Ever fought with a kitchen appliance? I spent my first year of baking in battle with a toaster oven. I would burn the top of my cakes trying to cook the inside because the temperature could not be adjusted. Then I upgraded...to covering the batter with tins or aluminium foil for the majority of the baking time and uncovering around the last ten minutes for a golden-brown crust. Yes, I can be a bit slow and stubborn but this is the only time I will admit it. When I realized I didn't want to stop baking, I finally invested in a proper oven last year. It was Easter and so naturally, I spent the entire day baking bread, cakes and buns.

One of these cakes was supposed to be a birthday present for my dear Congolese sister. You have to understand. Finding a chocolate bar that doesn't taste like brown lard (Mom, forgive me) is very hard. Finding a real chocolate cake, even harder. Cheese, butter and chocolate are not originally part of Chinese culture, and I accept that. But is that really going to stop a foreign student  from wanting a rich, moist chocolate cake for their birthday? And so the pressure was upon me. Google provided me with 'The Best Chocolate Cake'  from addapinch.com and 'Moist Chocolate Cake' by foodess.com both with amazing pictures, clear directions and awesome reviews. How was I to choose? Well I didn't have espresso and I preferred baking with butter so Foodess it was. But even after all that research I ended up with

Who keeps records of their traumatic moments? Show me yours and I still won't have one to show you.

Half of the cake remained in the tin and had to be reattached with frosting. See, had I read the comment section carefully, which I did after, I would have realized that it was not optional to bake two separate layers. Because this cake really rises. The vinegar I used in the buttermilk reacting with the baking soda should have been a hint. I had really let my friend and myself down. It tasted moist as promised and that was the only thing that saved it from hitting the bottom of a trash pan. (Cake pops hadn't been popularized in China yet).

I promised myself to make it up to her and I had a year to practice. I did cake after cake, all far from good. I thought I had inherited a baking curse and in some way I had. I either put way less sugar, didn't wait for the vinegar to coagulate the milk, had faulty vinegar but still went ahead, didn't sift and mix in the baking soda evenly and the list goes on. It was the curse of messing with the recipe. Self, if you are going to alter stuff, at least avoid the main ingredients.

But the curse was about to be broken. I woke up fresh on a Saturday morning not knowing what would happen but just that P.O.P was gonna hold it down that day. I also spent the previous night arming myself with Cake FAQs  from KitchenTigress, who by the way is true to the name. If you visit her website, you better be serious about baking and learning the right way to bake or else.

I followed the recipe as closely as I could (oil instead of butter, could you blame a girl?), properly lubricated my tins, equally distributed the batter and digested my heart while waiting. Actually, I busied myself with a new project. Fondant roses. Have you tried manipulating fondant without any tools what so ever? If you are not living a minimalist lifestyle, expect to feel like you survived a bar fight.




I have Desserts101 to thank for this tutorial. Not bad for a first timer if I must say so myself. Totally worth spraining my fingers and hurting my shoulders. I am buying the tools next time.

I started this day at 5:00 am with lots of hope. The dreary rains of yesterday were trickling its last drops but just enough so that I could wear  my cute rain-boots without looking like el niño and la niña.

But while the sunshine came out, the storms of my life were acting up. And since we are supposed to be stronger than our circumstances, I took that strength, walked myself to the nearest supermarket and stock up on some anti-depressants....


......which in retrospect should have contained less sugar. But hey, my mind was in quite the fog. What we have here is, the only vanilla-flavoured  ice cream on the shelf, copy cat kit-kat, fake Oreos (those with the Chinese characters are a bit on the bleached side less chocolaty) and fortunately, genuine tasting M&Ms.



Please note: there are no rules!!! That's how our day got messed up in the first place.....nuts, jelly beans, dried fruits, corn (it's a chinese thing but trust me!!), just stuff the pain away with random food in overdosed proportions.



For these crushed Oreos, take all the pent-up frustrations, grab the nearest object and crash it in..wait...no...that sounds like my childhood whooping sessions...um grab a cup and knock gently against a bag filled with Oreos until they fall apart. That should be enough. And visit a MMA class near you as soon as possible.

It's safe to say that a important component of Caribbean cuisine is a good fried dough. With names like bakes, floats, johnny cake, festival, fried dumpling you could imagine the confusion when crossing regional borders and having to order breakfast.


Chinese keep it simple. It's directly translated as Oil Stick 油条 which brings to mind a steel pipe covered in old car grease. But don't let the Chinglish scare you. It's actually much more appealing than this.


As you can see from the texture, it's a bit more chewy and puffy especially if cold. This comes from the proportions of flour and water (the dough is very wet when made) and the use of oil instead of butter or lard that Caribbean natives may be used to. It is also very light on salt.

Unlike in the Caribbean, I have never been served this at home. But it is extremely popular at our cafeteria and on the street with rice porridge, boiled or fried egg and pickled vegetables. But only for breakfast. I usually go for a simple steamed bun so this seems to be for those who need a heavy, hearty meal to keep them through the day.

Breakfast from the Cafeteria

When my mom fried bakes at home, I was known to make up to 20 disappear in one sitting. Ours are the flat disc-shaped ones and size was never an issue but you won't catch me eating so many oil sticks now. I mean it's not like Moms is hovering over the bowl waiting to slap away my impatient fingers...but... There is no salted cod here, at least any that appropriate for souse or fish cakes. The last time I smuggled carried some was like a year ago when I tried to fit the whole of Grenada in my suitcase. And what is bakes without salted fish?

Honourary Fish Cake

However, recently my palette has shown signs of softening up, so don't be surprised if you see some new combinations in the near future.