Extreme Home Bake-Over

Nothing can compare to hands-on experience in the kitchen or anywhere else.   Roll up your sleeves, put on your apron and get elbow deep in the Messy.  You simply cannot be afraid.

You just need to dive in to that mixing bowl...knowing you're going to make mistakes.  But so what?  With each Baking Blunder comes a lesson that leads to eventual Confection Perfection (or close enough).   Just dust off the Flour and keep on going.

Rachel Klemek of Black Market Bakery

This day - was my Rachel the Baker day.  Owner of Black Market Bakery in Orange County (Blackmarketbakery.com), Rachel had agreed to give me a one-on-one Baking Class right in my own home.  Not only convenient and less expensive than taking a time-consuming weekly class...this also served as great Practical Training since I was getting even more comfortable with my Kitchen Baking Space.

Rachel arrived fully equipped with all things Baking.  As she displayed all her wares on my counter top, I knew I was in for a very educational day.

Her instruction included the basics of making a cake from scratch, the way a Professional would.  I knew how to do this, of course, but the nuances of a properly-trained Baker were something else.

Learning how to make her homemade Italian Meringue Frosting to Coloring the Fondant like a Pro proved the icing on the cake.  I'd gotten a little stubborn in my ways and relied upon my Vanilla Rum Cake and Buttercream Frosting and Fondant.  So this was a nice stretching of my Confectionery Muscles.

One major relief for me was the knowledge that all of this takes time.  I mean literally takes time.  I felt for so long that I was still a novice because everything took me so long to make.  Here's the deal:  it does take so long to make.  This was a legitimate weight off my shoulders.  

Also, the realization (lovingly beat into my brain by Rachel) that there is no such thing as Perfection in the Kitchen.  The goal is to just have Fun!  And whatever doesn't turn out perfectly can be modified to be pretty damn good.

Seems like a good manta for life in general, to me.

More details on my Cake Extravaganza in my next Blog!

Sweet Dreams,

Me

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear." - Mark Twain