Baking to Perfection

My first attempt at baking was 12 muffins. The muffins didn't rise and were heavy and tepung-i. Mak called it batat.

Then came the second attempt, a couple of weeks later, same chocolate chip muffins, same recipe. The first batch came out OK, but still tak bes, tho not as batat as my first attempt, but then the second batch came out batat again.

Same goes for third attempt, which happened to be the last one. I gave up on muffins.

Couple of weeks ago while I was out for my usual Friday lunch / jalan-jalan at Curve, I bought a baking book. It was on sale. RM23 je.

Today, with new semangat, I tried my luck on a moist chocolate cake. And.... guess what??? It came out both batat and half-risen. Hehehe... half the cake was OK and half the cake was batat. I wasnt comforted at all because I had actually used instant mix. Weyyyyyyyyy guna instant pun tak jadi ker??? One of the nephews even remarked, "makteh, ni chocolate cake ke piring hitam?" Agak bingai anak buah aku. Tapi, sebatat-batat cake tu, in half hour half the cake is eaten. Hehehe... Imagine if the cake had came out perfect??? Awww...

Mak and Ach tried to comfort me by coming up with bunch of possibilities why the cake turned out such way. Mak kate, maybe baking tin salah size. Ach kate, maybe i overbeat all the angin out of the cake. And dozens of other reasons.

Mak was even more a sweetie, she said she'll ask her baker friend if she'd give me baking lessons... Awww... now that I'm pregnant I've started to appreciate my mak even more. Muahs.

Even after all these failed attempts, I vow to not give up on baking. Hehehe... I want to be the mummy that my son will proudly tell his friends about. Yang kalau borak borak ngan kawan dier, he'd proudly tell his friends, "Dude, my mum's a good cook. And she bakes the best chocolate cake ever!" And it wouldnt hurt if his friends add, "and your mum's hot too." Aahhh, perfect combinationss eyyy?

Yeap, I will not give up on baking. Any help??