September Blog Post - Kyleigh Mongon

 My Thoughts on Baking

Baking is a hobby of mine and also like a second job aside from the restaurant I work at. It started a while back as something simple: taking a few baking classes with some friends. But it then became something bigger. 

I have always been into baking because my mom was. She would make cookies almost every week and also made me and my siblings birthday cakes, whatever we wanted, every year since we were young. It then became something fun and exciting for me to be able to also create delicious things, from scratch, that could be anything I wanted, and a good activity to do with friends and family. 

Eventually, baking became more than just a hobby to me. I started to get requests from others to make cakes for baby showers, christenings, birthdays, anything. Although now that I have become very preoccupied with school, tennis, work, studying, and a lot more, I have not been able to bake often, it was always flattering and exhilarating to hear that someone wanted ME, certainly not a thoroughly trained professional, to bake and decorate a cake or cupcakes for their important events.

The process of making the cakes requested of me was long and proved to be difficult and disappointing at times when things were not perfect, as I am a bit of a perfectionist, but I was always proud of the final result and realized the meaning of "trust the process." 

But anyway, I wish I still had the time, and means, to bake extraordinary things because I am always up for a challenge and love to explore what I can create, from the homemade batter and frosting to the intricate final details and tiers. 

I also thought that I would include my top two favorite cakes I have created. By no means are these perfect, but they are still the most impressive, to me at least, that I have made.

1. 

This one was the first tiered cake I made and, if I recall correctly, the first one that I wrapped a cake in fondant. It was for a baby shower and, no, it is not perfect, but to me, it was really important and special.

2. 

So this one was the second, and to this day the last, that was a tiered cake. For this one, I learned how to manipulate fondant as a cake topper and it was for a christening. I liked the theme and I remember going to a cake store and finding all the stuff to decorate the cake with which, however lame it may seem, was fun for me. 

In the end, baking is just something that can open up a whole new world of creativity, at least for me, so I thought it was important enough to share through this blog post.