Thankful to learn

I’m thankful to be dedicated to cupcakology. Having made this my full-time profession, I’ve been following news, reading books and getting to know experts all year. I’m unspeakably grateful to be conducting doctoral-level research.

While my studies are mostly academic, I recently got the itch to try my hand at baking. I blended theory, practice and expert consultation into on-the-job training. It surpassed my expectations.

I decided to bring Sprinkles vegan carrot cake to a Thanksgiving potluck. This was a multifaceted and thrilling adventure for me. It’s not just that I don’t bake. I don’t cook. I finally had an excuse to buy some new equipment and supplies and lay hands on ingredients that were exotic to me.

The recipe from The Sprinkles Baking Book:

Whole nutmeg? I was going to visit a few specialty spice shops the next day when I stumbled upon it in the international aisle of the supermarket. Wow. Its quality probably isn’t peak, but I bought it with great relief.

I unwrapped it and consulted Lior Lev Sercarz’s The Spice Companion to learn what this thing is and how to grind it.

I tested the recipe Wednesday. The cake quality was astonishing. I was in disbelief that an inexperienced home baker could execute something so well.

Apparently, this is just what the experts prescribe.

“… [I]f you can read, you can follow a recipe; if you can follow a recipe, you can bake,” maestro Yotam Ottolenghi told TASTE.

My heavens, I did it!

However, I was unhappy with the frosting. The recipe was too sweet. It was grainy from the quantity of confectioner’s sugar. The strange flavor of the packaged vegan cream cheese was too dominant.

I Tweeted at expert Stella Parks, whose book tour I attended this fall. Parks is a down-to-earth class act. She not only offered ideas, but so did the esteemed Allison Robicelli. I’ve bookmarked a lot of Robicelli’s writing and bantered with her this summer about malasadas and everything bagel doughnuts.

It was a privilege to glean the wise advice of both chefs in late-night Tweets. Their recommendations required another trip to the store. Ummm, sleeping on it.

Thanksgiving morning, I decided I was going to fix it with the ingredients on hand. It was time to test Samin Nosrat’s lesson that salt, fat, acid and heat are the keys to good taste. The frosting didn’t need salt or fat. It needed acid. Heat may be referring to the cooking of food, but I decided it referred to spice, which I also added.

I reduced the amount of sugar by two-thirds, increased the vanilla extract by just a little, added cinnamon and the smallest pinch of ground cloves. Most cleverly, I added fresh lemon juice. Almost there, but needed moderately more sugar.

Be still my heart. Oh my gosh, how did I do this? It’s balanced and tasty and, most importantly, tangy like conventional cream cheese. Home run.

This is my first time baking anything. I didn’t even know if I could successfully execute a recipe. Improvisation was inconceivable.

Prouder than a peacock, I arrived with my potluck contribution, frosted it on site and walked away to fill my plate with savory food. My cake quickly disappeared. People talked about it. One asked for the recipe.

Here is a piece from my test run.

Here are the crumbs after guests devoured it.

So much gratitude that I’m able to learn, share and stretch to exhilarating heights. Thankful beyond measure.