As far as first loves go, I’ve had many. We all have them. To 15-year-old me, it was the Backstreet Boys, and I was going to meet them one day, or so I told myself. I would marry Kevin Richardson even though all five of them were trying to win my love. Even now, at 36, they still make my heart flutter. Because out of all the bands a 15-year-old girl might like, they were my first.
When my brother was born, I became a sister—my first taste of protective maternal love—another kind of first love. My first pet Sheila the cat loved me like tuna and I loved her like potato chips. She is also on the list. Becoming an aunt for the first time was a feeling, a strong family connection to someone who shared my DNA but who I was not involved with. My first second-hand bike was one I shared with my sisters. Her name was Bluebird, she was blue with white rusty tires, and my dad bought her for 25 cents at the Sunday market. I love that bike, but I don't like her unpadded seat. My first pair of skates. Yes, they were hand-me-downs and I quickly outgrew them, but they pushed me beyond the boundaries set by parental guidance.
And the children: real people, growing inside me, waiting to be met. You might think that the excitement of seeing your baby will change or disappear with each subsequent birth, but that's not the case. It's still there, fresh every time, with every child.
And of course cake. Yes, cake. But that doesn’t happen until adulthood.
As a teenager, I baked a cake for my sister’s pre-wedding party. It was a simple cake, sandwiched with sticky jam, groaning under the enormous weight of thick white fondant and the ugly fondant groom, who was dressed in his fondant finery. But I didn’t feel the love then or later, when I took GCSE Food Studies and designed an entire Pokémon cake, with its marbled red and white layers sandwiched between jams and covered in colorful fondant, shaped and The cutting is done very carefully to create a true "Poké Ball". The teacher said: "Your baking skills are really good." Have you considered going to a catering college? "I thought, I'm also good at tying my shoes, but who cares? I just want to get an A in food studies."
Eventually I got married and we had our own house and even our own oven. Still nothing. Until one day… “Can you bake?” my husband asked me. "Because I like cake." I figured I could bake, maybe just a little. I gave it a try.
First I made him a weird cake and he ate the whole cake. So I saved my money and bought an oven thermometer to better regulate the oven temperature. The next cake was less weird. He ate again! Then some strawberry cream muffins. A dozen in total. A little chewy, not quite cakey. He ate them all. I tried again, when the babies joined in. They ate them even faster than the first batch.
Before I knew it, I was baking bread, enriching dough, making pastries, laminating, making starters—and killing starters. I bake every day because I have people eating it.
Baking is natural and normal. It is loved.
Like everything on my first love list, baking came into my life at a specific moment. But unlike my memories of boy bands and roller skates, baking is still there. It has become a big part of who I am. I live it, I breathe it, I stir, stir, measure and bake it! For God's sake, I dreamed about it. Not even Kevin from the Backstreet Boys can claim this honor.
Nadia Hussain's Mango Coconut Yogurt Cake with German Cream Recipe
Serves 8 – 10; prep 35 minutes, plus allow to cool; cook 45 minutes.
raw material
For the cake batter:
- ½ cup/50 g desiccated coconut
- 1 mango, peeled and sliced lengthwise
- 1⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon/400 g Greek yogurt
- 1½ cups/300 g granulated sugar
- 7 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 3¼ cups/400 g all-purpose flour
- 5⁄3 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
For the German Cream:
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp/150 ml whole milk
- ½ cup/100 g granulated sugar
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1½ cups/350 g unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
For decoration:
- 3/4 cup/150 g mango pulp
- ¼ cup/25 g coconut flakes or desiccated coconut, toasted
Serve:
- Greek yogurt and any extra mango pulp
Cooking methods
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line and grease the bottoms of two 8-inch/20-cm round cake pans. Toast the coconut in a small pan until golden brown, then sprinkle into the bottom of the cake pan, making sure to distribute evenly. Toasting it intensifies the flavor (untoasted coconut is no different than the wood chip shavings I prepare for rabbits). Add the mango directly to the coconut in some orderly fashion.
- Cake is an all-in-one method and very simple. Place the yogurt in a large bowl along with the sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and salt and stir until you have a smooth, shiny cake batter.
- Pour the mixture into the pan and tap the pan on a work surface a few times to level the top. Bake until golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes.
- Remove the cake and allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to cool completely.
- Meanwhile, make the cream by placing the milk and sugar together in a saucepan. Once boiling, turn off the heat and mix, making sure the sugar is melted.
- Now add the egg yolks along with the cornstarch in a bowl and stir. Pour in the hot milk mixture in a steady stream, making sure to stir all the time. Pour the mixture back into the pan and heat gently until it all thickens and forms a thick custard that coats the back of a spoon. Transfer to a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, cool, then refrigerate.
- Once cool, stir in the custard mixture, then add the butter a tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition. Add vanilla. Continue whipping until a very stiff, pipeable cream forms. Place in a piping bag.
- Remove the first cake, fruit side up, and place on a plate. Spread the buttercream along the edges and then in the center to cover the top of the cake. Place the other cake on top and make the same swirls around the edges, avoiding the middle and leaving gaps between the swirls.
- Pour the mango pulp into the center and let it drip down the sides. Sprinkle with toasted coconut and serve with Greek yogurt and any extra mango pulp.
Adapted from "Nadiya Bakes: Over 100 Must-Try Breads, Cakes, Cookies, Pies, and More" by Nadiya Hussain. Copyright © 2020 Nadia Hussain. Photos Copyright © 2020 Chris Terry. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
