Better times in the kitchen…

The previous two posts probably gave me a bad reputation around the kitchen but it’s *REEALLYY* not as bad! I did/do have successes around the kitchen but the bad ones seem to take away 10 times the merits hehehe…
Some cakes I’ve baked include:
- cheese cakes
- marble cake -Keith commented that it looked like a COW (>_<)
- sponge cakes, orange chiffon cake, pound cakes, maple walnut cake, pecan cake, fruit cake (turned out a bit too dense), black forest cake (the cake was too hard), cupcakes, etc. etc.

Keith and I tried to make Japanese Glutinous rice cakes with red beans fillings. We saw some Chinese TV cooking show hosted by the famous “Fei Ma”. We used tapioca flour instead of glutinous flour!! The little desserts turned out to be semi-transparent, GLOSSY, chewy with not much taste!! Hahaha… We still have to make our second attempt with the right ingredients!!


Some observations:
- 1 cup (for measuring liquid ingredients) is not equal to 1 cup (using measuring cup for dry ingredients)
- Using too much flour in the batter will give a hard cake
- Not enough butter/oil – dry cake
- Do not overbeat the cake batter else cake will collapse
- Cheesecakes are very sensitive to cracking: over beating cheese cake batter, opening and closing oven’s door during baking, not enough moisture, etc.
- Can top cheesecakes with jam, whipping cream, fruits, etc. to cover the cracks
- Using sour cream in cheesecakes recipes will give it a smoother texture

Baking is kinda relaxing and you can get a bit *crazy* and creative =D The fun balances out the washing and cleaning up involved. I’m thinking of signing up for some baking or cake decorating classes. I admire people who follow their hearts and have so much passion in what they love to do… Opening up my own bakery store, cafe or doing catering is a bit too far out… maybe one day when I win a jackpot….hehehe…