Household Express:Fatima Kaka:Baking the Creative Outlet

0:00Whether you're a housewife, a working woman, a new bride or an aspiring chef, Sister Amara and her co-host, Chef Zuckiyar, have the solution to all your home making dilemmas on the household express. Tune in every Thursday morning from 10 to 11am as they guide you through the kitchen and the home, with fresh ideas on turning your house into a home. From the latest recipes, household hints and tips to innovative decorating advice. Sister Amara will have even the most reluctant homemaker keen to try out her practical home advice. Household Express on Radio Islam International, a fresh and original way to enjoy your home. Welcome to the weekly Thursday morning edition of the House of Dictus. I am Sister Amara and delighted to be in your company up to 11am this morning. Hope all listeners and friends will be expecting another cold front as well.

1:01In Shailah we also keep warm and carry on as well. Also to Zucka Lafortuna and Radio Islam International. First, we have a lovely interview with you. A lovely sister, our guest is Sister Amara and the topic is on making the creative outlet. The recipe you can look forward to is a scoopable A-friar cookie recipe. So that's quite new to me as well. And this is going to be shared by our guest at online Sister Amara Kakar. You can follow her on the Instagram page at Berries and Line SA. At Berries and Line SA. Well today's interactive question is, as well as other listeners out there, share with us your funniest baking disaster you've ever had. What is your funniest baking disaster you've ever had? You can watch it was on 0727861248. Now there is something quite special about baking.

2:02It is not simply about following a recipe, measuring ingredients and putting a cake into the oven. So many people baking is a form of the activity, a way to express themselves unwind after a long day and turn some more ingredients into something that brings joy to others. And there is actually a fun fact about baking. Baking is often described as both a science and an art. The science comes in through precise measurements, temperatures and chemical reactions, while the creative side allows you to experiment with flavors, textures, colors and presentation. So perhaps our guest today really can call herself a scientist. Today we're exploring baking as a creative outlet and finding about how something as simple as baking can become a source of therapy, creativity, purpose and even a small business.

3:03Turning us today is the Patimakaka for Home and Behind, that is, Online Cupcakeery. For different describes baking as a therapy, a creative outlet and place where she can simply have fun while creating flavors that entice the palate. For her, the real reward comes when applying things like creations sees the effort that is gone into them and come back again all the first someone else. Her smiles and words of satisfaction continue to motivate her to learn, grow and improve her draft. Patina is also a mum, a wife and a small business owner and she understands that medicine is responsible for these or trying a business. And certainly we're challenging here to describe the journey. In this online Cupcakeery, everything is handmade and homemade. Using fresh quality ingredients and as Patimak says, made with a sauce of love.

4:04She also made it to order to allow lessons her little Cupcakeery was paradigm-apia while remembering the many women who worked kindly each day to contribute towards their families. Assalamualikum Patimakau, are you? Prime Minister Samrayo Neh persons, thank you very much for your time, Patimak. but nevertheless I'm so doing it to you and I'm delighted you're here on the program and you start the last year at time. Fatima. And I'm delighted. I'm here and to you and such a system of time as well for granting you the opportunity to any such an honor to be on the show. Yeah, you know, taking and cooking is such a passion. So, I'm delighted. This is really, really. I'm happy. I'm happy for it Fatima. But the minutes go back to wait all weekend. How did your love of being with bacon start?

5:06And do you remember the very first few to ever put out of the oven? That's actually a very interesting question to St. Amara. And Hanzina, it all started when a neighbor of mine, I actually sent a few of my bacon to her just randomly and it turned out that she enjoyed them. And she came back to me and she asked me, she said, would you please bake a few cupcakes for us, my family really enjoyed your cupcakes. And I found it quite exciting and it's when I took on the oven. I inshaAllah, and I'm happy that when the journey became something really, really small in Alhamdulillah, now we almost went. Years later, and I love nothing that great for Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah for it Fatima, you know. And you know, you speak beautiful to us over your work and family and arrangement. It's so deep. I just for the charity. I think it is so important. Every step we take, we make it to our, we ask a little for Baraka, we take blessings

