Pages

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Baking Stuff Is Hard





Baking is a science and according to those tests you take in middle school I was supposed to be good at science and math. And while I did excel in Calculus, I made a 45 on my first College Chemistry test. That's an F, guys. I managed to pull it up to a C by then end of the semester but science has never been my best friend. Maybe that's why I have a hard time with baking. I mean, when I cook something for dinner, I hardly ever follow a recipe. When I do use a recipe, I just kind of use it as guide and add, subtract or estimate stuff as I go. You can't do that in baking. If say you forget an egg, your food is probably not going to turn out right. You have to measure things. You have to be precise. So normally I do not bake and usually when I do I go the semi-homemade route that usually involves a box of cake mix and a pre-made can of icing. But this weekend I decided to go all and bake from scratch. It took me most of the day on Saturday but you will see my amazing final product later on in the week. (I know you are on pins and needles now.)


So anyways, baking is hard and I applaud those of you who do it.


I also just wanted to give a shout-out to this pretty cool device I bought this weekend, (along with a sifter, which is apparently important in baking). I'm not sure what it's called but it's great for icing and filling a cupcake. Beezus5 and I once took cake decorating at Michael's and I was not so good with filling all those pastry bags, and cleaning them and figuring out which tips work for stuff. B5 was pretty good at it. I never quite mastered the rose. I found this thing to be a little easier. You just fill up the bottom and screw on the top. And it's relatively easy to clean. I just bought the one but apparently you can buy a whole kit.
It was also really good for filling this cupcake with jam.

Hobie really enjoyed it, as well.


Are you more into baking, cooking, or eating out?
Does your dog enjoy baking with you?
Do you like my cool apron?

11 comments:

Amanda said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog! I love baking and cooking - its so relaxing to me and I love to wear my vintage aprons when I cook! I am getting better at cooking on the fly without recipes but you're right baking is a science, but to me its so worth it!

Holly Lefevre said...

I am stopping by from Lady Bloggers Tea Party.

First I LOVE your super-cute apron! And, now that I am older (with kids) I enjoy cooking and baking very much. I like that little gadget...I am a messy baker though (I hate the clean up!)

Holly
504 Main
Hip Weddings

Bonnie said...

Love that pic of Hobie. You do look hottt in your apron.
Baking is very hard. I consider myself an ok baker, and i really like baking from scratch, but conditions have to be perfect. I have to do it with plenty of time, no deadline to be at say, one of your holiday parties by a certain time. If I am rushed, I am bound to feel stressed and then not read the ingredients closely and put in tablespoons of something rather than teaspoons. Or add something out of order. It really is like a math problem, and my issue, as Ms. Thorne-Peoples used to tell me, was checking my work. I always rush. Cant do that with baking.
I miss cake decorating. I need to try that again. that tool looks fun, because my hand always got tired from squeezing the bags.

Brittany said...

You are so right about cooking v. baking. You screw up one little ingredient while baking, and your final product becomes quite iffy. I do love baking, but the precision aspect makes me nutty sometimes. Cooking is much more free-form.

That little icing tool looks super fun! I really want to go make some cupcakes now :)

LOVE your apron!

Amanda @ It's Blogworthy said...

I'm not sure I ever baked something completely from scratch. I always use boxes. How did it turn out? I also have a trouble with icing cupcakes..I try to make it look like the ones you get in stores but it never works. I think I need one of those thingamajigs you used!

Shana said...

I do love your apron and yes, my dogs love baking with me. In fact, they love anything to do with food. If I'm using chocolate I lock them out of the kitchen in case anything spills and they get so mad they stomp their feet.

The cupcakes look like they turned out well.

$hanzie said...

first of all, why did you take chemistry in college? i avoided science at all costs in college- apparently being a business major means no science required.
also, i was told by churck norris's mom once that sifters are not really necessary for baking anymore. i tried to make these snickerdoodle cookies from scratch because they were chuck norris's fav and i was telling his mom that i do not have a sifter and she said that nowadays flour is much finer than it used to be so you don't generally have a large clumps (and sifting is required to get rid of large clumps). just some interesting info from me to you.

JMJE said...

$-When you come to college with an undecided major they suggest taking chemistry. I had big plans of becoming an engineer or statistician and then unfortunately for some reason I decided to go the busines/finance route when obviously I should have just taken arts/crafts and cookery. Too bad they didn't have that has a major.

Icing cupcakes is pretty hard. Even with my contraption.

Jenni said...

My kind of baking is slice and bake. Actually lately slice and bake has been too much effort. I have preferred the kind that you just break apart and put on a sheet. Good thing I don't think baking b/c there isn't tons of stuff that is worth baking that is healthy and not tempting to eat way more than I should.

A Green Spell said...

Found you from Lady Bloggers. This post made me drool! :)

bmellisen said...

Your cupcakes were delicious.