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There is so much I want to do moving forward in baking, so many new complicated dishes that I want to try and succeed in. This inquiry has given me the opportunity to discover I love for something I never expected. Yeah sure I had a large sweet tooth but I would always buy my treats or eat those made by my sister however I know have the capabilities to make my own treats and that makes me happy! No more sending huge amounts of money.

A large cake, macaroons, creme brûlée, and cheesecake are the next treats on my list to tackle especially cheesecake. I wanted to try it a few weeks ago but I watched videos and it seemed too complicated, too hard in the midst of the chaos of assignments. Now that the semesters over I can relax and dedicate more time to baking and getting better. Who knows maybe I’ll end up with my own YouTube channel eventually.

This week I made cookies and cream brownies from scratch. The brownie was denser and fudge almost like a cake density with Oreos mixed in and on top was a white chocolate layer topped with chopped Oreos once again.

These are so rich, while I have the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I know I could only eat half a piece before it became too sweet however what I did eat of the brownie it was delicious, chewy and dense but not hard or tough to chew. I loved the white chocolate top layer it was super easy to make and super delicious

What I would change next time:

• I would try and use a slightly smaller pan the only two I had were the one I used and one significantly smaller. I found the pan I used too large so the brownies were a bit more thin then I would have liked and since the dough was so thick it was hard to spread across the pan
• Chop the Oreo pieces up a bit more I felt they were too big and a bit distracting from the overall brownie

I forgot to take pictures when I was combining all my ingredients so these are the only pictures I have

This week I spent a lot of time thinking of macaroons. Macaroons are a type of dessert I’m scared to try and make because of how delicate they are and how easy it would be to mess up. I spent time this week watching video after video on people making them. They are so tricky, you need scales and food processors to make them look nice and I don’t know if I have that much finesse in me but I want to try I love macaroons and I would love to be able to make them. I think this is one of the things I hope to make in the future after baking and refining my skills for longer.

Gluten free vs Wheat baked goods.

This week I decided to look at the differences between gluten free and wheat baked goods because I find myself a little bit sensitive to too much gluten and wanted to how how different my baked good would turn out in taste and looks if I switched flours.

Differences:

1. Flavour difference –> while wheat flour is consistent in taste gluten free flour can have a range of tastes – sweet, nutty and some have strong flavours -> no gluten free recipe will ever taste like a wheat flour one but doesn’t mean it can’t taste just as good
2. Texture difference –> gluten free baked goods can have a grittier, denser, or finer texture to them depending on the flour used
3. Visual differences –> bread won’t rise as high with gluten free, pastries may be flatter, and the browning of baked goods might be different

I think the biggest difference between them would definitely be the taste, I wouldn’t mind trying gluten free flour but I fear I would have to go through a few before I found a taste I liked.

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This week I decided to make maraschino cherry chocolate chip cookies. This was something completely new to me as I have never tried to bake anything before with maraschino cherries. They turned out super delicious.

While I was making them My dough looked a little dry and crumbly and I was scared tat the cookies wouldn’t turn out well, while I’m still confused as to why my dough turned out like that (I followed all the measurements properly) the cookies ended up working out anyway.

What I would change the next time I make these:

• I would get actual red food dye so I can dye the batter –> when I went to the store they didn’t have any red food colouring left so I tried using this red piping gel however it wasn’t pigmented enough and so the dough didn’t get very pink/red
• I would flatten the cough balls out –> I had realized I forgot to flatten the cookie dough and so they ended up baking in ball form this means when I took them out they hadn’t expanded and were tiny little cookie balls
• I would add more maraschino cherries and less chocolate chips –> I wasn’t sure how the taste of the cherries would work with the batter and if I would like it so I added less then the recipe said (big mistake) I wish I had added more. Now for the chocolate chips I think I added too many and so the chocolate almost over powers the rest of the cookie and makes me think of a regular chocolate chip cookie

This week I wanted to take a drive into some common baking mistakes. As I just started to really get into baking recently I had to learn the do’s and don’t’s of baking. I thought it would be as easy as cooking and the same however baking is much different

Top 10 baking mistakes:

1. Baking in an oven that’s not preheated –> this messes with the chemistry of baking and can lead to a disaster. you need to wait until the oven is preheated to put in the baked good
2. Not measuring your ingredients correctly –> this was a big one for me because in cooking you don’t really have to have exact measurements you can kind of lead with your heart and add whatever amount you want however if you do that in baking you won’t end up with the correct chemistry which throws off the end result
3. Opening the oven too often –> this was something I just learned, my mother scolded me last weekend when we were baking together because I left the door open too long and let the heat escape.
4. Your cake is too dry or too wet –> baking too long will dry it out but not long enough and its too wet, poke holes and cover with simple syrup if its too dry and it will moisten the cake back up.
5. Not smoothly incorporated flour –> if the texture of your batter seems off while adding the flour it either means a) incorrect amount or b) you didn’t sift the flour meaning it could be lumpy
6. Ingredients are at the wrong temperature –> if it calls for something room temperature make sure its room temperature (funny enough I have never actually listened to this always ignoring it maybe I’ll try for next time to actually listen to that part of the step haha)
7. Egg whites aren’t getting fluffy –> you need super fresh room temperature eggs or its not going to work very well
8. Products are not baking evenly –> the heat in your oven is not perfectly distributed throughout the oven so make sure you move your goods around at least once during baking –> this is also something I have never done before while baking meaning something else I need to try to see what happens to my baking process
9. Cakes are not baking with a flat top –> obviously flat top cake is important for making layered cake but I’m not so sure how I feel about their suggestion of wrapping a damp towel around the baking pan – don’t know if I want a towel in my oven –> can’t you just cut the top to make it flat after?
10. Cookies aren’t getting flat –> this one I am quite familiar with but never knew why it happened – now I do, it is caused by the wrong temperature –. too cold means rounder too warm means they spread out too much

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This week I decided to ask myself the question: How would swapping milk for a dairy alternative alter a recipe? I asked myself this question both because I have many friends who are lactose intolerant as well as I would like to cut back on my dairy consumption while still being able to enjoy all my favourite deserts. So I began to research.

I found that switching out dairy is not as simple as swapping the type of milk you use. Without milk there is a lack of fat (especially if you want to use almond milk or cashew milk) causing the baked good to become drier and denser then normal, to elevate this you must add more fat you could add extra butter but if you want it to be non dairy, vegetable or coconut oil would work as well. You’ll also need to swap baking powder for baking soda to get the same sort of rise in the baked good, cows milk is a bit acidic and so it reacts with the baking powder to create the lift however non dairy milk’s are alkaline and so the need the baking soda to rise.

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This week I spent some time watching YouTube videos from the channel “How To Cake It” this was because I have always wanted to make my own cake and be able to decorate it super nice. I watched a lot of “Cake Boss” as a kid and I always wanted to visit their shop and maybe even get a custom cake. Now that I have started baking I realized just how much work goes into making each and every cake, how much time and effort spent creating every detail. The “How To Cake It” video’s I watch all stemmed from making the cakes look realistic, they look like a piece of art and I realized I may never get my skills to that level at least not for a long time. While I don’t doubt my ability to be able to make the cake layers I simply don’t think I have the talent or the patience to create cakes like they do.

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that someone posses the talent to be able to turn cake into something like this.