6:08from our family members, you know, to our summer parents. Why is keeping alive the center of your baking practice so vital to and when did the intentional habit begin? You know, everything I think comes back whether it's success or whether it's any form of a work that you can do, you know, to be able to use your hands as a craft to, to provide for your family and do use it as an outlet, as a creative way of expressing yourself. And Alhamdulillah, last one of the last being at the center of every single thing that I've done. It's been, when you start to start to think, and you said with purpose, and it just, it seems to bring you back to where you're supposed to be, that Allah is controlling, in control of everything and the outcome of whatever you're going to do is ultimately in the hands of a last one. And I'm extremely grateful to have been granted this opportunity and to be able to, I've

7:14never said this before, but I didn't have any prior baking experience and I'm more of a cooking person than baking. And it somehow taught me patience, it taught me to be able to, it kind of taught me to find myself for Alhamdulillah and it's all grateful for that. And everything, we start to let this be similar. And Alhamdulillah, when you look at, when everything is done, say, and done, and cleaning up, it gives you a sense of some, it's kind of rewarding, Alhamdulillah, that you've achieved something and you've created something with your hands and the one behind it all is ultimately Allah, Alhamdulillah, so Allah be last. Also great solution. Yes. But you just start baking. I was quite behind, my late mom always has to get us into the kitchen and we would cook and bake and if it's locked, it was okay and we just had to, it would get eaten and it

8:17would be a kind of embarrassing, but Alhamdulillah, my mom pushed us on and it created that love for cooking and baking in me. And I was, I was never the person to actually say, okay, I, I bake something when I go to the living anyway, I would have to just buy something and take it. But what actually pushed me and made me more determined to pursue my career in baking was just that little spark of my neighbor wanting, the believing in me that I could take something that I had absolutely, okay, I had tried a little bit of knowledge, but it, it just turned into something I would never imagine it to be. So Alhamdulillah, I, I, I was about, I could say, I'm, I could be, I could be, I could be about 11 or 12 years old. So I was quite young. So, did you have anything to go into baking lessons, you know, by taking your baking to another

9:17level of the opening of your own business? That thought has crossed my mind quite a few times and I would love to do a basic course and obviously further my, I think techniques and all of those things also. So it would be a great bonus for my business. Alhamdulillah, sugar, I did do a learnt chocolate course also. So Alhamdulillah, I, I tried and I tried and I've, I've, in many ways, I tried to perfect a lot of my, I think techniques, a lot of my baking techniques. Alhamdulillah, I, it takes self-port baker to another level. So just by seeing and, and observing and the school and like obviously now we hear so many information, so much of information and we've got so many different platforms where we can explore. So just watching a tutorial would obviously help you out and just in a way where you

10:22try and say, let's give it a go. And if it works out, that's a good, a good bonus. And yeah, and I always believe in you to always learn. So I would love to, especially at this time now, in all this functioning my business, I would really, really love to pursue a baking course and just try as much I can to gain as much experience as I possibly can. Alhamdulillah for the, it is certainly, now, for general, our job today is baking as a creative outlet. Now for someone who hasn't experienced it, how does turning basic ingredients into custom creations, service therapy and self-expression for you? So one thing that I would definitely say is that productivity plays a very big role. If you're positive and you have that, like, that's a fact in you, that is a form, it's

11:28baking is incredibly calming and you have to be in the right head space to be able to create something that is both visually appealing and tasty as well. So if you start something, you start with intention, with purpose and you hone on deck and then that's how you build. And I see a lot of people saying that, you know, the proof of the cake is even tasting. So I firmly firmly believe that you have to have a positivity within you and it's going to flow out into your work. It's a novelty to it. I can't say that you have to have the ability to be able to express yourself because everybody expresses themselves differently. For me, getting into the kitchen, getting into that right head space, still, like, obviously measuring out your ingredients and then taking it from there. So it's all about just flowing and just letting yourself become who you are and expressing

12:33yourself in a way to say that, I'm trying to say something that is so unique and I will give of my best so that I can eventually come out of something that's not only stunning but also things that are nice. So it's just such a fast way of explaining self-expression and the way of explaining self-expression and therapy because a lot of people would feel that perhaps listening to something comes and down for some, in my case, it would be standing in front of the cake mixer. Oh, yes, certainly. And I think also being in that business part that you need to have a correct kitchen appliances for your baking. So what would you say other best kitchen appliances to use to keep on hand if you're going to have like a baking industry or a home industry doing a baking, just for those listeners

