I don't really remember when exactly but my 'love' affair with baking started when I was still schooling. Some even find my fascination with baking a little weird. I simply love baking (and cooking la sekali). And of all things baking, I love baking cakes (over cookies and breads and others).
Somehow deliciously beautiful looking cakes always attract my attention (and yes, Mawi's wedding cake at Palace of Golden Horses was glorious, no?). And ever since I was young, I always wanted to be able to bake and decorate cakes.
I love baking so much that I've already spent thousands of ringgit attending baking and decorating classes. And I'm still learning.
My first cake recipe (and the only recipe I knew for quite sometimes) was given by my college mate back in early 1990s when I was in UiTM. It was a chocolate cake. During holidays, I would baked the cake at home. It turned out quite okay, I guess. In fact, I baked one during my surprised engagement ceremony (another story for another time) as one of the hantaran.
So when I got married, I would baked that cake often, especially when people came visiting. A few friends even ordered the chocolate cakes, to my surprise, of course. But I wanted to know more. I wanted to be able to bake like a pro.
So when I received an offer to do my Masters in the UK in Actuarial Science, I declined. First, I could not imagine studying the subject for another three years but more importantly, I've decided that if I'm going to continue learning, it has to be something that's related to baking.
So I enrolled into one-on-one baking classes. It took me almost two years to complete the whole course, from beginner's to advanced levels. In between I also attended other classes, baking and decorating. And I was happy as slowly but surely, my 'repertoire' increases. Suddenly, my family (especially the husband) have moved on from forever requesting chocolate cakes to carrot cake and tiramisu.
You know something, watching people clean up cakes that I bake give me immense pleasure. Baking de-stresses me. I guess it's a bit like karaoke for many people. Since I can't sing to save my life, I guess baking is my karaoke.
Over the years, I've baked many cakes for friends and families. I've decorated cakes for hantarans. But still I don't see myself as an expert. I'm still learning.
Having said that I must say that baking is not really an easy thing to do. And I understand why many people view baking as tedious and difficult process. I guess it's true to a certain extent. One wrong move and you'll get one unedible cake. And worse still, you'll be the laughing stock of your friends and family.
Because of that, I've spent the last one year, trying and experimenting with cake recipes to make baking an easy peasy task. In the end, I've managed to come up with quite recipes that are easy to bake. As easy as 1,2,3.
I've compiled 15 of those recipes into a mini e-book... which is given free for those who purchase my Dapur - Lubuk Duit Anda e-book. For more details of the easy bake recipe click HERE
Beef tortilla and delicious tomato salsa
A gourmet burger - really high end spread you know
and a strawberry cake.. mostly done by Asma and Alia
