Today, I had the utmost pleasure to interview an amazingly talented professional baker, Amna Haq. Baking and cooking is one of her biggest passions. Read about her favorite things to bake, her opinion on baking from scratch, and her overall baking life!
A: Baking and cooking is my passion. However a few things I truly take pride in are cupcakes, cakes and cake balls. I experiment and create many goodies with fondants, royal icing, chocolate and more. I cater baking goods to many events like baby showers, bridal showers, weddings, and birthdays.
Q: What is your specialty in dessert-making/baking?
A: My specialty in dessert-making is cupcakes of all different flavors and themes.
Q: On average how many hours a day do you bake?
A: On average I bake about an hour a day unless I have a catering offer, then it's nearly 12-24.
Q:What’s the easiest thing to bake?
A: Easiest thing to bake in my opinion would be cookies.
Q:What’s your favorite thing to bake?
A: My favorite thing to bake are cupcakes and to top them off with creative fondant pieces.
Q: I always feel like it’s very inconvenient to bake from scratch. Is there really a difference between store bought cake mix, and
making your own?
A: A major difference, indeed. There is nothing in this world better than a home made cake made from scratch. Quite frankly it's as easy as a box cake. Of course box cakes are fool proof and always come out perfectly, however manage to have a after taste which I nor my clients would enjoy too much. Cakes made from scratch are free of preservatives, taste much, much better and are not as intimidating as it seems.
Q: How would you exactly make a cake mix?
A: One of the most important techniques and rule in cake-making is pre- heating your oven to the correct temperature. A good cake usually starts off with creaming butter and sugar and adding wet ingredients, such as eggs. Then come along your dry ingredients and add-ins like choco chips, dried fruits and nuts. There a many different types of cakes I make. For example you have your basic American cake recipe, then you can add a more European touch which I personally love such as a sponge or chiffon cake.
Q: What is the most basic recipe that you can give verbatim?
A: This is the easiest cake recipe one could make.
Plain Butter cake- Substitute the fruit with any fruit ingredient you like.
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons sour cream (if you don’t have sour cream I have also substituted yogurt for it)
3/4 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1 cup banana, mashed- Or 1/2 of FRESH orange juice with 1 tbsp of orange zest
1 1/2 cups pastry or cake flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
Method:
1. Cream butter and sugar
2. Add eggs, beaten very lightly.
3. Then, add the baking soda, dissolved in with the sour cream.
4. Beat well, then add bananas (or any fruit/nuts)
5. Sift the flour into the batter
6. Lastly add 1/4 teaspoon salt and vanilla.
7. Bake in a well greased loaf pan, 7-1/4 x 11-1/4 x 1-1/2 inch, in 350°F oven.Bake for 35-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Notes: My fav combination is the “Orange” one! I’ve made this on several occasions and basically anything works well with it. I also use this recipe with my cupcakes. Have fun!
Oil Based Cake:
ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots
1 - 8 oz. package of cream cheese
1 stick of margarine/butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup chopped pecans
Method:
1 For the cake, put 2 cups sugar, 1 cup oil, and 4 eggs in a large bowel. Mix well on medium speed for about 2 minutes.
2 Add in: 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix for a couple of minutes at a medium speed. Then fold in 3 cups grated carrots (do not mix more than necessary).
3 Bake at 350 degrees, either 55 minutes for cake (makes 2 eight inch single layer cakes)or 40 minutes to make muffins.
4 For the Cream Cheese Frosting, mix 1 - 8 oz. package of cream cheese (room temperature), 1 stick of margarine/butter (not “spread”). Then, add 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar. Next, fold in 1/3 cup chopped pecans (or, I usually just put these on the cake once it’s frosted).
5 Let the cake or muffins cool completely before you begin to frost them!
Oil based cakes are much lighter than butter based cakes. Enjoy!
Q: What are some of the best tools and techniques for cake design?
A: Piping bags and cookie cutters! My favorite piping bag has a permanent star tip and is from Ateco. I enjoy playing with cookie cutters and often use them for my fondant shapes.
Q: What is your biggest drawback in dessert making?
A: CLEANUP! I dislike the cleanup part very much. Otherwise, it is a passion of mine and something you love and desire, I believe doesn't have drawbacks.
No comments:
Post a Comment