My neighborhood Ralph is giving away more eggs–another carton of 18 large eggs–so that gives me another shot of cultivating the inner-baker in me.
I baked a pound cake. With some blueberries. It was yum. (I finally made good use of the bundt pan that I bought months ago.) After a few failed attempts–which I chose not to document here–I think I am slowly (but surely) getting the hang of baking, and I thought the following tips might help if you are a budding baker…
RASA MALAYSIA NEWBIE-BAKER QUICK GUIDE
- Follow the recipe. Just follow the darn recipe and no questions asked. Step-by-step. Cup-by-cup. Spoon-by-spoon. If the recipe calls for 1 cup of butter, don’t use 1.5 cup. More butter doesn’t mean that your baking will turn out more buttery (you are not cooking butter prawns!). If anything, it might render your cake too buttery it won’t rise properly. Trust me, I’d been through this mistake.
- Don’t try to be creative. Don’t even attempt to be creative when you are learning to bake. If the recipe calls for milk, use milk even though cream tastes like a thicker milk. Again, follow the recipe…there is a reason why milk is used in baking and cream is used for making sauces. And don’t even think that you can use condensed milk to replace milk–condense milk + water don’t equal milk! Yeah, I’d been through that mishap, too.
- Don’t let your baked goods sit in the oven. Oven is a very hot thing–an average of 350 degrees Fahrenheit or more–so hot that it takes a while to cool down. So, if you are smart, you won’t let your muffins or cake or cookies or pies or tarts sit in the oven heat after baking is done. Take them out, let them cool off OUTSIDE the oven on a cooling rack, not inside the oven. You are warned, so don’t blame me when your muffins or cake or cookies or pies or tarts look all BLACK and burnt even though they were perfect when you turned off your oven like 4 hours ago!
- Last but not least, there is no guestimate in baking. Baking is not cooking, you can’t guestimate the ingredients. There is no “to taste” unless you really want to taste raw batter. Stock up on kitchen scales, measuring cups, measuring spoons, and all the baking essentials. Online conversion websites and your calculator won’t help much when you are trying to convert a pound to pints or cups or spoons. Plus, baking is already tough enough, you don’t want Math to get into the way, do you?
That’s all and good baking. :)
Other baking recipes on Rasa Malaysia:
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K & S
very good tips! this poundcake looks delicious especially with the fresh berries.
Anonymous
Congratulations! You should be very proud of yourself. It’s always an achievement when you’ve successfully baked a cake. And it’s always nice to have the wonderful smell fill your home. Photo looks fantastic.
Another baking tip:
Always use the right pan (correct size as the recipe state).
MeiyeN
boy oh boy… it’s so beautiful!!!!! oh my god… so lovely and looks so delicious! thanks for da recipe, will give it a try ;)
holybasil
Too beautiful to eat…
-Christine
aria
oh what a wonderful idea! looks delicious!
Manggy
The great thing is, when you’ve baked for a while already, you can break some rules (change the pan to your liking, add nuts and berries and such), and sometimes even tell when a recipe is dead wrong and predict if one will give a bad result before you’ve wasted any ingredients!
Cinnamon
The pound cake looks wonderful!!! Absolutely delicious I must say!!!
Happy cook
Pound cake looks delicious.
I love blueberries
Claude-Olivier
pfff it’s not fun, you are the best with malaysian and asian food but when you cook normal food you are also….the best…just amazing pictures for this delicious recipe! Un immense bravo! cheers
Lydia
I’m guessing your wonderful tips for newbie bakers come from experience? Well, we have all done all of those things! For some reason I started collecting Bundt pans a few years ago, so I’m always looking for new things to bake in them. Thanks!
veron
Yay! Your on your way to becoming a baker-extraordinnaire! It looks yummy! I want it right now with my coffee!
Jen Yu
your baking pointers crack me up! i think your cake came out beautifully. for me, baking is like chem lab. i don’t know if that helps or makes people run in the other direction ;) great job!
Hilda
That’s so funny that you posted this today. I just posted my favorite banana bread recipe from southern food about – failed attempts aside, this cake looks simply delicious.
Cynthia
Your baking tips had me laughing, nodding and agreeing.
The cake would go well with one of those teas from my blog don’t you think? :D
wmw
Yumz…you’re planning to conquer all categories of cooking??? ;o)
bee
bee, i don’t believe this. you tried to add extra butter to a recipe? and cream instead of milk? lol. i’m always trying to do the opposite. your cake looks gorgeous.
Nate 2.0
There is a lot of science involved in baking but once you get the hang of it it becomes art. Some essential cookbooks we have in our household: “The Bread Bible” and “The Cake Bible” by Ruth Berenbaum, and “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart.
What I wanna know is, how did you keep the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the pan?
Lucy
You’re so spot on with the baking tips, unfortunately I had to learn them through the hard way. Wish I could stop trying to be creative with something I haven’t quite mastered yet haha. Awesome looking cake you got there :)
Kevin
Your pound cake looks pretty good. I have been having some problems with my baking as well. I guess I just need to practice more.
Sweet Jasmine
really nice cake……baking is just like doing anything…practise make perfect…
Piggy
well, practice makes perfect. I believe after a few more attempts, fans of Rasa Malaysia should be able to see more posts on baked goods from u! ;-) Btw, great pic!
Oh for the love of food!
Hey RM! Who is this Ralph guy that keeps giving you eggs? I want to know him! seems I’m always running out!
Great looking cake, RM!
Claire
I’m also beginning my quest for the perfect baked good – and it’s nice to know even accomplished chefs have some trouble with this new art form. But the cake looks delicious – and I’ll remember your tips!
Amy
Definitely some good tips! Your pound cake looks perfect, I love that you baked it in a bundt pan. :)
Rasa Malaysia
All –
Thanks for your kind comments, sorry I haven’t been able to respond to my comments lately. Anyway, thanks!
Anonymous – thanks for the right pan suggestion/advice.
Nate 2.0 – I followed the recipe and dredge the blue berried in one cup of flour and then fold them into the batter. It works!
Oh for the love of food – LOL. Ralph is not a guy, it’s a chain food store here in California, but the ones in my neighborhood is having the free eggs promo. You really crack me up thinking that Ralph is a guy! LOL!!!
Mango Power Girl
This looks absolutely delicious! I love my pound cake with blueberries, so this is a good one for me to try out!
Lia
Im not really a pound cake fan but your blueberry pound cake looks so moist. I might even try your blueberry pound cake recipe. ;)
Anonymous
So, the 1 cup of flour is used only to dredge the bleberries and can be discarded, right?
amyiah
im baking the cake right nOw and it smells delicious! I plan on using a lemon glaze to top off this wOnderful recipe. I lOve this site! i bOOkmarked it! amazing!
amyiah
aed77tx
I wouldn’t have thought to look for a blueberry pound cake recipe at Rasa Malaysia, but I’m glad Google brought me here. This cake is delicious! Next time I will use less flour to dredge the blueberries, a whole cup was more than it needed.
Tiburon
I had tried this recipe twice (both times following strictly the ingredients as well as the instructions).
Both times, the blueberries sink to the bottom of the cake.
Other than that, cake tasted great.
Please advise what can be done to prevent the berries from sinking.
Rasa Malaysia
Did you dust the blueberries with some flour?