Hi merry goers!
Super late post but if you follow me on my social media, you would have known that The Baker Babes won their first baking challenge at the California Raisins Bloggers Baking Challenge! Still can remember the ecstatic feeling when we were announced as the winners of the baking challenge and especially with my darling sister from another mother Aliza Sara!
So sweet of her to think of me once she heard of this challenge but even if it were me, I would jump at the chance to be in the same team with her. We actually joined this competition just for pure fun and to make more memories together. Trust me, when I say we did not think we would win because we got most of our ingredients on the day of the contest and I did not even have time to check out my recipe. We totally winged it during the competition especially on the recipe part. I still can remember the speechless look on Sara's face when I told her I haven't tested out the recipe for the contest.
The whole baking process was certainly a whirlwind and our one hour was up even before we realized. I was in a frantic rush because I couldn't find some of the equipment I needed and was not familiar with the oven temperature at Berjaya Times Square Culinary School. I was so worried that our dish would not be properly baked. Watching too much Master Chef has made me worried about serving half-baked dishes!
Oh by the way, we decided to make Bread Pudding for the competition and we named it 'The Loaf Potion'; sure to make you fall in love at the first bite! Incorporating California Raisins in it for natural sweetness, we had walnuts, strawberries, and white chocolates too. The natural sweetness from the raisins allows me to reduce the amount of sugar plus helps retain moisture in my dish thanks to the high water binding capacity.
So this is our final product! All ready to be served to the judges for judging. Rushing the complete dish to the judging table was really nerve-wrecking because I don't know if my bread pudding was cooked perfectly in the middle. Like I said, I did not have the chance to try out this version of my recipe before hand so *fingers crossed*
I must say the scariest part of the competition was the judging moment! Honestly, I felt I took the whole competition too lightly because I just thought that it would just be a friendly contest. Never did I expect that we had to bring in our dish and explain about out dish in front of a panel of judges especially in front of an experience chef! My heart was racing the whole time because it will be the first time my baking/cooking gets commented by a professional. Sara was just so chill about it while I kept praying that my bread pudding was done well in the centre. It was definitely an ecstatic moment to get complimented by the judges especially when the chef said that our presentation itself has earned us a lot of point! I could not help myself from smiling when he said he loved our bread pudding and that it was nice and moist inside just the way it should be. *aaaahh masterchef moment* Since we made a side raisin caramel dip plus had a scoop of ice cream too, he said it was nice we gave three different flavor combinations.
Check out some of the other creative dishes by our competitors! Unfortunately, we did not have the chance to taste them but they sure look good! Congrats to the other winners too for their creative creations and it was certainly a blast participating in the baking challenge with all of them!
It was definitely a great experience participating in the California Raisins Baking Challenge and also a memorable experience for me not only to be baking with Sara but also to get acknowledge by a certified chef. Like Sara said "Miriam, if we do win this challenge you should definitely think about opening your own cafe especially since you're just winging it". So what do you think? Oh yeah, let me know if you are interested for me to share the recipe for my Bread Pudding too.
Til next time,
xoxo
Miriam
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