For many years, I had decided that I did not receive the cooking gene from my mother and father. From the stories my mother tells, my father taught her how to cook. My sister is one of those people who can go to the store without a list. She can open a cabinet, look at what is there, and create a meal fit for a holiday celebration.
I on the other hand, was able to burn boiling water.
When my son was small, I decided I needed an artistic outlet. I turned to cake decorating. I loved creating beautiful works of art with cake decorations. As for the baking part, I played around with doctored box mixes. This was me playing it safe. Box mixes are developed by manufacturers to be fool-proof. No matter what you do to them, they should always come out edible. I experimented with different ways to change their flavors: using juices in place of water, adding pudding to make it more dense, add an egg, lessen the oil, etc.
This summer I embarked on a new adventure. I discovered the joy of scratch baking. The difference in the cakes were night and day! Once I started baking from scratch, I noticed many things about my box mixes. There is an after taste that is present. I can only guess this is the chemical stabilizers in the mixes. If I used oil as my fat, the cake tasted oily. The cake crumb/texture was very airy. My scratch recipes produce a softer cake. They are rich in taste and texture.
My adventures have allowed me to better understand the need for scratch baking. It truly is an art form that is being thrown to the wayside by grocery store and megamart cakes that are mass produced 6 months in advance and shipped to their destination frozen. Or by the corner baker that uses bags of mixes to keep up with a need for high/fast production with low employment costs.
Our grandmothers really were on to something.
I on the other hand, was able to burn boiling water.
When my son was small, I decided I needed an artistic outlet. I turned to cake decorating. I loved creating beautiful works of art with cake decorations. As for the baking part, I played around with doctored box mixes. This was me playing it safe. Box mixes are developed by manufacturers to be fool-proof. No matter what you do to them, they should always come out edible. I experimented with different ways to change their flavors: using juices in place of water, adding pudding to make it more dense, add an egg, lessen the oil, etc.
This summer I embarked on a new adventure. I discovered the joy of scratch baking. The difference in the cakes were night and day! Once I started baking from scratch, I noticed many things about my box mixes. There is an after taste that is present. I can only guess this is the chemical stabilizers in the mixes. If I used oil as my fat, the cake tasted oily. The cake crumb/texture was very airy. My scratch recipes produce a softer cake. They are rich in taste and texture.
My adventures have allowed me to better understand the need for scratch baking. It truly is an art form that is being thrown to the wayside by grocery store and megamart cakes that are mass produced 6 months in advance and shipped to their destination frozen. Or by the corner baker that uses bags of mixes to keep up with a need for high/fast production with low employment costs.
Our grandmothers really were on to something.
