Baking equipments: Old & New

Baking is a canvas. You take ingredients and make something beautiful out of it. To make this something beautiful you need to have the right equipments too. If you are passionate about baking you will find yourself buying for those "must-have-tins", "fun-to-have", "can’t-live-without-items" to add to your already existing stock. Like a kid in the candy store I have always enjoyed shopping for baking tools and equipments. Sometimes just browsing through the shelves you get to learn about the new arrivals in the market.

In recent times there have been enormous changes in the cake equipments. The materials, sizes and shapes have all changed. If you are the one who bakes regularly and happen to buy pans often you would have noticed these changes. The worst part is that many of these pans come with sloping edges. I am still very much fond of all the old pans. The cakes baked in them, brown evenly and cook through evenly. It will be a good idea to buy old pans from the garage sale, or if any of your friends do want to give it away.

These days there are many varieties of pans in the market. Some of them come in non stick coating. With my experience I would say it needs proper greasing. If you go by the word "non-stick", your baked item is sure going to stick at the bottom if you have not greased it. Hence greasing the pan by margarine or cooking-oil spray is very important. Silicone pans are now available and the cakes simply fall out of the tins. But these cakes do not get those golden brown crusts.

I do take good care of my baking equipments after every use by scraping, washing, wiping etc. so that they last longer. If you’re buying new, invest in good quality, heavy duty cookie and baking sheets. Heavy duty baking sheets retain heat better, won’t warp or buckle when heated, and should last a lifetime. The light colour encourages even baking and are less likely to burn. Dark metals sheets and non-stick tend to brown baked goods faster.

General Kitchen tools for baking:

The following is a list of equipment that is good to have on hand for baking.

1. Standard cup measures. The sets are readily available.

2. Standard measuring spoons.

3. Sieve for sifting flour or sugar.

4. Set of bowls. I have Borosil bowls which I have had for years and they are still going well.

5. Wooden spoons for mixing.

6. Rubber spatula for mixing light batters.

7. Rubber & Steel Scraper. I like to have both.

8. Palate knife for decorating cakes, or mixing butter cream icing.

9. Whisk for whipping & beating cream.

10. Wire racks to cool on. Preferably the racks marked into squares are better than those with just bars because they have more support.

11. Pair of hand gloves for the oven.

12. Grater with coarse and fine teeth for chocolates or rinds from citrus fruits.

13. Glazing brushes.

Then there are things which are nice to have but not necessary.

1. Dough mixer recently gifted to us by a friend. It is very useful especially while making bread dough. It saves a whole lot of energy.

2. Electric hand beater also gifted to me by my former colleagues. It is very handy.

3. An icing bag with nozzles.

Depending on your need you can have fancy cake pans in different shapes and sizes, cookie cutters of different shapes and sizes, muffin trays. And last and the most important is your oven. There are many different types of ovens and energy sources, so it is important that you know your oven well to produce successful baked products.

The orders for my bakery, Chica's Bakehouse, has been keeping me busy hence couldn't update my blog in last week. Having said that I strive to keep you folks updated as and when possible.

See you soon.

The Baker
Chica's Bakehouse

Cup Cakes - I am crazy about them!

Most of the cakes we know are butter cakes of some sort. One uses butter in their recipes so that it holds the flavour of the cake, keep the texture and moisture and ultimately the cake will cut smoothly & easily.  It will also keep the cake well for a few days, but most important of all it makes the cake tastes just wonderful.

As a Baker one has to develop an understanding of ingredients so that there is a balance in the recipe and the end result is the product which not only tastes good but also feels good and looks good. Today I would like to present you with few cup cakes which are the results of a balanced approach of all ingredients in the recipe.

Orange Muffins
Sometimes making a small change in the way one makes the batter can result in a product with massive difference. To prove this, I used freshly squeezed orange juice and not the canned juices from the supermarket and it made a huge difference to the taste of the muffin. I could feel the “real” concentrated orange in the muffin. This was cost effective too, in a sense, I used the zest of the orange. These delicious orange muffins are excellent accompaniment with High Teas and have a shelf life of 2-3 days in refrigerator.

Orange muffins sprinkled with icing sugar

Macadamia cup cakes

Macadamia nuts are my favourite when it comes to baking. They are commonly found in NZ in many recipes. When they are used in cakes and buns, it enhances its crunchiness. These nuts are a good substitute for almonds or cashew nuts.

