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Baking Cake

It was the first day of school today as a year seven student at a completely new school and my first
subject was cooking! I was so nervous because I have never cooked before, not even at home.

In cooking, we were given our first assessment task. We had to bake a chocolate cake, design it and then
write a reflection. Our cooking teacher, Miss Fruit, talked about expectations and gave us a recipe.

“Keep in mind that the cake that you bake will be graded on. You must wash your hands with soap and
put your apron on before you start making cake. If you make mistakes, you cannot make it again as it is
a waste of ingredients, money and also, five other classes will be making them as well,” she said.

I preheated the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and then I put in the grease paper into a cupcake pan. First,
I sifted together dry ingredients of 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder and ½
teaspoons baking soda and ¾ cup baking cocoa into a bowl. Then I added ½ cup milk, ¾ cups sugar, 1
cup butter and two eggs into the bowl. After that, I mixed at medium speed for 3 minutes! Since baking
was completely new to me, I have heard that mixing was the best part.

I was so excited that I did something extremely careless. I mixed the cake too fast and half of the mix
overflowed and dripped onto the table. I crept over to the paper towel dispenser and started wiping the
table. But it was too late. Miss Fruit was at her desk and she saw me. She walked over normally and I
had a sudden thought that she didn’t see what happened.

“Fahad!” she yelled. It was so loud that I jumped while holding the bowl and spilt more of my cake mix.
“As you have spilt your cake mix, you will have a smaller cake than the rest of the class. You know the
rules.”

A hundred eyes were staring at me. I was so embarrassed that I quickly turned my back to the class,
cleaned the spill and went on with mixing. Next, I spooned the mix into the cake cases and baked the
cake for 15 minutes. It had to be 2 greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Fortunately this part
went off without a hitch. I will absolutely hate cooking! I thought.

While the cakes were baking in the oven, I started to make my icing. It was slightly easier to make it
because all you had to do was put combine 1 cup milk and 5 tablespoons flour in a saucepan and cook it
until thick. Then I had to cover and freeze it until it got cold.

All the students sat around and chatted for 10 minutes while our mixture cooled. Then we left the mix in
the freezer and started the next part. We beat 1 cup butter, 1 cup icing sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla
until it got creamy in a stand mixer. We then added the chilled milk mixture and beat it for 10 minutes..
This time I mixed it all carefully and when the cakes were cooled, I piped the icing onto the cakes and
dusted some cocoa on top of it. It actually looked really good, even though it was smaller than the rest
of the class, with the icing and chocolate chips and with added crushed blue candy on top.

"This looks amazing," said Miss Fruit and she smiled at me for the first time today.

In my reflection, I wrote:

Today in Cooking, we made cupcakes. I hated cooking when I spilt the mix, but when I had finished it, I
realized that I had a whole heap of fun making it and it was also extremely delicious. I learnt that you
shouldn’t jump to conclusions just because you’ve made a careless mistake.
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Solution/original recipe

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoons baking soda

3/4 cup baking cocoa

1 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

1 cup whole milk

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing:

1 cup whole milk

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Additional baking cocoa, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°. Sift together dry ingredients in a bowl. Add oil, coffee and milk; mix at medium
speed 1 minute. Add eggs and vanilla; beat 2 minutes longer. (Batter will be thin.)

Pour into 2 greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans (or two 8-in. round baking pans and 6 muffin
cups).

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before
removing from pans. Cool on wire racks.

Meanwhile, for icing, combine milk and flour in a saucepan; cook until thick. Cover and refrigerate.

In a bowl, beat butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add chilled milk mixture and beat 10
minutes. Frost cooled cake. If desired, dust with additional cocoa.
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Test Kitchen tips

Crunched for time? Bake layers in advance. They freeze beautifully.

If you're not sure whether the cake is done, insert a toothpick into the center. It should come out clean.

Try all 10 of our very best chocolate dessert recipes.

For more tips, see our chocolate layer cake guide.

To learn even more, see our guide for how to bake a cake.
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AMBLEM Grade ____________ Baseline Assessment

Name: ______________________________________________ Grade: _____________

Date: ___________________________ Subject: English Section: ___________________

Using the passage given on the first page, attempt to write the recipe Fahad makes in class.

Ingredients

1. ________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

4. ________________________________________________________________

5. ________________________________________________________________

6. ________________________________________________________________

7. ________________________________________________________________

8. ________________________________________________________________

9. ________________________________________________________________

10. ________________________________________________________________

Icing:

1. ________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

4. ________________________________________________________________

5. ________________________________________________________________

6. ________________________________________________________________

Directions

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AMBLEM Grade ____________ Baseline Assessment

Name: ______________________________________________ Grade: _____________

Date: ___________________________ Subject: English Section: ___________________

Using the passage given on the first page, attempt to write the recipe Fahad makes in class.

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon _________________

½ teaspoon baking soda

______________ cocoa

1 cup _________________

1 cup oil

_____________ milk

2 _____________

______________________

Icing:

________________________ milk

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 ______________ butter

___________________ sugar

1 teaspoon ________________________

Additional dusting _______________________, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 180°C. Sift together

_____________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________ in a bowl.

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_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________.

Pour into 2 greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans (or two 8-in. round baking pans and 6 muffin

cups).

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, for icing, combine milk and flour in a saucepan; cook until thick. Cover and refrigerate.

In a bowl, beat ________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________until creamy.

Add chilled milk mixture and beat 10 minutes.

Frost cooled cake. If desired, dust with additional cocoa.