I have a friend who dreams of all things cakey: big cakes, small cakes, wedding cakes, cake pops, cupcakes and all that falls in between. At first glance, we have nothing in common; dig a little deeper and you’ll find a common interest that runs so deep that it surpasses most friendships.
My friend and I have both abandoned flourishing careers in our respective fields to relocate with our husbands to South-east Asia. Both of us hoard recipes like they’re going out of style and both of us shirk at the thought of writing the word “housewife” on any dotted lines left empty for “occupation”. Am I really only that by the fact that I am a wife and live in a house? Or are you only judged by the amount of time you spend in that house? Can I not jot down friendly food blogger instead? How about “experimental foodie”? No?
Almost two years ago, this particular friend asked if I would be interested in renting a table at a Christmas Bazaar held by a lady’s association here in Kuala Lumpur. My first instinct was to laugh for I was never one to partake in a “bazaar” let alone with homemade baked goodies. I was not to be confused with the ladies who sit idly waiting for someone to buy their cupcakes. No way, not me. This, of course, was “Career Me” rattling my inner calm. My wiser friend had already befriended the “Career Me” inside of her, embraced what she found passion in and ran wild with it. I was seemingly a long way away from that.
A week of thoughts later, the idea of learning the ins and outs of the delectable desserts my friend was promising to showcase had me leaping into this rite of passage with eyes wide open. After getting lost on the first day, we finally arrived at the wholesaler of baking products and got screamed at by the Chinese lady at the counter. To this day, I do not know why we were screamed at but we managed to scurry away with our blocks of butter and bags of almond meal out of the screamer’s vicinity and into the predominantly trans-gendered neighborhood where our car was parked.
Day in and day out, I would arrive early at her door with an urgency for a cup of green tea and the willingness to follow instructions to the dot. Beating the egg whites to reach the perfect peaks and measuring the temperature of the sugar syrup for the macarons, watching the sugar cookies in the oven and later choosing the best method to flood them with royal icing, scraping out the vanilla seeds, double sifting the flour, rolling out the fondant and coloring the cupcake frosting — sooner than expected, these newly adopted skills were pushing me to realize that not only did I underestimate the job but that this was a lot more entertaining than I thought.
Christmas Bazaar Day came and our now nicely packaged confections, neatly arranged on our table with corresponding signs, were eagerly waiting along with us for the first signs of people to arrive. By the end of the day, we were sold out, exhausted and astonished by the number of children who had Celiac Disease, a condition developed by the body’s reaction to gluten. It was solely based on this week that I decided a few months later to start up a food blog and through this experience that I began to push myself to try things out in the kitchen that I was previously intimidated by. My thoughts began to calm again. So what if I was an amateur? I’ll teach myself everything I can and get the help I need where I find it.
Amateur involvement in the culinary world is growing expansively and it would be fun to see what local amateurs have to offer away from the negativity, pressure and hateful attitudes of Top Chef Middle East. This do-it-yourself underground movement is recently finding ground online and on television and brings the excitement of being a foodie to the playing field.
I’d personally like to see someone set up a monthly experimental food market whereby people who rent selected areas get to bring their talents to the table for a full day — a display of diverse home-cooked and baked edibles, with a flavor to suit every mood. This would slowly nurture the idea of gastronomic tolerance that we, in Egypt, are missing today and at the same time encourage us to get more involved with what we eat.
These days, my friend and only link to Egypt in Malaysia, apart from my husband, is leaving and with her, a chapter of my life is coming to a close. This chapter has taken me from the fear of being perceived as an unemployed woman to defiance in the face of those who sneeringly ask me if knitting is next on my list.
Upon seeing me, you might notice a tiny new cupcake pendant nestled in the hollow of my neck. I wear it, not for the love of the cupcake for I have professed long before my disinterest in it, but for the love of a foodie friend who has given me the space to grow beyond the pigeonhole that has been carved out for my role; and for the unforgotten effort of all those ladies trying to pursue their genuine interest in food and having it brushed aside as housewifely boredom.
Boredom or not, this pound cake is special to me for its sentimental value, being the first recipe to be posted on my blog, and for its no-fail technique. Its secret lies in the instructions and not the ingredients. Follow it and you’ll get that thick cake crust you can only find at your corner bakery or in store-bought cake. In the meantime, you may find me in the kitchen thinking about what colors I would use if I could knit.
Old School Pound Cake:
113 grams of unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups of sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups of cake flour, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Grease your pan. Do not preheat your oven. This cake should go into a cold oven. Get a bowl and whisk the cake flour and salt. If you use all-purpose flour instead, your cake will have a coarser texture. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar until they’re light and fluffy. Don’t forget to scrape the sides of the bowl as you go along to eliminate build up. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure each one is properly blended in before adding the next one. Add the vanilla with the third egg and mix again until it looks mixed well enough. Alternate adding the flour and the cream, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix for 5 minutes. Your final texture should be thick and smooth. After you pour your batter into your pan, bang it a few times on a table. It sounds strange but just do it. It kills the air bubbles and gives you better texture. Put your cake in the oven at 175 degrees Celsius. Bake for an hour. Your tester (toothpick/knife) should come out dry and if you poke it with your finger, it should bounce back. If you’re still left with cake residue, bake for another 10-15 minutes. It should be a medium-dark golden brown. When you take it out, let it cool for 5-10 minutes then run a knife around the edges to loosen the sides. Flip it over and set it gently on a cooling rack.
Note: If you are unable to find cake flour, you can make a substitute flour following this formula: Take 1 cup all purpose flour and take away 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour but then add 2 tablespoons of corn starch to make 1 cup of cake flour.
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