The thing about baking is that, I learn something new every single time I bake ! Not just about baking or the stuffs I use to bake but also about myself ! I rediscover myself and know what and how much I'am capable of ! It makes me do things I would have thought was impossible or difficult for me to achieve !
I'm not a person who easily gives up ! I'm rather patient when it comes to baking and people outside ! I deal with a calm head ! In the kitchen I'm no friend ! But outside the kitchen I can be even ur best friend ! What happens in the kitchen ends there and what happens outside the kitchen stops there ! I owe, one special person to have made me think that way ! Because working that way is the best not just for me but for others too !
We were making a Genoise sponge cake ! It's a cake walk ! Simple steps but needs certain techniques ! You go wrong and you cake is a disaster ! You have to keep whisking eggs on a double boiler till it foams up and its volume doubles up! You cant stop whisking because the eggs can cook due to the heat. When everything was followed and done , the last stage was to pour some melted butter in the batter ! The minute I poured mine, the batter just lost all its volume and dropped down ! Just in front of my eyes ! In like a fraction of a second ! I was literally gaping at it in disbelief !
I could not understand head or tail as of why it would happen so because, I've followed every single step not just correctly but perfectly ! The chef was kind enough to let me put that bater in the oven and make a second one provided, I catch up with others and multi task! I still had more to do ! The sugar syrup, the jam, the butter cream, masking AND piping !
I quit thinking and started working ! I was whisking like a mad cap with both my hands ! Running around in the kitchen measuring the ingredients for my jam and sugar syrup, then whisking the eggs in one hand and mixing the jam on another hand ! I felt like a human robot Hahahaha !
After all this, my partner who I was working with says she's accidentally dropped water in my bowl of butter ! It then hit me why my batter was a disaster ! All she had to do was tell me immediately! I could have saved my batter. I had no time to argue ! Without another word, I just carried on and after so much of whisking, successfully put the second batter in the oven !
The syrup was done and the jam was bubbling away and I was weighing ingredients for butter cream. (French way not the American way) French way is different and takes longer !
My partner leaves all the vessels on the sink near our station and I'm shouted at by the Chef for she though I was clogging the sink! I ran abt to clean it , unclog it , come back to see ,y partner ruined the jam and the butter cream ! We were supposed to make it in pairs and share ! I quickly adjusted the jam and buttercream ! Butter cream looked lot better but not at its best !
Everyone were already masking the cake while mine was just out of the oven ! I had to chill it in the blast freezer, clean my station and then start the masking ! I turned and realized my partner's cake was a complete diaster and she left me just with two spoons of jam and filled her's with most of it ! I didn't stop to argue but continued with my next steps. She was doing everything incorrectly and I actually stopped to correct and helped her. Even after all that, I actually finished my cake way ahead of not just her but, also many other chefs ! Mine looked looked good but, ofcourse I was not satisfied ! I know it was not the best !
I was so mad and pissed that I could have bursted out any minute but I was clam on the outside and inside ! Why? Because when others had done one cake in 2 and a half hours, I made two ! When others worked in pairs, I worked all alone! It made me feel better ! Yes I did get scored low for my cake ! I could have got away by telling the chef what happened and could have got more marks but I choose not to ! Because today I learnt I'm considerate, I learnt what Iam capable of and what not to do when ur baking and what not to do while working in pairs! The only thing I lost was marks! I gained much more :)
More than that, my friends here knew what a rough day I had in the kitchen that,they took me out for lunch and they made me do the cake cutting ceremony ! The honour of cutting my own cake ! They were clapping in the restaurant like I achieved something big hahaha :) And we almost even finished the whole cake! :) The cake could have tasted much better but I could also taste hard work, compassion and love in it ! It made me feel so light on the inside!
Sometimes, you have to shut your mouth, swallow your pride and accept you are wrong even if you are not. It's not called giving up ! It's called growing up ! :)
