Want homemade taste? Learn to bake

By NATALIE MIKLES World Scene Writer - 10/21/2009


Teresa Banks remembers walking home from school to chocolate chip cookies just out of the oven, her aunt's homemade yeast rolls on the Thanksgiving table and the smell of a cake baking when she pulled into her grandmother's driveway for a Sunday afternoon visit.

She also thinks it's too bad that not enough people have these memories today.

Banks is teaching a five-part baking series at the Savory Chef. It begins Thursday and includes everything you need to know for home baking, from easy drop cookies to yeast bread.

"Saying you don't have enough time to bake is like saying you don't have time to exercise. If you don't want to do it, you probably won't," Banks said.

But in her class she hopes to motivate cooks into becoming skilled home bakers.

You can take all five classes in the series, or pick and choose the ones you like.

Teresa Banks will teach how to make this cake in the first "At Home Baker" class.

VERY CHERRY BUNDT CAKE

Serves 10

1 cup candied cherries, rinsed, cut in half and patted dry
2/3 cup all-purpose flour, plus 1 to 2 teaspoons
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup caster (baking) sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup self-rising flour
1/3 cup half and half

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 to 2 teaspoons water
Red food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a Bundt pan. Toss cherries with 1 to 2 teaspoons of flour.

2. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Gradually add 1 egg, beating thoroughly. Repeat with remaining egg. Add vanilla and beat thoroughly.

3. Sift flours. Alternate adding flour and half and half. Stir in cherries.

4. Spoon mixture into Bundt pan and smooth the surface. Bake 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes. Use a knife to loosen sides of cake. Turn out onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

5. For icing, sift powdered sugar. Fill bottom of double boiler with enough water that it does not touch top pan. Over medium heat, place top pan over bottom pan. Combine sugar, butter and 1 teaspoon water into top pan of double boiler. Stir mixture until butter is melted and the icing is smooth and glossy, adding 1 additional teaspoon of water to thin if necessary. Stir in 1 to 2 drops of food coloring until icing is pink. Drizzle over the cooled cake, allowing it to run down the sides.





All classes will be held at the Savory Chef, 8283 S. Memorial Drive. Call 307-2433 to register. Cost of each class is $47.



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Tulsa World Reader Comments
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Mar, Tulsa (10/21/2009 11:48:31 AM)
Yes, please teach these young women to bake (cook). The generation behind the baby boomers and the generation after that, don't do much cooking. It is either frozen or fast food for those two groups. Cooking is an art form, a fun one at that. Ladies, if you learn to cook, your children and hubby will love you for it. Also guys, learn to cook, it is a turn-on for women. :-)

lynette, Tulsa (10/22/2009 4:28:55 PM)
Good for Ms. Banks. Too many people believe that a homemade cake comes from a box and is topped with a can of frosting. Dinner rolls come in prepackaged flats from the bakery section of the grocery. If you don't know any better, you might believe that these things taste good. They don't. Try the real thing and see what happens. The difference between a real cake, with real icing, and a boxed cake, with that plastic goop out of a can, is dramatic. Same can be said for dinner rolls, and soups, and chili. Everything's better made in your own kitchen. And it's fun.



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