Winging Cakes

Baking is a hobby of mine, but it’s a somewhat recent one. My desire to cook more increased when I moved out, because, well, I couldn’t just eat noodles. No matter how much I like them. However, baking is an even more recent new hobby, one that appeared as I moved apartments, and wanted something sweet to eat.

Problem is, I like sweet things, like cakes and muffins. And if I buy them from a shop, I’d be even fatter than I am now. As an alternative, I started baking my own cakes, so I can control how much sugar I should add to my mixing bowl, and things like that. Or, at least, that’s what I should be doing. I take out some sugar, but I need to leave a little bit of sugar, for taste reasons.

Honestly though, I just wing it.

No recipes, all chance.

To some people, the idea of “just winging it” is quite foreign. When I say that I wing a recipe, I mean that I don’t follow any instructions. I have baked tons of cakes, I know what I’m doing. A recipe only ever gets used for reference. And ingredients.

Why do I do this? Well, firstly, I don’t have a pair of working scales for the kitchen. When it comes to measuring things, I don’t have any measuring spoons either. Instead, I tend to measure everything in mugs, which is like using cups but wrong. Secondly though, I kinda know what I’m doing now, I know my approximate quantities and how to mix everything together. All I have to do is mix it all up and see what happens.

Trial And Error

Not everything I cook is a success though. In fact, there have been plenty of failures. A while ago, I attempted to make a marble cake, but it just turned into normal brown cake. I had mixed the two batters together too vigorously. The cake was still tasty though.

Occasionally, I’ll make something that is basically inedible. It doesn’t happen often, but I can easily accidentally burn or overcook a cake. Cookies are also problematic because they never seem to need the same cooking time. I’ve incinerated cookies before, and the stench took ages to go away. If things go wrong, all I do is end up making a mess.

Even if I do fail, I often try again. I just have to tweak things a bit.

Tasty Cakes

Much to my surprise, the majority of what I bake actually turns out decent. I’d say a good 80% of what I bake is actually genuinely good.

If everything goes well, I will eventually have a really nice cake, ready to eat. It may not be beautiful, but it will be tasty. These treats are also very hot as they leave the oven, and I have to tell myself to wait until things cool down. As for what types of cake? Mostly lemon cake, but plenty of chocolate brownies and smartie cookies and stuff like that. If I have the ingredients in my fridge, then I’ll try and make something.

Sometimes though, because I am winging it, I end up with too much cake. Sometimes the cake ends up in the freezer, but overall, unfortunately, mold tends to get to cakes first if they’re not eaten in a few days. Can’t help it, I don’t have the preservatives that companies use.

“Should have written this down”

Of course, the downside to all of this is that it’s not really… repeatable. I don’t write down what I am doing (aside from the SPUFOOD recipes here). But since I’m not writing down the quantities nor measuring them, it’s basically impossible to make a good cake again. Unless you decide to bake a cake literally after the first cake comes out of the oven.

Maybe one day I’ll remember to write things down. But not today, because I’m making another cake by winging it. Fingers crossed it works!