The Joy of Cooking

I have never been the world’s most enthusiastic cook. I cook to feed myself but have never understood the joy that people get out of cooking. To me, cooking dinner is a chore that must be undertaken. However, about a year ago I started baking. Baking was different to cooking. Maybe it is the pure self-indulgence of baking something that I don’t need in order to survive, or the achievement of creating something. Whatever it is, baking relaxes me. I get lost in the process of finding a recipe of something I want to make, gathering the ingredients, measuring everything, following the recipe and even in cleaning up afterwards. I even tend to wash the dishes by hand as that is part of the process for me (my partner thinks this is a little crazy given we have a perfectly good dishwasher!). In the last year or so I have made numerous batches of chocolate chip cookies (a favourite in our household), chocolate cakes, banana caked, slices, muffins and even an apple pie one day. One of the cakes I have made in the past that I really liked from both a cooking and eating perspective was a Raspberry Swirl Cake. Last time I made the Raspberry Swirl Cake, I didn’t ice it because it didn’t last that long before it got devoured. Yesterday however, there were strict orders that it could not be touched until I had a chance to ice it and therefore make it complete. It turned out pretty well.