Amateur Flavor Experimenter

[VashCrow]

What's up? I'm VashCrow... or Vash if you're into the whole brevity thing. I'm an amateur baker (I just do it for fun) and I like to experiment with flavoring. I started with soda pop cakes... they weren't bad, but they weren't as good as expected. Recently, I started baking with emulsions and gelatin. Today, I tried something new... a fruit punch/orange swirl cake with whipped vanilla frosting. I must say, even though I am biased, it came out quite good. However, next time, I'll probably add coconut to the frosting or add toasted coconut to the top of it.

Anyway, I was rambling there. I know this is supposed to be an introduction... sorry. About me, I just celebrated my 21st anniversary with my wife, my son just turned 18, my daughters are both about to turn 20, and my grandson will be 2 in January. I work for Kuusakoski Recycling where I dismantle different kinds of electronics (mostly computer server cabinets). I love music to no end... everything from jazz, classical, alternative, heavy metal, R & B, rap, etc... just not country lol. Also, anime. Yeah, I'm that guy. Every Sunday morning, you can find me watching the newest Japanese episode of Dragon Ball with a coffee.

So, that's that. I'm glad to be here and hope to hear any input from people interested in my "experimentations".

 

[Apocalypso]

Welcome! What a nice introduction. Sounds like you are really having fun making up cake flavors!

Since you mention liking anime, I am wondering whether you've looked at Japanese baked goods and tried your hand at those. I am a big fan of the super-light cake rolls to be found at the local Asian bakery, which is more of a Chinese/Vietnamese bakery. But in searching out Asian cake recipes, I stumbled upon the "Tokyo Banana," a banana custard-filled cake roll. If you search YouTube you'll find a couple of recipes/videos. I keep saying I'm going to make them and still haven't.

 

[VashCrow]

I've not tried baking any Japanese desserts, but that is mostly because it intimidates me. They are so intricate with some of their stuff and I don't really have any experience with most of their ingredients. However, the one you mentioned above sounds easy enough for the most part. It DOES sound good as well.

 

[Apocalypso]

Another one I want to make is a Japanese cotton cheesecake. It's a baked cheesecake, made with separated eggs and the whites are beaten to stiff peaks and folded in, giving the cheesecake a light spongy "cottony" texture.

 

[Ian]

Great intro @VashCrow . Welcome to the forums!

 

[ninamari]

Welcome @VashCrow ! That cake looks delicious! I haven't quite tackled fruit flavored cakes before. What did you use for the fruit?