Hello, and welcome to “Debra Tries…” The series where I review topics and activities that I would not normally take part in on a normal day. For example, I will listen to music, watch movies, TV shows, play video games and even eat foods that lie outside my comfort zone. Today’s topic: Baking. 

   Oddly enough, never in my life have I baked anything. That probably rooted in my childhood fear of the oven(the overwhelming heat always scared me). So today I looked up a simple vanilla cake recipe, went to Publix to buy ingredients and got to work.  

    My first step was to mix everything. So I brought out the sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, milk, butter and vanilla extract all on the counter and started measuring and mixing. Most of that time I mostly struggled on how to open the containers and maybe put too much sugar/flour in once or twice.

     After I put the cake in the oven, I realized that I bought two kinds of frosting, chocolate chips and sprinkles that will not be needed for the one cake. So I decided to make another vanilla cake but this time with chocolate chips on the inside. 

   Once the first cake is done in the oven, I let it cool and put the other cake in. I then get to the fun part: decorating. With the first cake, I cover it with cream cheese frosting and then add pink icing, finishing it off with pink sprinkles. That’s when I realize I am horrible with cake decorating.

   My pink balloon looks like a blob and the frosting looks smeared and messy. Once the second cake is done, I get a little more luck. I carefully spread the chocolate frosting, then placed chocolate chips all around the cake. 

   Now for the taste test. Well, they were okay. A little dry, with basically no real flavor. Although the chocolate one was significantly better. I had my siblings try them too, and they had the same opinions. 

   The question now is if my opinion on baking changed? I’m pleased to say that it did. I had a lot of fun making those cakes. Even though I am not the best at baking, I can at least say that I tried. I have gained a lot of respect for those professional bakers out there, especially the ones that make really extravagant cakes.