Caking with Mom: Be Prepared

Shouldn’t that always be the motto for life?  You never know what is around the bend.  Some events are hard to be prepared for in life.  For instance, the earthquake in Japan that caused a continuous strand of chaos to follow it.  There is no way anyone could have been prepared for all that followed those fateful 5 minutes.  But, there was another way to be prepared.  Being prepared with your faith is important in circumstances like this.  It’s not about questioning why things happened.  It’s all about knowing and having faith in your higher power that once the event has occurred, you will get through the events that you were unprepared for physically and material-wise.  We can’t always be prepared for heartache and disaster…these things make us stronger as people.  They connect us more, and they remind us we are all human.  But we can be prepared with a knowing that we are being taken care of after it’s all said and done.

Speaking of being prepared…let’s talk about cake prep!!!  Yay!

You must be prepared before making your cake.  Ingredients out, pans out, and everything properly organized.  The less stress in the kitchen, the better!  That’s my take on things at least.  Not to mention, my Mom is one of the most organized people out there, and I love her for it!

Everyone has containers for their dry goods nowadays.  Some are tall, some are clear, some are round, some are square, etc. (you get the point).  But, then there are the ones that you  know, just know, have seen a lot of history in the kitchen.  From previous generations sometimes in fact.  The ones that have helped to contain a variety of brands of flours or sugars, maybe some that are no longer made.  Then there is my Mom’s sugar bowl.  The worn sugar and flour containers have so much history around them, I can’t even get in to it all on here.  The one thing that stands out though…the perfect olive green scoops.  I can say it’s one color of a kitchen utensil that always makes me feel warm and fuzzy.  It’s a color that reminds me of being in the kitchen with Maw-Maw, and now Mom.  Just a classic color.  I love thinking about the history of old containers.

These strips go around the edge of the pans to promote even baking.  You apply them before baking.  Yes, as the label says…saturate with water. 

You must choose ingredients that you know and love.  Our family absolutely loves Daisy Sour Cream.  It either comes with a beautiful picture of scenery on the seal of it, or an uplifting phrase.

We also love Happy Home Flavorings.  We have to find this brand at specialty stores.  It’s made in Virginia.  So, it’s semi-local.  *smiles*

You can’t go wrong with OXO tools in the kitchen.  These little bad boy measuring cups are a blessing for small measuring when you don’t want to deal with measuring spoons.  Or, they work great if you’ve already dirtied up your measuring spoons.  In fact, almost all of my own personal utensils are OXO.  Yay for OXO!

You must grease (couldn’t think of a better word) the bottom of your pans so the cakes come out perfect.  Although, I do love the goodies left in the pan once the cake is removed (I will go into that another time). 

When baking cakes, have a handy-dandy toothpick ready to plunge deep into the heart of the cake.  If it comes out clean, odds are it’s done.

Some of the above items you will see again in this series.  There is just so much more to talk about with making a cake. 

Especially a cake made with love…