I getting at? To bake well, you’ve got to approach the process with an appreciation for science, and a willingness to be exact—even when it comes to changing stuff or tweaking recipes.
2. Precision.
You know how moms and really good cooks never really measure anything, they just keep adding till it tastes good? Yeah. Stop right there. Take that knowledge and tuck it into your cooking
One of my very few successful attempts at baking. Traditional English Christmas Cake.
Next attempt, not so successful. Chocolate cake disaster. I can’t wait for Aanu to update our knowledge on making successful chocolate cakes.