13:38who want to perhaps start a home industry in their baking? The wooden spoon and some balls here really, really wooden cuttich and if you really want to do some of those arms, what are going to the chum, but I would say, investing is really really good stand mixer. I'm talking with an old machine. Yes. Obviously, a very, very good hand mixer as well. And your bowl, your mixing bowl, it doesn't have to be planned the name. It doesn't have to be something, it's screens, expenses as long as you're comfortable using it. Go ahead. And the other thing also that I know that is like, I cannot do without is my scale, I am my kitchen scale. So it helps me out a lot. And the biggest mistake a lot of people make is not measuring your ingredients correctly. Yes. You get it in the introduction that your baking is definitely a sign because if you're measuring

14:42in a correct quantity, if you're going to get a good product. So I feel I can't overemphasize the fact that using a good quality kitchen scale would be the best way to go. And you have stand mixer. You need a workhorse. It needs to be something that's reliable and something that's going to obviously take the amount of work that you're going to be giving it. So in a good hand mixer, like for all the other little things, for what is obviously your spatula and measuring spoons and measuring cups. So in, but definitely the three things that I cannot do without is my stand mixer, my hand mixer as well as my kitchen scale. So in the next one, so. It's certainly a matter of matter. It is so true. I think you're measuring cups, measuring spoons. As soon as you put baking, you start by cooking. Cooking you can still get away with it. You can still just cook without dragging your ingredients, but baking has to be like, you

15:43know, everything has to be properly measured, scale from, you know, from, I mean, a little bit of extra baking powder or a cup. And your whole thing can be flopped over, spread or things like that. You have to be precise in your baking measurements as well. Now many listeners may have a passion or business idea, what does it say to take the first step? You know, what advice would you give to pursue their dreams? Politivities. I cannot say that enough. Positiveity. If you believe in yourself, that's what's going to take you forward. And it's the center of it all, like I said earlier, is having the cooking in Allah and obviously putting in Allah first. So if you have that mentality and you have it, you're leading yourself there and determined to make something out of this, then definitely you already take on the first step. So you've gotten help from the changes as well because the circumstances you're pushing forward even though you make mistakes.

16:45And failure is proof that you are trying. So I've heard a lot of people saying that how do you do this? How do you get your cupcakes so perfect? How do you get your, how do you get your, it's nice. Yes. And a lot of people don't see the, the, the, the mess hacks behind it all. So when you're baking and sometimes I've had to be consecutive failures while baking vanilla cupcakes and it was such a disaster, each batch of mine flopped. And it made me go back to the drawing board. Check my ingredients, check my measurements and, and, and go over it, over it, over it, to know, to, to better understand where am I going wrong? And it would, and a couple of, many, many of them later, I finally perfected it into somebody. Something is simple as looking back to sugar and flower together. I mean, how hard can that be? But, you know, and something is in a sample is vanilla cupcakes.

17:45But sometimes you have to fail to be able to learn and also perfect what you are doing. So it doesn't matter how many times you fail. You are eventually going to succeed. And a lot of people say, I've tried and it just doesn't work out for me. Try again. And if it doesn't work out, try again. And eventually some people say, I give up. But it's all about perseverance and patience. It's ultimately, I'm, I'm naturally by nature. I'm a very impatient person. So baking somehow, patience, putting it, taking to the oven, I can't wash it. It's something that you've got to learn. It's patient, it teaches you patience, it teaches you self-resga, also. And it teaches you a lot of lessons that can be learned from baking. Even though it seems to somebody you're just putting all of these ingredients into the oven and popping it into the oven, and it's coming out perfectly. It's a lot of hard work.

18:47It's a lot of testing and trying. And sometimes trying to, but we get the eventually. But you must be on the line. You should go for a short break. We can't wait. You're going to check more about your fighting journey. Stay tuned. Go, approving out onto the journey. Stay tuned. But it's, let me now you're briefly starting out by協지 einer panelists. Let's get to the next segment of the program, on how we become more successful, speed slowed down. Now consider it about all that's to come. So if you're Justice Squadron, you'll see that earlier. They do, it Certificates. Sacrances. Free! thisness you see I know your fears and most definitely the love will be cut thumbs out in her creations so I'll have to laugh at her mother. I'll have to laugh at her mother so good dear sugar it's been so nice to hear this.

