Butter
We begin with butter, naturally. This is a butter cake we’re baking, after all. We hope it will end up a butter cake, anyway. Who knows, till all the steps are followed with dutiful precision, and even then. Who knows? We can’t predict the results, but we can hope.
This will be our first cake, a butter cake, as we’ve said. First times are sacred, moments to be carefully cradled. We want it to be good, heck, if we were to be honest, we want it to the best, ambitious amateurs that we are.
We want to learn to bake a better butter cake. They tell us, learn from the best, then. The Baker Boy, he will be good to you, he will be kind. For your first time. It won’t hurt one bit.
After all, we are beginning with butter. Melt it, let it lubricate our fingers. A perfect vessel for transporting flavours, to smoothen this just heavenly journey.
Use butter. It won’t hurt one bit. Trust us on that.
Flour
White powder. How plain, how ordinary. You don’t think much of it, and who can blame you? It looks so plain, so ordinary.
Ah, but it isn’t. This is fairy dust, this is unfallen snow, pristine and unblemished. Innocent, and unknowing. It hasn’t a clue of what we have planned for it yet. Ignorance: such bliss.
We will use it, we will knead it beneath our knuckles, we will make it the body of our cake. Soft before, won’t be long before it firms up and sets the foundation for our minor masterpiece. Once merely plain white powder, it will blossom soon enough, it will come alive.
We know now how Dr. Frankenstein must have felt. Bakers weave their own brand of magic. Come alive, my love…
Sugar
Sugar baby. So tenderly, baby. You caramelize my skin with your diamond lava flow. You drip like lust when I warm you. Oh you are on heat, aren’t you? Ask me, ask me to turn it up.
The Baker Boy lets out a hearty guffaw, goes on and explains the uses of sugar. Tenderizes the gluten, it does, it adds liquid to the mix, sweetens the cake, of course. So simple. So safe.
There is a Danger sign behind him. Appearances can be deceiving. Lessons can be warnings in disguise. This is sugar. Be careful. Sift lightly. Not too much.
This sweet addiction. It never lets go.
Eggs
The fourth element. The one to bind it all together. Something so rich, so primal. We crack one at a time, we separate each into frothy white and creamy yellow.
Don’t be gentle. It can take a beating.
You can’t go far without breaking a few shells along the way. So. Crack it. Beat it. Whip it all up. Then let it go. Gently fold them into each other. Change the tempo. Forget the fury, we’ll go slow now.
Pain can be such perfection.
We’ll pop it in the oven, and wait as a wolf waits for a girl and her grandmother. We’re not gluttons, merely gourmands. We’re gourmands, we’re big bad hungry wolves. Our bellies growl.
The timer pings. The wait is over.
Let’s not forget our tongue here, our simple tool of taste. We need to know if this will work, if this will be a success. A prayer on our lips and then we take our first bite.
Mmmm...
.
{ Special thanks to the Baker Boy Nigel Skelchy for the wonderful baking class.
Photography by Kenny Mah and The Lady Lemongrass. }
43 Comments
You went too?? Hahaha..i hopped over from Nic’s blog and for a moment, i thought you both baked a butter cake together! WUAHAHA! Ahem..so when are you baking some to let me try?? Oh Yah..with the tong sui too!
what butterycakery coincidence, eh? haha!
made mine sounded like a teenager surfing porn.
and no, it’s not about getting laid and all..haha!
You know how Hallmark has its tagline, “In every life, there is drama”? Kenny, I think yours would be, “In every dish, there is drama.” Heh.
hahahah i love the danger sign behind nigel!! i read ‘There is a danger sign behind him’. so i thought oh ok, perhaps you mean metaphorically… as in he doesn’t look dangerous at first glance but the danger lurks beneath him…that kinda thing.
then i saw the photos….and there LITERALLY IS a Danger! Bahaya! sign behind him!! heeheeheehee.. that tickled me a lot.
Kenny, baking is fun..but i dread all the cleaning up after that
OMIGOD! You’ve made it into sex! But then again, it is food after all!
