BAKING IN KENYA: 5 Liquids Used in Baking In Kenya

In this post of our Baking in Kenya Series, we’re focusing on different liquids you can use in your ingredients while baking.

For other posts on other ingredients used while baking, click on this link.

Here are 5 of the main liquids used while baking:

1. Milk

Milk

This is the most commonly used liquid while baking cakes and pastries. It’s used to fold in dry ingredients in cake batter while baking. It dissolves and hydrates the dry ingredients in your cake recipe. Milk also contains lactose that contributes to the sweet taste & coloring of the cake. Milk additionally helps form the structure of a cake due to the proteins found in it as well. Milk can be used fresh or as butter milk (you can substitute with maziwa mala). Fresh milk and maziwa mala can be bought locally in shops or in supermarkets. Other forms of milk that can be used are coconut milk or goat milk. These are generally found in supermarkets.

Coconut Milk

2. Yoghurt

Yoghurt

Yoghurt is a dairy product that is sold in many supermarkets to be consumed as a snack. It can also be used in recipes while baking, it is used mostly when plain, but a recipe may also call for a flavored yoghurt e.g. Strawberry etc. It gives the recipe a creamy and soft texture due to the fact that it’s highly acidic.

3. Freshly Squeezed Fruit Juice

This is also a popular liquid that comes in different flavors depending on the fruit in use e.g. orange, lemon, pineapple, etc. Freshly squeezed juice gives your recipe a fresh and authentic taste to your end product. It’s usually a better alternative to adding essence (e.g. strawberry, pineapple essence) in your recipe.

4. Rum

Rum

Yes Rum ^_^! It’s especially  used in rich and traditional fruit cakes or rum cake recipes. The dried fruits are usually baked with rum and it gives the cake a rich flavor. When added into the batter, when baked, the alcohol evaporates and therefore cannot make you drunk. Just make sure you store the alcohol in a lockable drawer in your kitchen or elsewhere if you have children in the household. Rum is also used after the cake has baked and cooled, for flavoring and preservation. Traditional fruit cakes call for ‘feeding’ the cake; this is when you slowly add the rum to your cake daily or weekly – depending on your preference. You use a skewer; pierce the top of the cake and pour alcohol down the skewer, into the cake. You can feed a fruit cake for up to 3 months for a very rich taste.

5. Water

 

This is the most basic liquid ingredient that is used especially in yeast recipes for mixing dough. If you find you don’t have milk for you cake or cupcake recipe and you’ve started mixing, you can use water. The end result is not the same as when you use milk-very rich and fluffy, but it serves it’s purpose.

Those are the top most used liquids while baking, if you would like to make a suggestions of any other liquids you use while baking, please feel free to share below ^_^!

If you don’t know how, or would like to learn how to be a better baker, sign up for our baking classes and start learning to bake with us, it’s lots of fun – promise ^_^. > Visit our Baking Classes Page for more information.