19:48No it's easy to hear it. You know like I always say you you'll only know when you put yourself out there what people truly think of you so I'm delighted that I can hear them so so so so so so positive coming. I mean yes it's such a love creativity and baking and looking at this one inspires you to keep learning new things and what advice would you share with others about starting a new journey and finding passion. It's something first you need to as I said earlier you need to just have complete checking and fading a lot that first of all just start with this is a simple is that start with this is a love and love will carry through the rest. Your baking should be it's it's so many things and it should be I know a lot of people

20:50go into it as a hobby and say they may it becomes so much more than a hobby later and tend to a business so I just I can like I said earlier it's it's got it starts out just with looking at your your in the last and after that with whatever else comes flows it just goes into like your use you kind of just go into slowly slowly and that's how you both your business and and I can also say that a word of mouth is really important so when you start you you bake for like a couple of clients and they would obviously taste your things and or and then start referring new to others and I'm doing that that's a very very big tool also for a small person so I don't have it it's nothing to be afraid of it's just you need to take the leap you need to just have facing a lot facing yourself

21:50and start this process and and going ahead it's you are going to try and you are going to have failures along the way and we shall last ultimately successful come it takes a long time it's it's not some it can it's not something that has the success doesn't have the overnight so it's interesting in a few months a few years to both get clientele and the greatest and the most to be what it is when the clients come back to you and they know they trust you that you know what I wouldn't order somebody else you're the first person I thought of when I needed to hear some kids bake done or some cookies bake so you were the first person I thought of and I'm delighted that gives you such a feeling of fulfillment that's my clients be leaving and that's that ultimately motivate you to do better and to do more so that's what I would that's the advice I would give to anybody that's wanting to start this over with us you're certainly a lot of you know I pull this equation to the distance out there asking them the fun the funniest

22:52baking disaster they've ever had you know we laughed years from them on 07278645 but you have you ever experienced a funny baking disaster and how did you take second chance to pass? I can't guess to that it's just it's crazy sometimes we I know once I put in full batch of your other cupcakes into the oven and I forgot to put the vinegar in my card so I had to tell you I remember everything before it started baking so I had to remove the entire and decanted all the into the bowl and mix in my using ingredients and then we fall all my mass and pans again so it was it was quite a disaster but sugar I managed to save it just in time and it it really small small must have and it's going to happen we are after all human

23:55so it's not a perfection it's a world the world perfection doesn't exist in Ivo capability right now because when you look back and you think about all the mistakes you've made it's been a learning curve so you make sure you go run through all your ingredients all over again so that you don't make your mistake another time around so it happens where sometimes you you forget to put in extra the most common one is not putting the raising agent but sometimes you get something or you get a little extra or something and you appear you if you are missing why did it turn out the way that you did but it was just something that you might have your thoughts might have been elsewhere and this is the proof of your product is ultimately then what you put into it so it's just it happened it happens all the time and it's happened to me and I did so one distance out so I'm thinking right now off the top of my head I can't think of

24:55anymore but I know there was another time where like I said earlier three consecutive batches of vanilla cupcakes that were flopped and must have been it was it was such it was it was actually said how badly those cupcakes flopped and I just looked at him and I had to help myself I had to stop myself from crying because I thought to myself why am I dancing so long it is vanilla cupcakes didn't turn out the way we did but I'm not really like it's something I laugh about now because in hindsight it was just and it was an experience to teach you know go back go back to the drawing board start learning just just go through your ingredients all over again yes and make a note and if you have to just keep everything in front of you so that you can just like one by one go through everything so that you don't take it same mistake again absolutely yes but I know we've all bought gorgeous cupcakes on a Friday only to find them try on a Sunday what are your top professional tips for storing baked goods at home so they

