( The above picture is my attempt at fancy decorating a cake piece πΊ)
Everyone who loves a bit of cooking, dreams of baking a cake one day . So was me since childhood(Though I didn't have any idea of cooking then π making a cake was on the list). During old times we bought cake only on special occasions like birthdays. And maybe a bonus one during Christmas.Cake was not as popular as it is now and didn't get to eat it whenever we craved for one unlike now . Here I am talking about the cake with icing and frosting. Of course boring plum cakes were easily available then also. But as a child I was not at all a fan of it.
After being a grown up, and managing my own home kitchen, I did try once to bake a cake but failed miserably and the cake was hard as a stone. Mostly because I was not familiar with those microwave oven settings. It may seem funny but I have never used a microwave in my life and never bothered to get one for myself. Was always skeptical of that thing ,after hearing about the possible hidden health risks and dangerous waves.
If you are in Toronto you know every rentals will be provided with an oven.π And that's how I decided to give another try. A recipe from one of my relative has been sitting in my phone for a long time. And surprisingly I was very much impressed by the very first cake. So this post is all about cake recipes and cakes.
I became confident after the first successful outcome and thereafter tried various versions. Once you understand the basics its very easy. You just have to do a bit of trial and error, especially for the oven time and temperature.
Here is the borrowed recipe of my first successful wheat cake.
Wheat Flour - 1 1/2 cups
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Salt - A pinch
Sugar - 1 cup
Oil - 1 cup
Sour curd - 1/2 cup
Eggs - 3
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Mix the eggs and sugar and beat till fluffy. Add the oil and vanilla essence. Lastly add the curd bit by bit and mix well. Now sieve and mix all the dry ingredients. Fold gently. Grease and dust the mould with flour. Preheat the oven to 180 degree celcius and bake for 10-15 minutes. The time varies for each oven. Check by inserting a tooth pick. If it comes out clean, time to take it out.
Instead of egg you can add banana mash. But haven't tried it yet.
I tried cream cheese frosting by beating butter, cream cheese and sugar. To be frank I didn't like it much because it had a cheesy, bit sour taste.
The next time when I made the same ,I added a bit of nuts and raisins. Just on the top only to add a bit decorations π because I hate biting nuts in any food. I can eat tons of it separately but not when incorporated in any kind of food. In Indian cuisines people add a lot of raisins and nuts in foods like biriyani, desserts which I hate absolutely. π
Next time I had the thoughts of making marble cake. I watched some tutorials which showed preparing two separate mixes. I love shortcuts. So I made the wheat mix as earlier, separated half of it and added 2 tbs of cocoa powder(I used unsweetened dark cocoa which is a bit bitter.So used only 2 tbs) Added both mix layer by layer and gave a swirl with the back of a spoon and voila !!
Next was chocolate cake. Same procedures but instead of wheat flour used all purpose flour and 3 tbs of cocoa powder. Also skipped the curd. And instead of three eggs I took two. To correct the consistency add a bit of milk/coffee at the end.
So I thought of upgrading my tools at this point and got myself an electric beater. And the next one on list was the fluffy sponge cake. Here also I used all purpose flour. The sponginess of the cake depends on how perfectly you fluff up the egg , sugar mix. For this you need an electric beater. Beat for 5-8 minutes thoroughly by adding sugar slowly. After adding the dry ingredients gently fold it and incorporate in the egg fluff. It was super soft in the beginning. But the next day the outer crust started to harden. I kept a damp towel covered for sometime to make it moist again. I don't know what went wrong here.
But this was my favorite one. So airy, light and fluffy when it freshly came out of the ovenβ€οΈ
This is the chocolate cake with frosting I made for our anniversary. Once you start baking, you automatically take the responsibility of baking cake for all the special occasions.
Next came my birthday. And once again dutifully I baked a chocolate brownie with marshmallow toppings for myself. Marshmallows are great. It saves you from beating and whipping the cream. After baking,just toss marshmallows generously on the brownie and put it back in the oven when its still hot for two or three minutes. Marshmallows melt and your brownie is all gooey and creamy. Drizzle some chocolate sauce and thats it.
Next on the list is finger millet/ragi flour cake. Hoping to try it soon. If you have tried it ,do share your experienceπ
Do read my earlier blogs too
Visit to the ancient temple where a river originates
Silenteyes learns to paint with a knifeπͺ
Until next time
@silenteyes β€
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://localhost/wordpress-4.9.8/wordpress/2019/01/08/baking-fever/
Oh no wonder it is titled Baking Fever. Lol. Lots of cakes in here. I've never baked anything in my entire life because we didn't have any oven growing up. Lol.
I think by baking a lot of cakes you can one day be an expert cake maker! Haha and then you will have lots of fun putting the icing and such. I like how you put the marshmallows on the brownie cake. Great idea to melt them. Haha.
By the way, I think the Steempress link somehow isn't working. Tried to click it but it didn't go to your Wordpress blog.
