Tricks to treats

With a call to “bake brave”, World Baking Day is upon us, inviting cake makers to take a step out of their comfort zone, choose one out of 100 “tricky” recipes, roll those sleeves up and let the hands do all the talking.

The idea behind dedicating an entire day of the year for baking enthusiasts has many takers in the West, where bake-offs have gone viral. But events and contests such as these are still waiting to savour the sweet taste of success here.

“This market is not as advanced as the Western market in terms of the response to bake-offs and these sorts of competitions,” says Bobbie Lloyd, chief baking officer at Magnolia Bakery, which is situated within Bloomingdale’s Home at The Dubai Mall.

Encouraging baking aficionados to come together to learn tricks of the trade and share recipes, Magnolia hosts regular baking demonstrations throughout the year. “In our experience, we have found that the attendees are primarily women who are interested in learning baking tips. Questions asked during these events usually include where to get certain ingredients, how to mix the batter properly, what temperature to bake at and what type of pan to use,” adds Lloyd.

Nalini Dev-Kauffman bakes with an unbridled passion. But since she moved from London to Dubai five years ago, she dearly misses events which allow cake lovers to share their passion for baking. “Unfortunately I haven’t heard of any bake-offs around here. It would be great to be able to attend one and meet fellow bakers and have tray bakes, etc. I would participate for sure,” says the homemaker and mother of two.

Swapping ingredients

What’s essential in baking is to have the right ingredients before you begin. “Dubai is very limited in terms of ingredients, especially quality ingredients, and you have to pay a premium if you want to use these — that’s if you are lucky enough to find them,” said Dev-Kauffman. “Plus, there’s no guarantee of supply. Over Halloween, for example, there is a perennial shortage of black and orange food colour pastes which we use for colouring the icing, and around National Day you struggle to find green, red and black”.

While bakeries such as Magnolia primarily source products from the United States and United Kingdom, individuals are left with the option of either ordering online, asking friends flying in for favours or stocking up when they take a trip abroad.

“It is a challenge in the Middle East environment to try and provide as many things as the varied nationalities and styles of cooking require,” says Alison Laws, international operations manager for Lakeland, UK’s home shopping pioneers well known for their innovative kitchen cookware appliances and utensils. “The availability of ancillary products for decorating cakes and cookies is essentially limited to supermarkets and one or two other outlets, and limitations in ranges and the availability of ingredients often means some license is used when following recipes.”

Swapping ingredients to play substitute is an occupational hazard most avid cooks and bakers are prepared to face.

What’s happening, however, in the baking world is the desire to exchange older ingredients for healthier authentic products that are richer in taste. “I use lemon and orange pastes instead of US Orange/Lemon extract which contains alcohol. I have also switched to using dry cranberries in my recipes instead of frozen ones,” says Lloyd. Many bakers have also swapped the traditional vanilla essence for vanilla bean paste as it adds a gourmet taste to any recipe.

Look matters

Apart from what goes into preparing cakes and pastries, how they look to the eye, their presentation, is another sweet trend that’s rocking dessert trolleys.

“While a lot of people are experimenting on the look of the cake from the inside. For example, once you cut it, it’s like having the inside resemble a leopard or zebra print, or a rainbow. Air brushing for decorating cakes is also getting very popular in Dubai,” says Dev-Kauffman.

“Cake pop ups have been a craze for a year now, and it always doesn’t have to be round. You can design them in whatever shape you like — a snowman or a teddy bear,” said Wakami Saab, deputy manager at Tavola. The homeware store also hosts the Wilton cake decorating classes in Dubai. A baker herself, Saab explained the courses available at the US-based cake decorating institute. “From simple royal icing to fondant to gum paste creations, we offer four courses and now we have an advanced gum paste course where participants are taught to create flowers, shells, etc out of paste. We also have short course for gum paste use where people who have no clue about cake decoration can learn the basics.”.

Bake-ware — the utensils used to make cakes — has also transformed over the years. While it’s true that all a baker really needs to prepare a delicious dessert is a good oven, a smooth rolling pin and a sturdy whisk, most cake makers will now add silicone bake-ware products to this list. “Silicon bake-ware and accessories are enjoying great popularity because they are easy to use, and the shapes and sizes available means creating masterpieces is easy. Besides, washing them is a doddle, and storing them is much easier than rigid tins,” says Laws.

“When people bake they have in their mind different shapes and ideas. For example, a person makes a cake and posts pictures on Instagram. For some reason it becomes an instant hit and people come into the store asking for products that can create it. So cake decoration is much like fashion trends in that sense,” said Saab. “For bake-ware we try and keep with these trends as much as possible because there is a demand. There are some really innovative products, such as our Lekue macaroon kit, that are really popular”.

Available in bright, cheerful colours a wide variety of silicone baking products, from spoons, brushes and spatulas to ultra-flexi moulds and trays are available throughout the market. They do not rust, need no greasing, can be frozen and are even dish-washer safe.

So if you are one of those who can’t fight the urge to pre-heat the oven, tomorrow is World Baking Day.

— Shahana Raza is a UAE-based freelance writer

LEARN THE ART OF BAKING

Here are a few places and events in the UAE that can help you hone your skills

Baking art: 055-8086940/050-4838097; baking-art.com; info@baking-art.com

SCAFA, The School of Culinary and Finishing Arts: 04-3794044; scafa.ae; info@scafa.ae

Cookin & Bakin: 050-7294291; cookingbakingajman.com; cookingbakingclasses@gmail.com

Cake N Chocolate Factory: 050-7690939/0557820330; cakenchocolatefactory.com; info@cakenchocolatefactory.com

Cake Walk: 055-5454685/04-3596313; cakewalkdubai.com; info@cakestorydubai.com

Vandana Jain Culinary Courses: 050-7506291/055-1556082; vandana-jain.com; vandanajain05@gmail.com

Gulfood 2014: February 23-27. Check it out for everything from bread making techniques through to the finer details of pastry preparation. gulfood.com

TECHNIQUES

Decorating cakes and cupcakes is no longer just about spreading icing across the top or sprinkling silver and gold dragees. Baking enthusiasts are using icing and fondant to create a variety of novel and impressive techniques that give exquisite finishing touches to the end product. Here are some of the newer popular methods of decorating cakes and cupcakes -

• Air Brushing: great technique to decorate icing or fondant covered cakes. Easier still, use a stencil when spraying

• Creating 3D characters: Gum paste is a good medium to create these

• Sugar veiling: Look great on wedding and formal occasion cakes

• Fondant quilting: a textured look that’s great for a baby shower

• Cake Pop Ups: Don’t want to feel guilty after a piece of cake? Grab a cake pop up. It’s pretty and will keep your portion in control

For more log on to wilton.com