26:00return the fresh moist baked sketch yeah I do what I usually tell my clients when I clever take away they collect from the first thing I would tell them is remove your cupcakes from the boxes to use usually if you're leaving it in the box it's going to result in try cupcakes and you're not going to enjoy them especially if you're using the next day or later in the later in the course of the day so I would say remove them from the packaging first of all and then put them into an attempt container keep them in a cool place if we be on hot days refrigerate and make sure that when you do refrigerate it's a nice seal so that no odours enter your your container and make sure that when you are going to serve your cupcakes or your cakes it's a room temperature now I know room temperature differs from region to region in different places

27:04so you just have to be able to eat you nobody likes a cold cake that's cold cake that's dense or the battered cream is hard or you you have a cake that doesn't taste very nice when remove from the fridge because it would it would it would taste better coming out of the coming out a little earlier from the refrigerator so I would say definitely give it about an hour to an hour and a half just before you're going to serve your cake or cupcakes so that it gives it that time to like come to room temperature also and you're enjoying your cakes you're not using something that doesn't taste like cardboard so my doctor please remove your cakes from your packaging of it in boxes you move it into a store inside container keep it at cooler temperatures and on hot days make sure that it's refrigerated so that it doesn't melt and also serve it at room temperature because that's the cardinal rule of cake serving yes certainly certainly certainly yes absolutely

28:09and I'm not sure what's through this one on a lighter note one of our listeners is just I can also allow the program you have a lovely guest online and also another lady says that she did some of our interactive question my friend and I made a lovely pink eyes were ready to eyes the cake the icing was looking a bit different we realized instead of icing sugar we used misina let's happen to me once before where I tested the cake was the United Self icing sugar and it didn't taste all that nice and I know a lot of people have said that they made their birthday quite a bit and I've heard the sugar and salt mistakenly so it's something you just have to you have to laugh off honestly yeah hopefully it's got something that's going to a function of a you have to be big that's all your best but it is yes certainly yes I said yeah we all human it's going to happen mistakes happen but just

29:11label your sugar you're solving I think she's again with me now certainly yes certainly absolutely now you know many modern housewives rich point a friar or microwave way faster than pre eating and oven you have a simple quick recipe or high-quality listeners one sweet treat using the everyday appliances and I'm going to show what that's one of your lovely lovely recipes for me it's so so different and that's a scoop of a friar cookie recipe she just abandoned that she's quite popular for kids because it's something that they can just mix in thousand pop into the air flier so you just have it it's basic ingredients that we all have in our family or in our fridge so you start off with two tablespoons mounted a very soft butter and it's two tablespoons of brown sugar okay then we have a tablespoon of white sugar

30:25okay and a one egg yolk but this is completely optional obviously people that are vegan of vegetarian or don't have eggs in omiters then we have four to five tablespoons of flour or you have to make a soft dough but tomorrow you and in change yes this continue continue okay and we have a pinch of baking soda and a splash of good vanilla that's also optional as well and we have two to three tablespoons of chocolate chips the best chocolate chip I would say for this recipe would be dark chocolate chips so if you can source dark chips go ahead and you need to keep your ASI at 180 degrees the method for this is that we

31:28you make sure that the pattern should go well adding the egg and vanilla if you are using egg and vanilla stir in the flour and the salt and baking soda then we fold in the chocolate chips we put the dough in an oven safe lemon can audition so you're just going to grease your lemon was a little bit of grease grease sprain or just spray and cook and don't send out too much so it can't just die as I see if you just see it as it is ASI for 60 minutes depending on how what actually you want you to be at some people like it a bit chewier and some people like excited harder and you bake it at 170 degrees the after each two degrees are browned but the browned matter it's a natinous and depth to your good work cookies so a lot of people have been using brown pattern and it's very it's such a nice dimension to your cookies and then

32:31you can when you can put a bit of flaky cheese on a top or you can do something like that and all you can just have it was work in my personal favorite to have it with a scoop over the ice so it's quite good it's something quick it's something easy and it's something that you can just swap up or what's in not even 10 minutes and it's done so in shall last it's I hope the listeners use the recipe of try the recipe and it comes out well you said well I'm going to be putting the recipe on my Instagram page it also on the release ground website go through the Instagram.com.com. And I can at least give us your Instagram account it is for the benefit of the listeners okay I can the Instagram handle is at very Z9 SA and yeah if anybody would like to get the touch with me say more than you are come to DM me and in shall now we can be is it you're going to take a friend to mention all that but it's certainly a pleasure to

