What working with horses taught me about baking

I used to tell people that on my hour long commute home I would cook dinner in my head. I’d get it all figured out once I started over the hill just outside Bernalillo with about 23 miles left to go on my 45 mile commute. Okay what’s in the fridge? Freezer? What can I do with it? Do I have rice? Garlic? Oh hope I have a lemon! Then I’d figure out what to do with it as I drove. Once home I could whip up dinner quickly because it was all there in my head, already done. Having things thought out in your head first is important with horses and with baking. Knowing what you are doing is important, and in my opinion, necessary.

Old fashioned blueberry molasses cake

Not having the gumption to do a double layer chocolate cake this past weekend, I decided to do a recipe I had lurking in my 3-ring recipe collection for many years. Credit for the recipe: 101 cookbooks website, who credit the July 1974 issue of Gourmet Magazine who in turn credit reader Patricia Michaelson. Credit given where credit is due!

Cake 2 results are in!

During a break in the remodeling action last weekend, I had enough time to bake my next cake. I was giddy! I followed my brand new, thoroughly thought out and researched instructions. When I creamed the butter with the lard, it looked and felt different. So far so good. I danced confidently around the kitchen as I followed my new instructions thinking to myself “You got this!”

Changing the recipe for cake 2

After reading Shirley O. Corriher’s book, CookWise, to find out what went wrong and how to fix it, I had a renewed sense of joy for baking.

I would use lard, which has more air bubbles. Modern day ‘vegetable shortening’ is not something I trust at all. Too much worry about GMO besides other factors. I would cream the lard and sugar together for a minimum of five minutes to incorporate more air. Use less Baking Powder so the cake would not

Researching mistakes on cake 1

After my first cake which had fallen in the center (both 8 inch rounds of cake), and was tough, I had to find out what went wrong. My mother had sent me a book that could help me find, understand, and fix my errors. Baking, after all, is a fine art of careful step-by-step instruction with precision. I’m the shoot-from-the-hip person and I have to learn to slow down and be more precise and careful. It can be done. I will bake 100 cakes if I needed to

My first cake, oh the agony!

I dream of baking a white, pristine, fluffy cake with lighter than air whipped frosting. I wanted all of my cakes to be homemade, from scratch. No boxed cake mix, and certainly no frosting from a can! Oh no. Watching the Great British Baking Show with everyday folks baking marvelous things told me I could do it.

My first cake with my new KitchenAid mixer was a total

Baking scares the poop out of me!

Baking from scratch makes quiver in my boots. It’s the game of the precise person. The caring and careful person. The person who thinks before they act. It involves a lot of planning and a lot of thinking! Someone great with patience, detail and finesse. This is not me. At all. I’m a fly by the seat of my pants cook.

Cooking is in my blood. I watched my mother cook