And what is food but an extension of our sexual selves. 
ooohh.. Looks like fuN!
the better butter cake tastes even better with a platter of peanut butter and a bunch of blithesome bakers engaged in a bout of light banter
Precious Pea: Hehe, no problem… I bake the butter cake, you roast the siu yoke, okay?
Nic (KHKL): Yeah, my eyes nearly popped out when I saw you wrote about butter cake too. Great and greasy (from all the melted butter lah) minds do think alike.
And who says it ain’t all about getting laid? Have you seen the effect of Nigel’s Rosemary Butter Cake on the ladies? Try mass swooning, Prince Charming-style. These days it takes more than a white knight with a shining codpiece to win them over, you know. Must have first-class baking and cooking skills some more…
Kookymonsta: “In every dish, there is drama.” — I love that! Hehe.
lingzie: Thanks for catching it! I was wondering if most people will miss it since it’s in the last picture and so small some more… You get brownie points for very good observation!
somehow, especially at the beginning of your post, reminds me of a tongue twister about betty and some bitter butter..hehe
seowyin: Ah, the cleaning up. Unavoidable. Which is why I usually resign myself to doing this. You’d be surprised how popular you can be once folks find out you’re willing to embrace the dirty dishes.
Nigel: I so did not make it into sex! Where got? I just, uhm, put my thoughts that wandered during the class into words, is all. Can you blame me, what with the intoxicating aromas that were streaming out of the oven and your dreamy and equally intoxicating voice lulling us students into thinking there life after baking (it’s called eating the results)?
And anyway. I didn’t invent food porn, I just made it better. LOL!!
daphne: Oh it was…
Jun: A platter of peanut butter paired perfectly with a piece of my better butter cake might take a bunch of a blithesome bakers but I doubt the bout of banter would likely be light, right?
sc: Well, I think the one you’re thinking of goes something like this —
Betty Botter had some butter,
“But,” she said, “this butter’s bitter.
If I bake this bitter butter,
it would make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter–
that would make my batter better.”
So she bought a bit of butter,
better than her bitter butter,
and she baked it in her batter,
and the batter was not bitter.
So ’twas better Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter.
But I much prefer Jun’s version, hehe.
But but but…..brother…can I have the butter cake?
I want it with my java! I’m easy to please. Hee heee….
What’s the “green stuff” on the top of the butter cake (1st pix, right bottom corner). I hope “green stuff” don’t sound too sensitive in the Hulk era :O
(You did? You made tahini soba with pork floss for the 2nd time? How was it? How was it? ) I hope it was better than the first
and found your own ways to improve it. Glad someone tried and like my recipe.
i wonder and i wonder…..
if kenny does the baking at home, is he also known as the ‘naked chef’? :-p
as usual, the keropokman spoils the mood a bit…
“White powder. How plain, how ordinary. You don’t think much of it, and who can blame you? It looks so plain, so ordinary.
Ah, but it isn’t. This is fairy dust, this is unfallen snow, pristine and unblemished. Innocent, and unknowing. It hasn’t a clue of what we have planned for it yet. Ignorance: such bliss. “
white flour is not natural at all, not unblemished. it has been physically stripped and raped by oxide of nitrogen, chlorine, chloride, nitrosyl and benzoyl peroxide mixed with various chemical salts. etc.. until it looks so pale and lifeless.
go back to the au naturel. use unbleached flour. not white but it can be sensuous as well. LOL…
tigerfish: Hahaha, the “green stuff” is actually rosemary and man, does this herb enliven the simple butter cake a million times or what? It’s a brilliant topping and transforms the whole cake.
P.S. The tahini soba with pork floss was even better the second time round. I used less tahini butter and more ginger juice. Only thing was I made too much soba and had leftovers. I kept it in a tupperware in the fridge and had it the next morning… Wunderbar!
keropokman: Well, it’s okay to be the naked chef so long as the right bits get baked, and not other bits, eh?
