Baking therapy

 I like to bake.
There is something in following a recipe that makes me happy, that makes me find my inner peace. Do not ask me to cook, this only applies to baking. No 'season to taste', 'a pinch of ' or 'add more if..' in baking recipes. It is down to a science. A science that says if you follow the steps, you will end up with a perfectly good end product, no need for prior experience (although preferred!). If nothing else is going the way it should, the certainty of following a recipe and getting exactly what the picture shows could be therapy in itself.

Harvest fruit pie

A lot of people ask me where I learned how to bake. Well, it helps that my mom baked for fun too. I grew up in a kitchen smelling of vanilla and flour. I've seen my share of baking casualties, I have had a few myself. But mostly, watching my mom bake over the years, I necessarily picked up a few tricks and tips. Some things which makes sense to me but not necessarily obvious to others. I realize how much I know about baking when I bake with my cousin. In any other way, she has shown me how to live, how to save, how to make the best of everything, from folding a fitted sheet, to the best way to store tupperwares. But baking is my domain.

Chocolate cheesecake, chocolate mousse and sprinkle cupcakes

The one thing that my mom and I do differently is that she would stick to a good recipe when she finds one. I'm more of an experimental baker. I would repeat a recipe but only if I've got rave reviews about it and if I need to bake something that is a 100% reliable. Reliability in this case is based on whether I have done something successfully on the first try or not.

Buttermilk scones

Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing

Triple chocolate mousse cake

Raspberry Coffee log

 Sometimes I pick a recipe for the challenge, but mostly I pick recipes based on whether I would like to eat it or not. Although most times, I end up not eating what I bake. My coworkers though, have tried most of the things I've baked over the years. I have been using recipes from Decadent Desserts, the Magnolia Bakery book, Kraft Canada magazines and from random internet recipe websites.

Chocolate orange mousse cake

Double chocolate chip cookies

White Chocolate orange cake

World Pastry Cup

I was watching a programme on French tv yesterday about this and I couldn't believe my eyes.

There is a world championship for pastries every 2 years in Lyon, France, and it's just astounding the pastries the participants create there.

It makes sense that this championship should be based in France, after all, France is world-recognized for its gastronomy. In 2005, the French team won the championship, and the world champion "patissier", Christophe Michalak, now works in a big hotel in Paris where the bar showcases the pastries as if they are jewels and people around the globe go to the bar especially for the pastries. I must admit the desserts do look appetizing and very very classy and if you were to take the word of people eating there, they are just a taste of heaven.

Those big-shot hotels in Paris have found a new way to attract fashion victims into their restaurants/bar/patisseries now. As designers do it every year, the hotels' bars offer pastries that changes every season. Hence, they have the winter-autumn collection, the spring-summer collection, etc. A new trend is also emerging where designers are asked to draw a dessert which would then be created/prepared/baked by the hotel's patissier. The results? Very intricate and classy desserts.

Now, me being a big fan of pastries, especially chocolatey ones, watching that show was almost too much to bear. I had to look more into it and I've found some pics of the world cup competition:




And that is just a sample. You can find more pictures here:
http://www.fmainardphoto.com/sirha/cmp.htm

This year's world cup winner was the Japanese team.