I can only imagine what went through your mind when you read the title😂. Well, thank you for choosing to read this article. Once you are done, please read the previous ones that you haven’t read 😊.

It is now close to 2 months of being under restricted movement,in Kenya, and all I can say is “ayam tayad”. However this is a POSITIVE VIBES platform so scratch that. You have…yeah??? Yeeeeaaahhhh!👍🏿

For me, this has been a season of learning new skills. Normally I would always have an excuse of not doing so. Funny thing is my excuses, were more often than not, lame. You know excuses such as “I don’t have the time…I’m too tired for that…” and all those excuses we make up just to have those “power naps” or catch up on a series. Don’t get me wrong tho’. I am not against taking power naps and watching series, moderately.

On my previous post, I wrote about procrastination;my opinion of what contributes to procrastinating. I therefore promised myself to fight it because it had taken up a large chunk of my life which is quite unhealthy for my future.

So when my stay at home was extended -courtesy of COVID- I took it upon myself to try out several new things I had always wanted to try. It so happens that baking just a basic cake was one of them.

To begin with, baking requires so much patience. Here, I ain’t referring to baking cakes only but also other wheat foods such as mandazis and chapatis. These are the only wheat foods I’ve tried baking/cooking/frying (pick one of the 3 🤣) and it has been HECTIC coming up with sweet mandazis and the soft layered chapatis.

Let’s rewind to my primary school years. There is this holiday my sister and I pressured mum to show us how to bake a cake. Her being the amazing mother she is, she agreed to it and we actually set a date. We baked and they really were amazing. I was proud of myself. You should have seen me carrying the cake to my neighbours’ house to show how much of a “G” I am,in baking cakes🤣.

Since then, the urge to bake cakes disappeared. I think I felt like it was a tedious process, which it really isn’t.

Some time last year I found myself bingeing on food recipe vlogs, and I slowly started wanting to bake. But the excuses I had were so many that I never got to bake😐.

Now that I had an indefinite extension of my stay at home, I wasn’t going to allow any demon to deter me from baking a cake!

Day one. I had all ingredients together but I didn’t trust myself enough to follow the recipe I was using. So would you guess what I did??? I called my sister and requested her to explain the recipe to me in layman’s language. Of course at first she laughed out loud over the phone. I mean who does that??? 😹She was kind enough to explain tho’. Mum also came in and helped me with the procedure.

I was excited as I put my batter in the oven. The excitement you have when you take a new leap…the one you get when you take up a new challenge and realize that you are doing better than you expected to. Yaani that excitement is just inexplicable.

My afternoon on this day had been dedicated to the baking;nothing else. Now I had to wait for like an hour for the cake to bake. And oh boy I was so impatient! At 45 minutes I wanted to open the oven and my mum gave me one of those ‘African mother eyes’ and I knew better than to open.

Once the timer rang, I went to check on my cake. I was quite disappointed because it was over-baked. I even sent a photo to my friends and they couldn’t help but laugh😂.On the brighter side, it was a very good trial for a start. As a matter of fact,we did enjoy the cake.

Day two. Now I had a rough overview on how to mix the ingredients and all that. This time I even used orange juice, to add flavour to the cake, because I’m such a pro at this😝. At the end,the cake came out well but it was also over-baked.

You remember me talking about how baking requires patience? Now you understand what I meant. My patience was really tested by these two scenarios, because I am sort of a perfectionist-I want everything I do to come out PERFECTLY.

After my second attempt, I asked my sister why the cakes were over-baked. She explained that I wasn’t using the ‘convectional heat’ option. This allows for uniform circulation of heat in the oven so the cake is evenly baked.

Day three. Now I was very determined to have my cake evenly baked. This time round, I didn’t have any disappointments. And I was on cloud nine the whole day my guys!

I’ve taught myself to highlight any lesson I learn with everything I put my hands into doing. Lessons I highlighted with this baking scenario are:

• Keep trying!
• Yesterday’s mistakes are building blocks to your gradual success!
• Ask for help!

Because I’m very proud of my small win, let me share with you the recipe I used.

BASIC VANILLA CAKE RECIPE

Ingredients

• Self-raising flour – 2 cups
• Blueband – 1 cup
• Sugar – 1 cup
• Baking powder – 1 tsp
• Salt – 1 tsp
• Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
• Eggs – 3 or 4
• Milk – shine your eyes well well 😂
• Blueband and flour for the baking tin or just a baking paper

Preparing the tin

It is advised to prepare your tin at the start of the whole baking process.

• Apply blue band all over in the tin. Ensure you’ve reached the corners as well
• Sprinkle some flour in the tin and drain the excess flour. Ensure the flour gets to even the walls of the tin
• However, if you have baking paper with you, just line the paper on your tin.

Preparing the batter

1. Sieve the flour together with the salt and the baking powder.
2. In a separate bowl,thoroughly mix the blue band with the sugar.
3. Beat the eggs separately and add them to the mixture in (2).
4. Stir the mixture.
5. Add the essence
6. Add the flour and milk in the mixture obtained in (4), in turns as you whisk till you obtain a smooth batter.
7. Pour your batter into the prepared baking tin.
8. Place the tin on the jiko or oven.

The oven is the most commonly used when it comes to baking. So I’ll explain how to bake using a jiko because this post is about trying out new things. You will need:

• Firewood
• Cement karai
• Sand – use quantity that will fill up your karai
• A lid for your baking tin

Preparing and using the jiko

1. Light the fire
2. Place the karai with the sand on the fire
3. Ensure the sand is VERY hot before you place in your baking tin
4. Once you place in the baking tin, remove some of the firewood. This will reduce the heat that is getting to the sand, so as to allow for even baking.
5. Place the hot coals you removed, on the tin’s lid. This ensures the upper part of the cake is also baking.
6. Leave the cake to bake, for like an hour.
7. Stick a clean knife into the cake and if it comes out clean, then your cake is BAKED! If it doesn’t come out clean, you will need to allow the cake more time to bake.

Once baked, let the cake cool for a few minutes before serving it.

~Bible Vibes~

2nd Timothy 4:1-2

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.