P.S. I wonder if you can write a lusty ode to unbleached flour. I already ran out of all the un-adjectives some more you come up with un-bleached? Die lah I…
writing lusty ode is your specialty sir :-p
or you can collaborate with pak nic. haha…
keropokman: I’m not quite sure that’s a compliment, haha…
… and the world must dread what mischief Pak Nic and I might get up to together if ever join forces.
always look at the positive side. take it as a compliment.
the world’s not dreading. the world’s waiting…..
let’s have a vote of confidence.
keropokman: A vote of confidence? Don’t you mean a vote of no-confidence?
eh eh, kita tak main main apa tu no-confidence thingy.
we also tak main apa tu ‘apple farm’ politics.
LOL…
keropokman: Er, apa tu “apple farm politics”? Is this a new term? I’m kinda lost, bro.
something i read that goes like…
A man called Maha owns a farm which can produce 10 apples every day.
He has 5 workers to operate the farm.
Each of them eats 1 apple daily and it is enough to keep them operating the farm normally.
The remaining 4 apples, the landlord sells them at RM10 each and he earns RM40.
He uses the RM25 to improve the farm operation and facilities.
He gives RM2.00 to each of his workers and he keeps the remaining RM5.00 as profit.
Day by day, the farm is well developed and all of the 5 workers are happy with the money they can save.
haha….
keropokman: Ah so! You sent me this via Facebook before but I kinda missed the connection with the term “Apple Farm” politics. Heh, more horrible than “Animal Farm”, no?
btw, are you able to replicate the butter cake ah?
i suddenly realised there’s so many cake tins above the oven. how many did you all make?
aku ni lapar lah.. nak makan kek sekarang!
keropokman: How many did we make? Good gosh I lost count… There was the rich butter cake, the rosemary one, the bacon one, the one with cheese… Let’s just say we were smothered with butter cakes by the end of the class!
And that’s not a bad thing.
in response to ur betty botter tongue twister, i think i like YOUR version better
*bows in respect*
Jun: My version? Oh no, that one’s a classic. Not sure who wrote it though… That’s the problem with them really old ones; hard to figure out its origin. Anyone wanna Wikipedia this?
you make it sound as if his class has been classified as 18 and above before you went..and further affirmed that it is definitely a handful even for those 18 and above!!
what a class that i miss eh? lubricant butter and fairy flour..
There’s DEFINITELY a notti side to this..
That aside, the only tongue twister with butter in it is significantly shorter than yours:
Betty bought some butter
But the butter she bought was bitter
So Betty bought some better butter
To make the bitter butter better
So, I gather yours did rise?
Your butter cake.
lotsofcravings: 18 and above? It was Nigel’s class — what did you expect? LOL.
Michelle: Tongue twister? Significantly shorter? Bitter butter better?
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen to AA — Alliterative Anonymous!
Tummythoz: Hmm, what do you think?
So, how’s the cake? Does it come up butter cake? Haha! Look as if you had a lot of fun.
an impressive sweet creamy expedition and highly rewarding touching company of the eclectic flourists, consider yourself very lucky
Jennifer: The cake was just heavenly.
backStreetGluttons: Sweet creamy expedition? My, my, that’s one way of putting it, sure. Hehe.
Glad your better butter cake wasn’t bitter
yummy, gosh how can I even go on a date if I am going to see this kind of blog everyday.. haha..
But i love it.
How are you btw? Kinda busy these past few days and wasn’t able to visit your blog.
equilibrium2008: No worries about being busy, we all are these days. Mid-year frenzy, yes? Me, I’m great; couldn’t be better.
I just ruined by diet again arrrghhh.. I was craving when I saw your blog and bought a box of butter cookies eekk
equilibrium2008: Oh NO!!! Please don’t tell me my blog ruined your diet… I may never blog about food again liddat…
P.S. Were they butter cookies tasty? Hehe. *incorrigible*
Ooh, butter cake? Mi favorita! Hee
lol.. How was the outcome of the cake?
Din know know baking cake can be so much fun:)
» Eudora
Yummy as anything can be!
» inspireme
Baking cakes can be so therapeutic!
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