I have always known how to bake cakes since primary school, though not professionally. The cakes were usually hard and not fluffy. You know how cakes used to be years back.
In secondary school, there were skills acquisition classes; you had to choose from catering craft, photography, technical etc. Well i went for the One that was easy to comprehend, and had to do with food, which was catering and craft class.
The Catering craft class was fun because Mrs Samuel would ask us to contribute #200 each so she will teach hs how to make buns,fish roll and egg roll depending on the ingredients our money could buy. After we were taught she will group us and ask us to have practical classes each group making different pastries. Honestly, it was fun. It was in one of those practical class i learned to make pineapple upside down cake, and pineapple rice or something can't remember the name she called it then.
During the holidays ( it was a boarding school), I began practicing at home, some i could replicate, others i failed, but i was loving every bit of it.
After secondary school, there was no time to go and learn professionally, or rather it never crossed my mind to upgrade. So i just made pastries for home consumption alone. When i Went to university COVID-19 happened and it was a long break but i couldn't learn anything even if i wanted to.
But trust Nigeria University to alway go on strike when there are unresolved issues with government.
During the ASUU strike ( Academic staff union of Universities), i had the perfect opportunity to learn baking professionally as a skill. The few places i made inquiring had high fee which weren't fair to me at that time but eventually i found someone whose fee was fair enough.
I was her only student so there was enough time to teach me. Then i knew that accurate measurement is needed when you want to bake. The procedure was something i already knew but i didn't have a good recipe which i learned. I learned different types of cake flavors and how to ice a cake very well. Thanks to that class i can make good, moist and fluffy cakes not the ones i used to make back in primary school.
This skill actually came in handy after my youth service. Rather than waiting for a job to come i was making little snacks for sale, i bake cakes and sell cake slices. My sister would always refer me to her church members who wanted to use cakes for their events. I am planning on going for an advanced class because there's still a lot to learn in this cake industry.
Thank you for reading
All images used are mine