The sun is finally out! Apart from short showers now and then, the glorious sun is less shy now. With the beaming sun that seems to be waving “hello!” and embracing the island with warm hugs, it feels like summer has arrived. Hooray!

I spent a beautiful, summery day at home (everyone’s a homebody in the season of a “new normal”), experimenting with baking ingredients to create some treats. Baking brings joyous throwbacks as cakes are some of the first kitchen experiments I embarked on way, way back! Staying at home has a silver lining: there’s time to re-visit cherished old projects and create new everlasting memories.

Beginning another baking experiment has been on my must-do list – I suppose it’s one of the effects of catching up on baking videos and legendary TV shows in the baking realm (hello, The Great British Bake Off) throughout this year. Living on the “baking edge” by taking a leap to see where and what my experiment would lead me to is an adventure that I was excited to embark on (who says homebodies don’t have fun?!)

I’ve dabbled with different ideas in my kitchen over the past few months, but this cake in particular, well, takes the cake. As such, I was inspired to pen a post and document it on the blog!

I’m as pleased as punch with the experiment’s result – and the journey was just as enjoyable! It was an adventure with twists and turns revolving around adding, mixing and matching ingredients. As it is both an experiment and an original recipe, I was measuring everything with tablespoons (“tablespoon cakes” actually exist in the baking world, where all measurements follow tablespoons!). Soft with a firm, semi-fudgy density and refreshingly sweet from strawberry preserves, these tea cakes were the stars of teatime. They’re berry, berry yummy!

Tools for Baking

• Tablespoon
• Teaspoon
• Muffin or cupcake tray (6cm wide & roughly 1.5cm deep per mold)
• Large mixing bowl or cake mixer

The Strawberry Tea Cake Equation

15 TBSP Self-Raising Flour

+ 3 Eggs

+ 4 TBSP Honey

+ 18 TBSP Milk*

+ 7 TBSP Olive Oil

+ Strawberry Preserves

= 27 Tea Cakes

Let’s Get Baking!

Step 1: Mix flour and eggs (note: you can mix honey and olive oil with flour first, followed by eggs after that – I began with eggs in this experiment)

Step 2: Add honey and oil gradually to the batter during the mixing process

Step 3: Add milk gradually while mixing – *the amount of milk required will depend on your batter’s consistency (hence 18 TBSP in this version). As milk is a core ingredient, it makes the cake’s texture soft yet firm. Also, do ensure that the batter is free from lumps

Step 4: Pre-heat oven at 180˚C (356 ˚F)

Step 5: Coat muffin or cupcake tray with butter and flour

Step 6: Fill the batter halfway in each mold in the tray

Step 7: Place a dollop of strawberry preserves in the center of each mold (a little under 1/2 a teaspoon for mine due to the molds’ size)

Step 8: Pour more batter into each mold to encase the strawberry filling

Step 9: Bake at 180˚C (356 ˚F) for 10 – 15 minutes

Step 10: Remove from the oven, and allow the cakes to cool before removing them from the tray

Step 11: The cakes are ready – it’s time to grab a fork! Bon appétit!

I can’t wait to create and share more experiments!