Cook Kit

★When a baby is born, many families celebrate the coming of a new member by conducting baby showers. Although originally only for the first-born, nowadays baby showers are held for every baby a family welcomes into the world.
Usually baby showers are arranged and organized by friends and relatives of the to-be parents. These parties help parents get a head start on the things needed for the baby. However there are many religious beliefs and cultures that consider it bad luck and do not feel it is proper to have parties and bring into the home baby things before the birth of the baby.
Baby showers have many names. Some examples are:
• Daddy’s shower – a party for men only, namely dads-to-be.
• Grandma shower- is a party where items like changing pads and collapsible cribs are brought by the guests to be kept at the grandparents house.
• Baby sprinklers- a party held on a small scale for succeeding children for parents who don’t need too many gifts or items.
Commonly, baby showers have a theme around which the party is centered. The essential components of a baby shower include presents, games, food and cake.
Without a cake, no baby shower party is complete. One of the main attractions of a baby shower is the cake and there are various basic techniques for making them :
1. All-in-together – this involves gradually adding liquid ingredients after the placement of the dry ingredients along with the shortening in the food processor.
2. Creaming method – this involves creaming sugar and butter together and then gradually adding the remaining items.
3. Rubbing method- this involves rubbing the dry ingredients with the butter before gradually adding liquid ingredients.
4. Melt and mix- this involves first mixing together the dry ingredients, followed by adding melted butter and then the remaining liquid ingredients later.
5. Sponge making – this involves whipping the sugar and eggs into a froth and carefully mixing in the flour. Here, there is no fat or raising agent used so making the light sponge needs great skill.
Icing, frosting or toppings (like sprinkles) are usually used to enhance the finished cakes and to make them look more pleasing.
There are a number of cakes one can select for a baby shower. Some are as listed:
• Butter cake
• Angelfood cake
• Carrot cake
• Butterfly cake
• Cheesecake
• Chiffon cake
• Chocolate cake
• Cupcake
• Fruit cake
• Devil’s food cake
• Gingerbread
• Mooncake
• Ice cream cake
• Pineapple upside down cake
• Sponge cake
• Spice cake
• Pound cake
In addition to the numerous cakes, there are a number of ideas for baby shower cakes that can make the baby shower celebration much more special:
1. Toy Blocks Cake. One more idea is designing the baby shower cake to make it resemble children’s toy blocks, either three to four small blocks or just one large block. Surrounding the toy block cake with little toy cars or candies can further enhance the cake.
2. Belly cake. One terrific idea is designing the baby shower cake to make it resemble a pregnant belly. This can be done by frosting together a circular cake and a rectangular cake after placing the circular one on top of the other, to make it look similar to a pregnant belly.
Another interesting option is to experiment and come up with a creative idea of your own. One must always keep in mind that the goal is not just making a delicious cake but also to make a terrific centerpiece that commemorates the to-be-parents.

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