Welcome to My Baking Diary
I wasn’t always a lover of sweet treats. This probably rose out of the fact that my mother was never a baker. Even though she secretly (or not so secretly) hates cooking, she can seriously cook her behind off. I have her to thank for pretty much hating anything on the menu of a Latin restaurant. She literally has her very own “essence”, or sazon as I call it, that goes into everything she cooks and has taken me years to learn how to prepare. And although mine will probably never tastes like hers, I will die still trying to emulate it.
Everything my mother prepares is done so on top of the stove. She only turns on the oven to finish something off that was started on top of the stove. This is probably the case because in her native village in the Dominican Republic, owning a functioning stove was a luxury when she was growing up when most cooking was done atop a charcoal grill. Now most homes have stove tops but in the villages most don’t have functioning ovens.
Even though I had a serious savory tooth growing up (yes, I preferred Ritz crackers over Chips Ahoy in the snack aisle), I was always amazed by cakes. Birthdays, graduations and baptisms among other special occasions in my family were always accented by glorious Dominican cakes. Dominican cakes deserve their own post so I won’t get into detail about them. For now, it is suffice to say that they are delicious. As a child, it was the only type of cake that I was familiar with until I tiptoed into the world of boxed cake mix around the age of 12. So how did I make a cake if my mom’s oven was full of pots and pans and none of those pans were cake pans? Yes, I made my very first cake on top of the stove in a 12-inch skillet. I believe it was an orange-flavored Duncan Hines cake and it was yummy.
I have somewhat upgraded my techniques since then. After moving out of college dorm rooms and getting my own kitchen, the first cookie I baked was a Chocolate Chip Walnut Oatmeal cookie. My first cake was a Carrot Cake. I picked these two because I wanted to make versions of them that did not have raisins (I really, really, really don’t like them). Slowly but surely I grew to love this art form that I knew existed but was completely foreign to me as everyone in my family leaves baking to the professionals. I learned (and am still learning) by watching a lot of Food Network, reading books and burning a ton of cookies and cupcakes. And I’m starting this blog or baking diary as I like to think about it to chronicle my journey though this wonderfully tasty world of baking. Future posts will include reviews, interviews and recipes among others. As with the rest of my life, this blog is a work in progress. For now it’s a little slice of me that I hope you like.
If there is anything in particular that you would like me to write about, feel free to leave me comment.
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Manz — January 2, 2009 @ 2:08 pm
Congrats on your first post! Love it. Will be a religious follower of your blogging, I swear…already devoted to your cooking and baking!
Cynthia — January 2, 2009 @ 2:17 pm
Love it! You know you can use me as a guinea pig anytime.
How To Eat A Cupcake — January 2, 2009 @ 4:59 pm
Hurray for a new baking blog!!
Jen — January 2, 2009 @ 5:29 pm
This is great! Keep up the great work! Looking forward to your next blog!xoxJen
Anonymous — January 5, 2009 @ 4:18 pm
Baking blogs are great to read. Looking forward to your future posts.
Anonymous — January 6, 2009 @ 4:51 pm
Great start.
teresa — January 8, 2009 @ 2:31 am
great job e !!! congrats on your first post.. i am a follower! i cant wait for the next one..woo hoo…
HamptonsGirl6 — July 15, 2010 @ 7:28 pm
Great start! I'm just starting to blog too.. how do i get more people to read it?
Sandra G. — November 18, 2010 @ 5:24 pm
How Nice To find A Blog from A Latina And A Dominican One Is Even Better We Dominicans Love To Cook And Eat!