First Baking

Hahaha... Today early in the morning me and hbby woke up early (as usual) for our morning routine. After breakfast at about 8.45am, we started to plan out itenary for today. Hmmp.... what should we do for today? Both of us wanted to spend quality time together as most couples do. So I suggested that we do our baking today! FYI, I have been postponing it for ages now.... today is a good day to start baking again. Today also will be the official day I use my brand new oven (from Elba model no. EO-3586) which I purchased it in Nov last year... :) Lookind forward to use it until today officially using it. :D

For more info about the oven please go to: http://www.elba.com.my/sa-electricoven-EO3586.htm?a=16

So my hubby and I started to get ready to go shopping for the baking ingredients... to my suprised, actually there's a lot of ingredients which were still new for me like what is pandan paste, what does the different between essence and extract, what does baking paper look like, and how many holes of cupcakes tray should I buy (there are 6 holes and 12 holes)?????? hahaha... I know... funny rite? :) Well, I once hear, never give up learning till the day we die. I'm gald that I at least now, know what are those already... ;-)

Well, after 2 hours of driving around the city to find the necessary ingredients and tools we were home. We were so excited to see what's the final outcome of the cake that we wanted to make... Guess what?? After around 1 hour of whisking, measuring, cracking and blistering, we finally managed to mix all necessary ingrediants into the baking tray.

So we put it into the oven for baking for 40 mins. To my suprise, the out come is not what I expected. I asked my hubby to help constantly check the oven while it's baking but he just never once do that for me (what kinda husband is this???). Apart of his lapton and his handphone, I'm just transparent to him!!! Very like his parents' bad behaviour which he never seemed to curb for 10 years now.... very disappointed in him and my cake.

Oh btw, the cake I'm making today is chocolate moist cake. But I guess thoughout this process I've learnt a lot. (1) never to trust your husband for looking after your cake (2) must take out butter to cool down first before baking (3) learn how to operate your oven.

For more info about conventional oven, please read the following:

1. Understand the effects of oven positions. Each level of the oven has a different cooking impact and it is useful to know this in order to get the best results:
- Top level of the oven - this level is best for quick cooking and high temperature cooking
- Middle level of the oven - this level is good for moderate temperature cooking
- Bottom level of the oven - this level is best for slow cooking and low temperature cooking

2. Be able to make general oven temperature conversions. It is very useful to have a general notion of the oven temperatures in both Celsius and Fahrenheit so that you can bake recipes from cookbooks that use either temperature. The most common conversions that are useful to know are:
~ 160ºC - 325ºF
~ 180ºC - 350ºF
~ 190ºC - 375ºF
~ 200ºC - 400ºF

3. Learn the temperature ranges. When a recipe calls for using an oven at a specified temperature range, these are the following temperatures:
* Cool/slow - 110 - 140ºC 225 - 275ºF Gas 1/4 - 1
* Moderately slow - 150 - 160ºC 300 - 325ºF Gas 2 - 3
* Moderate/warm - 180 - 190ºC 350 - 375ºF Gas 4 - 5
* Moderately hot - 190 - 220ºC 375 - 425ºF Gas 5 - 6
* Hot - 220 - 230ºC 425 - 450ºF Gas 6 - 8
* Very hot - 250 - 260ºC 475 - 500ºF Gas 9 - 10

4. Reduce heat for fan-forced ovens. Fan-forced or convection ovens are more efficient at pushing around the heat during cooking. This means that the food is cooked more quickly and evenly than in a conventional oven - the shorter cooking time and lower temperatures required save energy and make cooking more economical. It remains important to follow the instructions for your oven but in general, these basic rules apply to use of fan-forced ovens:

- Reduce the cooking temperature for baking by 13ºC/25ºF, especially when the cooking time is under 15 minutes but cook for the same length of time suggested in the recipe;

- Reduce the cooking time by 25% for roasting and cook at the same temperature suggested in the recipe.

- Keep a record of changes in cooking times and temperatures for your favourite recipes for future reference if you own a fan-forced oven.

5. Preheat the oven prior to cooking. It is important to always preheat the oven to the temperature suggested by the recipe, unless otherwise stated. This will ensure that the oven is at the right temperature when you add the item for cooking (for about 15 mins).

Anyway, above was the out our of my first chocolate moist cake. Hope ya'll enjoyed it. :)