Yes, I'm a baking dummy. That was 5 years back. Why I'm calling myself an dummy? Because I don't even know that whipping cream needs to be whipped in the first place! The craziest mistake I ever did when making a cheese cream was mixing whipping cream (that was not whipped in the first place) into cheese when I was trying to make Tiramisu cheese filling. And when I called my the other half and asked why the cheese filling wasn't stiff, she asked back,"Did you whip the cream?" I told her I just pour the whipping cream into the cheese and proceed to mix them evenly.
And since I did not whip the cream, the mixture ended up not smooth with bits of cheese all over the mixture. Of course my other half almost laugh her head off when I told her that. Silly me. In the end, I did not throw the cheese filling anyway. I still use it as my cake filling. And I proceed to refrigerate it.
And guess what, the filling was dripping all over the place in the fridge! That's a lesson learned, never try to salvage whatever that's already fail. Instead I should have just buy another box of whipping cream and another cheese block and proceed to make a new cheese filling for my cake.The basic problem I have at time was that I was too impatient. I rushed over it, and hence the result is all too bad for me to see. So I decided to sum up here what are the important rules that we need to adapt before we even start to baking a cake, tarts or whatever.
Read the Recipes Thoroughly
The problem with most people is that they are impatient. They are so eager to bake their cakes that they tends to miss out some of the important steps in the recipe. Read the recipes thoroughly and try to understand each of the steps.
I may sound overwhelming here, but this is just one simple guide or pitfall that can be avoided easily.By understanding the steps, we can put creative imagination in our mind on what utensils and ingredients that needs to be used.Prepare all the Ingredients and Utensils before Baking
This is another important guide that most beginner tends not to follow. Always make sure that we have appropriate or all the required ingredient prepared before we even start making the batter! This is because some ingredients are not easily available anywhere and needs to by bought at certain shops. We may need to pay attention to the type of ingredients specified in the recipes. A good example is on the type of flour; all-purpose flour is different from self-raising flour.
Weigh the Ingredients Accurately
Baking recipes tells us very important information such as the number of eggs to be used, weight of the ingredients that we should put and so on. These are crucial information that needs to be measured by us accurately. Hence there is a need to weigh the ingredients carefully on the scale. Try use a digital weight scale to do weighing since it can be cheaply available in stores or supermarkets.
Follow the Steps Correctly
Yes, it's a simple guide, yet most beginner tends not to follow. Sometimes, certain step require us to sieve through the ingredients such as the flour; so make sure we sieve it first before adding it to the egg batter. Ingredients such as the icing sugar, sometimes contain coarse sugar bits that should be separated by sieving, else your batter will not be creamy and smooth enough.
Use Proper Baking Utensils
Always use the right utensils for your baking purposes. You don't use a tart tin to make cupcakes, don't you? Also make sure that you use the right size of cake mold for your cake, else your cake may ended up very low base or too high. When beating egg whites, try use an electric mixer or k-beater instead of a hand whisker to do the job since it does not require much energy from our hand.
Always Preheat the Oven First
Once you have all the ingredients prepared, it is time to prepare the oven by preheating it at certain temperature (normally specified in the recipe) so that the oven has reached a proper heating temperature by the time you finished making the cake batter. This will of course save us more time and our cake can be made fresher since it goes into the oven straight away after making the batter.
Be Creative!
Nothing beats creativity when it comes to cake decoration. Most recipes would suggest to use certain fruits, melted chocolates, nuts or caramel. But it is not necessary to follow the decoration steps closely. If you are creative enough, your masterpiece may ended up better than the picture in the recipes itself! Cake decoration is also a skill that take years to master, since creaming the cake requires masterful and careful hand in controlling the stroking of cream on the cake. Also, if you do not use the piping bag correctly, you may ended up making a mess in your kitchen!
So, go ahead and create a storm in the baking kitchen now!
Jamie Lee is an aspiring young dude who likes to bake and eat cakes, pastries, and breads. He also enjoy traveling to other countries to savor great local cuisines and experience new cultures. He maintains a recipes website at http://www.1cakesrecipes.com and some of the cheese cakes recipes that he personally likes can be found at http://www.1cakesrecipes.com/cheese-cakes-recipes/cheese-cakes-recipes.php
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