Sunday mornings used to be for my Pinterest obsession, pinning whips and room ideas and stuff. Now it’s mostly for recipe hunting. I don’t actually USE most of them; I compete with them in my head. LOL! Yes, I seek out other people’s ideas, and I pick out why I think they will or won’t work in comparison to mine.
Part of it is the scientific approach I use in cooking and baking. I really do experiments, research and compare how things react to each other, what goes best with what else, and so on. I’m very methodical in everything I do. Call it OCD if you choose. But I study like everything in life.
As for the competing I do, I honestly believe the saying about being in competition with no one is applicable primarily to personal growth and lifestyle–individual choices like. However, where life’s pursuits are concerned, I go with the total opposite. Iron sharpens iron. To be the best, you gotta beat the best.
How many cooking shows have competition as the main theme? Many. Even the top chefs in the world compete against each other because that’s how you stay sharp, and that’s how you learn, and you get bragging rights. So, in that respect, I’m super-competitive. I will admit I’m smart enough to use something I think will add to my greatness though.
I see lots of chocolate cake recipes, but they sound really thick and can be streamlined to me. Most recipes have more sugar than I would use too. Lots of caramel recipes, but some omit butter. Uh, part of the draw is that buttery rich taste, so I don’t get that one at all, unless maybe for a coffee additive or something similar. I had a time with caramel that first day because I have an electric range, and this even heating cookware. My mix never got hot enough for the recipe I tried to use. Thought I was a failure, until I put my science hat on. My caramel slays, thank you.
I’m big on textures myself–IMO cake should be light, fluffy, moist, flavorful, melt in your mouth almost, and sweet. Emphasis on the light and moist. Sweet is overdone a lot, if you ask me. Girl who scrapes icing off every cake (raises hand). But not every cake or frosting recipe should have the same density though.
Chocolate should give me a nice big hug, stick with me more so than a lemon cake or even an apple spice cake. And cheesecake…my good girlfriend…should be smooth, silky, rich, and layered with lusciousness so you taste many levels of wonderful. Basically, it should taste expensive, and snooty. Carrot cake, well, that’s usually sweet and you can taste cinnamon, maybe nutmeg, has raisins and nuts. But I find most to be missing the carrots. It’s just cake. Sweet cake at that. I make carrot cake. Main ingredient. Still sweet, still good, still my best seller after 30 years of making it.
I have effectively developed recipes that focus on the important things of a dish/dessert, while giving consideration to a healthier way to consume them. It’s about flavor. Using ingredients in a way that showcases what they can do when not laden with excess salt or sugar. Dessert is not a sin. But it can taste sinful if you know how to romance it. People have said they don’t like carrots, so they don’t want carrot cake. But they hadn’t tried mine yet. When they did, it was only slightly deceptive on my part; I just didn’t say what kind of cake I was offering. You just have to try it for yourself, then ask me what’s in it. I know, because I built it from the ground, up.
Leave it to me to break down even the sweetest things in life to a science project level. I know. But everything is built on something, uses a foundation, with pieces that fit together to make something new. I analyze things, dissect them, uncover what it’s being used for, what else I can use that’s better in whatever way I need it to be, and I can rebuild you a machine we can both be proud of.
I’ve done that with cakes this time. And cookies. And pies. And I even accidentally learned how to make boozey sherbet. Booze is my absolute favorite dessert ingredient these days. So many combinations, so many fruits needing attention. I’m here to help. I do what I can for my people. Booze is a friend of several friends. There you go. Try me. I promise you’ll love what I do.
From the Mind of Tonya D Floyd
www.tonyadfloyd.com
Introducing:
Signature Sweets
Hand-crafted Confections