My first foray into baking was when I was tasked by my mom to mix eggs and oil into a bowl of triple chocolate brownie mix. After that, she'd occasionally request me to bake those brownies, citing that I mixed them the best out of everyone in the house. Knowing my mother, she just wanted to avoid hand-mixing that thick brownie batter herself and to satiate her intense chocolate craving.
Then in high school, I frequently brought chocolate cupcakes to school, baking and icing them the night before in tandem with packing my lunch. I don't remember why. It's not to get a crush's attention. Maybe it was an activity that brought me joy and produced way too many baked goods for only my family to eat. I even baked red velvet cheesecake bars, properly cut into the shape of a heart for Valentine's day. That wasn't for a crush either.
Next in college, my parents frequently requested me to bake banana bread. We couldn't eat our bananas fast enough, and again, no one wanted to mix that damn batter. Also again, it was from a mix. My love for cooking has not kicked in just yet. If anything, being a college student meant I was content with eating fast food to sustain myself.
Finally, once I graduated from university and had to eat balanced meals, I found enjoyment through baking from scratch. By this time, I had a few solid dinner and lunch recipes that I could easily cook. I learned a lot of cooking techniques through testing recipes and discovered that cooking was fun (given that I didn't have to handle raw chicken and if I did, my soul always died even with gloves on).
I tried different baking recipes when I had the time, but the frequency increased when I was gifted a Kitchenaid stand mixer. While unemployed, I starved for activities to do in between applying for jobs and creating garments. Additionally, I wanted to make this one cake recipe that required whipping egg whites to stiff peaks, and with my brownie batter history, I refused to do that by hand.
So when I received the gift and with my birthday looming, I dove head first into baking that cake. This baked boosted my confidence even though it was not perfect. Baking the vintage-inspired birthday cake itself was not too difficult even with such a demanding recipe, but making and decorating with buttercream? My poor wrists...
Then, I became overwhelmed watching stressful shows like The Bear, so I began to binge watch The Great British Baking Show. Here we are today: me, yelling at the TV because some contestant picked matcha as one of their flavors (the judges hate it) and getting inspired to be more creative with my bakes. We will see what I bake next! (Hint: It probably won't be bread because I tried twice and man... I don't even like bread to toil like that).