Nutty Cupcakes

Raspberry Coconut Cup cakes

These I call them as a cousin of Madeleine. These are rolled in raspberry jam and then in long threaded coconut. They are moist and sweet. They bring back my childhood memories. All of you must have had a desiccated coconut dressed cake at some point of your childhood.

Coconut Cupcakes

Rum Cup cakes

Alcohol is one of the most discussed topic amongst people of all age groups. Well of course I am a baker and not a bartender hence I had to make sure that I use the alcohol in proportion. Therefore I am sure these rum cakes won’t make you drunk but you would certainly enjoy the subtle flavour of rum.

We don’t serve rum but we do serve you rum cup cakes

This was just the introduction of my Cup cake series. I will be back soon with more cup cakes with other variations. Ciao!

The First Step

A fresh new year with a fresh new start!

New Development is always exciting and I have worked refining, testing and improving our already existing set of recipes. So I thought it was high time to share the love and compile a list of our favourites so you can indulge into some lip smacking baked goodies straight from the oven into your mouth. It's easier than you think I must say.

Here are few cookies that I made yesterday. I think they are quick, easy and always so comforting & delicious. Trying to stick to my goal of eating healthy, I decided to add more nutritive value to these by addition of rolled oats and brown sugar.

ANZAC Cookies: I thought it was a good idea to start with a cookie which is associated with this country since the time of World War I. It stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

Cookies on a parchment paper just before getting baked

It has been claimed that these cookies were sent by wives to soldiers abroad because the ingredients do not spoil easily and they kept well during naval transportation. These are very popular even now in New Zealand. Due to their military connection they are made on ANZAC Day and sold as a fund raising item.

Baked ANZAC cookies

These are really good, very crunchy and nutritious. You can carry them with you on long tours or for camping as they have good shelf life.

I absolutely adore making cookies. I can make one each day of the year. I mean 365 varieties is not a bad idea.

Gingersnap Cookies: I have had heard them for years but never had a chance to bake them myself. Anyone who is interested in baking is interested in knowing more. I was browsing through some recipes and found this one. It turned out fantastic, you have to believe me. The cakey-cookie dough is flavoured with spices, a little bit of brown sugar, a little bit of butter and molasses.

Gingersnap cookies are very flavourful

Chocolate Orange Biscuits: The combination of chocolate and orange is just magical. I never thought it would make such divine tasty biscuits. When it comes to chocolate one can use chocolate chips, chocolate drops, chocolate bits or even broken chocolate slabs. I prefer using chocolate drops, which do not melt easily during baking and tastes even better after they are baked.

Chocolate & Orange Biscuits

I am pleased to say that all the above recipes turned out to be good products as per my expectations. I am sure that these cookies looks yummy to you, so what are you waiting for? 

So folks make that move and give us a buzz to secure your share of those yummy cookies.

Well this is it for now, I will be back soon with another round of delicious baked goods. 

Reshma

The Baker

Chica's Bakehouse

About Chica's Bakehouse

Hi welcome to CHICA'S BAKEHOUSE. I am Reshma, the baker & the writer behind this blog. I am a certified baker who has been baking for the past 8 years. I have baked variety of products from cakes, pastries, cookies, breads etc just to name a few. Some of you who have already tasted my products would know more about it.

I live in the City of Sails - Auckland with my husband Aditya. He is the taste tester, photographer & a critic. He gives me honest opinion about my products which helps me improve on it from time to time. I was dreaming of starting this blog for many years. I finally got around to it this summer.

Our objective of this blog is to let people know about our new venture - Chica's Bakehouse - which we have started this year. It gives us immense pleasure to announce the grand opening of our bake house to public. Our aim is to provide quality bakery & confectionery products at a reasonable price that satisfy your needs.

Chica's Bakehouse is a place where we would be sharing our baking adventures. This is a place where you will get customized products. For example: A friend who asked for something baked which is nutritious and tasty, we provided cookies that were made out of rolled oats & brown sugar. These you could have for breakfast as well as for your evening snacks.

Our goal is to sell products which are healthy, tasty, with lots of variations and within your budget. In short, our products will have a balanced approach.

If you have any queries or suggestions related to baking please feel free to contact us. We would be happy to hear from you and your feedback matters to us. It would give us opportunity to improve on it and serve you better.

Here at Chica's Bakehouse we believe in doing fewer things better. There is no price for exhausting yourself & having expectations that are too high, so we play to our strengths & enjoy baking!