Yeah, would love to try more on the icing π
My wordpress in on local host. I think that's why its not opening in other places. Trying to fix it.
Thanks for the read :)
I missed this post but better late than never. All the cakes look great. I also plan to buy an oven soon.
This is so lovely
Will like to know the URL of your blog from which you post here using steempress so I can get more wonderful articles.
Glad you liked it @tormiwah . Yeah I know, the wordpress link at the bottom is broken. I am trying to get it fixed. Will soon update hereπ
can you include your URL in the website section of your profile blog.
Yes. It's the latest post. Fixed the link. Click on the footer. It will take you to the blog. But it's not a well maintained one. Main reason I use it is because of the steempress plugin.
Still not fixed
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I feel you! Baking is love! How we wish we can be bakers overnight hahahaha.. its nice to try out and explore new things. It is never too late to learn from scratch. But the whole process is really fun.
I love that you try to provide other alternatives, hahaha. I have been there too. But i never regret my 1st epic fail cake. Never stop baking! Its just the start, more recipes to fail hahaha..
Goodluck! π
Posted using Partiko Android
Absolutely !! I even have a picture of my failed cake. Should have added here π
Thanks for the read π
Hahaha yeah you should have.. awesome! Keep baking for more..
Posted using Partiko Android
Darn it. What are you trying to do to me? Don't you think I'm fat enough already? [joking]
Congratulations on the post and also on being featured by @viking-ventures in her entry for the Pay It Forward Contest. Excllent work!
Hahaha !! Thank you so much @trincowski π
Great write up on what you tried. For good buttercream frosting use powdered sugar rather than granulated. I change what I use as my base, butter, cream cheese and shortening (essentially lard) If you like chocolate or peanut butter use real butter the powdered sugar and about a tsp vanilla (I personally use more vanilla) Cakes aren't my forte but I spent 2 days playing with frostings LOL. Keep up the great work.
You were featured in week 40 of @pifc's Pay It Forward Curation Contest by @viking-ventures.
Need to focus on some frosting too now π
Yes,I am soo grateful for being featured @pifc π
wow so many cakes and it close to my dinner time. You could imagine what happen to my stomach. it complained :p. I love choc moist cake the most. The flavor of choc, it looks yummy. Oh I love cream cheese.. yum yum and the marshmallow, it allow the chewy taste. The more i comment, my stomach complain more.. Thank you for sharing it with us. You must be cake fan... with the numbers of cakes you baked.
Yeah. I never thought I would be baking a cake one day. When one came out right, I got excited and went on trying π
Wow. This is just so amazing! You're so inspirational. As if it wasn't enough to give us a recipe, you've given us so many other options to try as well. So much fun!
I love your post so much that I chose to feature it in this week's entry to the Pay it Forward Curation Contest. I have upvoted and resteemed your post - and followed you as well. Keep up the great work!
Thank you soo much for choosing my post @viking-ventures and for the encouragement π
Hi @silenteyes! Truly a good post, especially in explaining the evolution of your pie-making learning! Very funny. When I was little I used to bake a lot of cakes with my mother and we still didn't have an electric whisk and I remember how my arms were bad to mix constantly! Now I could not do without the mixer! I go to times: for months I hate cooking and then, suddenly, I can not stay away from the stove, especially if it sconcern cakes. Only sometimes I modify the recipes, because for my experience to follow the recipes always leads to good results! And nice photos, I would like to do a photo shoot of cooking too!! Goodbye see you soon
My gallery is filled with cake pictures. Now that its posted here, I can delete some of it.
And yes,that electric mixer is a great invention π It have become a lot easier after I bought them.
Have a great day π
good
https://steemit.com/food/@shaftplayer/som-tum
Looks like you started to enjoy baking a lot. And you are very successful in my opinion. All your cakes looks yummy and I'm happy to say that they seem to be easy to veganise, so I might try that marble cake soon :)
I agree with you that marshmallows are great toppings. When they're melted they are so yummy! Perfect topping for cakes.
Thank you for sharing your recipes and I wish you good luck millet flour cake that you're planning to do :)
I came here because @viking-ventures featured you in her @pifc entry..
Yes. I love baking. It's so satisfying to see the outcome. I am constantly searching for more healthier options .
I am soo thankful @viking-ventures picked me and thanks for the read @delishtreats π
Definitely stay away from microwaves. The hazards are many.
I am so with you on the nuts. I do not know why people add them to things that should be smooth. It makes no sense and is disruptive.
Your marble cake looks perfect. I did not know it would be so easy. And your anniversary cake is so nice. What an accomplishment. Good on you to be so creative and learn knew things.
Excellent post!
Exactly ! Nuts should be simply eaten on their own π I just went shortcut for the marble cake .
Thanks for the read. Have a great dayπ
Seriously! They are so good that way. Glad to meet a kindred soul :)
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Thanks a lot @pifc for this great initiative. Will visit and support the other entries too π
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