33:35welcome you love me chatting to you matter that I'm trying to lots and lots of barakah pray blessings and accept all your duha. Just I can now pray for a lovely interview. In shall we return to Zakan al-Faqima, Assalamualaikum, Waalaikum, wa rahmatullahi wa rahmatullahi wa rahmatullahi wa rahmatullahi. Well the duha says to Fakima Khalka and you can follow her on an Instagram page a Paris Online SA on her Instagram page lovely. Her Instagram page is absolutely absolutely lovely. Well it's got some time left before we basically wrap up today's program so I thought I'd share with you a bit of alternative uses for brown sugar. But actually for brown sugar but just for sugar

34:37a great tip for sugar is clean, spiced and coffee grinders. You can pour a good cup of white sugar into your grinder and run for a couple of minutes to lift the waste from left over oils and odours from spices or coffee beans. So you know I didn't know about it until I did a bit of research for this bell. Then you can also remove grass stains. Create a thick paste using sugar and warm water rapidly directly into clothing stains that it's about half an hour and then run normally. Another tip for sugar is extend that flower life, mix three things once of sugar and two tablespoons of white vinegar into a vase of water and let's get put into your water, let's get your fresh flowers in. And then to keep these fresh as well you can place a sugar tube inside a tree's storage container. It absorbs excess moisture and prevents molds.

35:40And another one on sugar is to trap bugs you know becoming into summer now so you're going to find a lot of fireflies and poh has around. So sugar can be one of those almost helpful ingredients for chopping those pests like cats and flies mixed together apples like a vinegar, fish soap and a spoonful of sugar for a simple solution the bugs will be drawn into the sugar in the DIY chip. And then I gave it was some 10 eggs as well. We've got some time to before we wrap up today's interview as well. I'm into this program. It's um you can actually use um powder wrap. Stop ice cream from melting with powder to actually take your powder and um wrap around your ice cream container. It is a powerful insulator. And then another one also I gave up on brown sugar is keep brown sugar soft for the marshmallows.

36:44Place a few marshmallows into a container of brown sugar and take your silly the softens the sugar in a day but you can keep the marshmallows in the container for up to a few weeks. And then you can use the butter wrappers to prevent microwave splatter as well made a complete mess of your microwave when melting butter. The purpose of butter wrappers is cover for your microwave dish. And another love feature I came across is um if you find your curry is a part two acidic you can simmer tomato sauce with a carrot or with a carrot. It will basically take over the acidity um what you do is up a carrot and then put it into your tomato sauce or your gravy and then you boil a part cookie to part and remove the carrot you don't remove all the acidity into that curry as well okay um since I've had you my Instagram handle is at valleys and line SA at valleys and line SA and this valley is

37:51V E travel R I E S and line A and T line L I N E SA. Then another one is for tomato paste yes you can freeze tomato paste um recipes frequently call for just a few tablespoons of tomato paste or how do you keep the remainder from going to ice while it's simple you can freeze the balance of the tomato paste in ice cube phrase as well. And um you know now some is coming you gonna find a little bit of hojas into your spice cupboards so how can you just carry your parks from going into your spice cupboards into your lentils your beans your grains while it's simple take a chili pepper or bay leaf place inside your or storage containers and the bay leaf and the chili contain natural the balance as well. Also it's a good idea to take a wipe your cupboard out with a bit of vinegar and water and wipe the cupboard out in that way you keep the

38:57spice bottles and that it also keeps the parks away as well but believe me the bay leaves really works and clothes works well as well. To update um let's talk about hot goes into your ice super clothes into your ice containers when you find you won't have all these hojas as well even into your bay leaf works well you know sometimes you find in your chili powder your crushed leaves well the best thing to do is now when some is coming keep it into your or fresh as well keep a container into your fridge and your chili powder and your crushed keep it in your fridge as well in that way you won't get hojas at all at all yes or we enjoyed a lovely program that said you will be on my Instagram page in a few minutes time in Canada and Instagram back with you next with another lovely kiss and another lovely traffic is shall from

39:58the Amara Jewish member asking all the marroumine and the online you're to us. Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa baratheb