History Revisited

2 years into baking... from ZERO to... ahem.... HERO...

This was perhaps my starting point... November 2010...

Before this... all my knowledge was from the Home Economics classes or Food & Nutrition classes back in Secondary school, and that, we weren't even doing anything much for baking. Most stuff were cooking dishes... and that, was always my ultimate class. After graduating, I never ever have the chance to bake anymore, as I don't own an oven, nor can I afford even a hand-mixer. Hand-whipped trials proved meaningless as none passed and I forgotten all about it anyway.

Not until around November 2010 that I picked up this cute little 4 or 5-inch round pans from Daiso that I started to trial and experiment.

An extract from ChocolateCandyFloss HomeBakes... my offical online home bakery

"Always love baking and eating pastries as a child, I never thought it was possible, since I'm really poor and couldn't afford equipment or ingredients to do anything more than rub-in cookies or hand-whisked creations which most often fail... using a second-hand oven my dad repaired from some rejects.

Everything else was chucked away eventually, when life becomes so busy when I graduated and started working... followed by falling in love and getting married and starting a family...

One fine day, as I was shopping around at Daiso, I saw these mini cake tins which were barely 5". I just got 2 of them on impulse and went home and immediately tried doing something... It ended up yummy... and that somehow sparked and brought back tonnes of memories... I feel this sparkle... and I know I will never let this go again.

However, with family and kids commitments, I'm unable to attend any bakery courses, and professional courses are so expensive I can't afford... But I somehow came across youtube and the internet as a whole resource library and I learnt bits and pieces from here and there... and from countless failures I pieced in the puzzle... and finally GOT IT!

All thanks to the first present from my hubby, a boysenberry kitchenaid 4.5Qt mixer and a 30L Sharp Healsio Water Oven, I embarked on my journey of baking and countless creations... until I found CRUMB BOSS, where she became my greatest inspiration to create and share ideas and recipes... and just want to prove to the world that you do not need dozens of professional qualifications in order to bake, but instead, a whole heart full of passion for the art and determination to succeed.

I will never give up and will innovate and try new things... ever forever. :)"

Anyone, everyone out there... who was me, previously, feeling ever frustrated trying to find a good workable recipe, trying to troubleshoot failed recipes, etc etc... I'm happy to share my findings, from all the pains and wastage I have gone through the past 1.5 years with everyone sharing the same passion. Its better you learn from the basics and understand why this fails and that fails and how each different ingredient work instead of just picking up something and just follow procedure but duno how it works.

From someone whom:

Don't know that there is something called "Unsalted Butter"
Don't know what is "shortening"
Thought chiffon just produced by hot-stamping cakes on moulds
Don't know about cake flour, top flour, AP flour
Don't know what is the difference between using a whisk or a creamer
Don't know there's things such as baking chocolate, chocolate couverture, compound chocolate, candy dips, fondant, marzipan, sugarpaste, gumpaste
and the list goes on!

To one whom can explain every single item, how it works, how it behaves and how its applied.

You really don't need dozens of professional qualifications and certificates to bake. What you really need, is a heart full of passion and determination!