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[thebakeologylab]

Chapter 3: They see me rollin'

Hello and welcome back to the Bakeology Lab! This week we are here to talk about all things Christmas!! Before I make it super obvious, Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love spending quality time with my family and during Christmas time we do just that. We decorate the Christmas tree, cook, bake and listen to Christmas music. Everything about it just brings me so much joy and gives me a feeling of nostalgia. Although I love everything about Christmas, the best and most anticipated part in my family is the exchanging of Christmas gifts. One of my love languages are gift giving so it only makes sense for me to get a gift for every single one of my friends and family. Every year, we have a tradition where all of my aunts, uncles and cousins come over to exchange gifts. It's the only time of year where everyone is together at the same place at the same time. It just warms my heart when all of my family members are together enjoying each other's company. Although the gifts I receive on Christmas are great and it may be expensive, the thing that I am most grateful for on that day is my family. A lot of people are not able to spend that special day with their loved ones which makes me sad but also super grateful that I have the luxury of doing so. Another thing my family loves to do is eat. So every Christmas, without fail, my aunt bakes bread, ham and various cakes and desserts. My favorite Christmas dessert of them all has to be cinnamon rolls. If I had to associate Christmas with a smell, it would definitely be cinnamon. When you make cinnamon rolls your entire house smells like Christmas and who doesn't want that? So, with that being said, after a lot of convincing, I have permission to share with you my aunt's cinnamon roll recipe this week!!! It's soft, sweet and I hope you love them as much as I do :)

Cinnamon roll recipe (10 rolls)

Ingredients

3 cups flour

2 eggs

3 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 tsp yeast

1/2 cup warm milk

3 1/2 tbsp butter

2 1/2 tbsp water

Filling

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

Icing

1 cup icing sugar/powdered sugar

2 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation

Add yeast to warm milk and set aside for 10 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Add in your yeast mixture to the dry ingredients and mix. Whisk in your eggs one at a time then add in your water. Lastly, add in your softened butter and knead with your hands until it forms a soft dough. Place your dough into a greased bowl and cover to let it rise for 2 hours. While your dough is rising mix together your sugar and cinnamon for the filling. Roll out your dough into a rectangular shape and brush on melted butter. Sprinkle your cinnamon sugar mixture evenly then roll it into a long roll. Cut it into 10 equal pieces and place the rolls into a buttered baking dish. Cover for 10 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. When your rolls are out of the oven, mix your icing. Evenly spread it on top of your rolls. Serve while still warm.

*you can always reheat your rolls in the microwave

Every year my aunt goes all out by making advent calendars by hand, so that we can count down the days until Christmas🎄🎁✨

[thebakeologylab]

Chapter 2: Donut go breaking my heart

Beauty

'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'

But I possess no such thing

For I cannot imagine another

To love me as if I'm their everything.

I've always been jealous

And envious of other's beauty

But now I have learnt

That that was my own insecurity

I learnt to love myself

And let others get to know ME

She was always locked away on a shelf

But now she is free.

Like the oceans and forests and sunsets,

Each beautiful in their own way

They are all different from each other

Yet they never take each other's shine away

For a while, I have struggled with loving myself because I've always compared myself to others. I used to criticize my looks and wished I looked like someone else. What I failed to realize was that another person's beauty does not take away from your own. We are all different but beautiful in our own way. No one on earth is exactly the same. Each of us are special and unique and that is what matters most.

This week we are making donuts! Just like us, donuts come in all shapes, flavours and sizes. You can personalize your donuts however you want. From toppings like sprinkles, chopped peanuts and cinnamon sugar, it's all up to you.

Donut recipe (12 donuts)

2 cups flour

4 tbsp softened butter

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp yeast

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup milk

1 egg

Preparation

Sift flour into a large bowl then add sugar, salt and yeast. Add in butter and mix until it looks like crumbs. Lastly whisk in your egg, vanilla and milk until a dough starts to form. Knead with your hands and form it into ball and place it an oiled bowl. Cover and let it rise for 1 to 2 hours. Next, roll out the dough about half an inch thick and cut out your donut shapes using a donut cover or a large cup and a small bottle cover. Leave to rest for 10 minutes before frying. Lastly, fry on low heat until golden brown.

Allow your donuts to cool completely before adding any icing and toppings of your choice.

Ps. You are never too much, and you're always enough <3

[thebakeologylab]

Chapter 1: Tiers of Joy

Hi! My name is Shakira Daniel, I'm 19 years old and I study psychology. Some of my hobbies are reading, listening to music, writing poems and baking. My blog will mainly focus on baking because cooking for others is my love language. I just love the smile on people's faces when they receive baked goods. It lets them know that you are thinking of them and that they are special to you. It is also psychologically proven that when you give others a sweet treat, they associate you with being a sweet person as opposed to being salty or bitter. To me, baking is very calming and therapeutic. It is an activity that I love doing whenever I feel stressed (unless someone else is in the kitchen with me) and at the end you also get a sweet treat. Overall, it's a win in my book. Also, a little fun fact, the word 'stressed' spelt backwards is 'desserts'. The way in which you have to follow a recipe exactly in order to get your perfect cake, the same 'recipe' should be applied to life. Just like how other people follow different paths in life to achieve different goals, different recipes provide different cakes and desserts. With that being said, I would like to take you all on this special journey with me while I try to figure out what is my perfect 'cake'.

For my first post, I'm sharing with you a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Honestly I'd make this cake mainly for the frosting because it's just THAT good!

Red Velvet Cake:

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 tbsp red food coloring

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp vinegar

2 eggs

2/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

For the frosting:

1 block or 8 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup softened butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions:

In a bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. in another bowl, combine buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and vinegar. in a third bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer. Next, alternate between adding in the wet and dry ingredients. Whisk until smooth. In a greased 8 inch pan, add in your cake batter. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 2 hours.

While the cake is cooling, mix together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla using an electric mixer until smooth. Then slowly add in your powdered sugar until combined.

Once your cake is cooled, cut off the top so that it is leveled. Crumble the top that was cut off to use for later. With your leveled cake, cut it into 2 layers. Now it's time for icing! Spread icing on your first layer of cake then place the second layer on top. Ice the entire cake with the remaining icing and sprinkle with the cake crumbs from earlier.

A little tip: you don't have to ice your cake perfectly because the crumbs hide all the imperfections ;)

Hope you enjoyed this recipe, see you next week <3