It's not as easy at it looks

I had to stiffle a giggle or two last night over MasterChef's CWA baking challenge. Anyone who is a baker knows that a seemingly simple recipe is anything but.

Never baked a cake? OK - impress 100 CWA members with lamingtons, fruit cake and scones. Oh and do it outside. The result? Entertaining TV with the inevitable train wreck at the end - scones you could use as hockey pucks, raw fruit cakes and burnt [cake] bottoms.

I was curious to know if the prep team made sure the ingredients for the cakes were at room temperature? It's an important question. Baking is all about chemistry and having all of your ingredients at the right temperature allows the magic to happen. Get it wrong and your mixture curdles - and your cake won't rise properly.

Sorry to get all technical on you but I've become very passionate about chemistry lately. It wasn't my strong point at high school - I barely scraped a pass on my VCE exams, but now you'll find me pouring over technical cooking mannuals to understand how baking powder works and spending the day before getting my ingredients ready for a baking session.

MasterChef also reignited my interest in joining the CWA...who knows, maybe one day I'll win a 'Home Industries' award at the CWA State Exhibition. Now that would be worth promoting!

Happy Baking!

Comments

Andrea said…

OH Di, I couldn't agree more. Imagine pulling cakes out of an outdoor oven to be greeted by a raging wind? No wonder the finished product was below CWA standard. I wonder if the producers knew this might have happened? Well done on your blogger site. Love it.... xxx

Thursday, 01 July, 2010

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Di-licious

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