Baking Without an Oven (A Process Essay)

Have you ever wanted to bake a cake without an oven? Or you have dreamed of it yet never come into realization? Baking a cake does not always need an oven. All you have to do is to be creative, innovative and experimental.

Let us start first with ingredients. Many thought baking a cake is a complex and sensitive process. Never will it be if we are creative enough. We can create our own ingredients according to what we like. In this article, I will be talking about puto cake. What we need are cake flour, eggs, refined sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and evaporated milk. For flavor, we may use vanilla, cinnamon, or any liquid flavor we wish to have.

After having these ingredients measured and ready, separate the egg yolk from the egg white and start making your meringue. Beat the egg white first, then gradually add the sugar and the cream of tartar. You may use electric mixer, or you may have it manually, using an egg beater. But it will take time for you to form the meringue. See to it that your meringue is stiff enough, that it may not spill out from the mixing bowl if you turn the bowl down.

Before mixing the flour mixture, start boiling water in a steamer. See to it that the water will be enough until your cake is cooked.

In another mixing bowl, combine the flour, the sugar, baking powder and milk. Mix well. After mixing it well, cut and fold it with the meringue. Add the flavor you wish in your puto cake.

Next, line a wax paper on your round cake pan and pour the mixture into it. Drop it slowly on the table to eliminate some bubbles within the mixture. Then, put it in the steamer and steam until cooked or until such a clean stick or toothpick comes out clean after inserting it in the middle of your cake.

Although this is a cake, you don’t need to use oven. Sometimes, creativity comes when we really desire to do what we wish to do. Baking is just a simple experiment. Just have some patience, and apply innovations. Remember, we can always find ways even in the absence of what we really need.