Ever since I was a little girl, not much more than three years old, the sweet smells that came from the oven fascinated me and today I am no different.

Rather than spend time playing with friends, I perched myself on the kitchen table to watch my grandmother mix up a batch of batter and place it in the oven. When she would take it out, I was amazed at the delicious-looking treat that she set before my eyes.

When I was nine, I branched out on my own. I dumped some ingredients into a mixing bowl in an attempt to bake my first cake; it was chocolate of course. To my amazement, it came out!

I phoned my grandmother and happily told her that next Friday night for our traditional Sabbath dinner, I was going to bring dessert.

The following Friday morning I dumped my ingredients again in to a bowl, and to my chagrin, I had one whopping failure! Teary eyed I came to grandma's house empty-handed and from that day forward, I had the greatest respect for a recipe.

Recipes used for cooking are purely guidelines for you to arrive at the finished product. A little more of this or that often does not alter a dish. In fact, sometimes you can create something even better.

In baking and making desserts it’s a different matter. Ever since the lesson I learned with baking my first chocolate cake, my philosophy has been to start with a recipe, measure my ingredients accurately, and carefully follow the instructions.

Because of my un-ending curiosity as to why ingredients work together, today I focus not only on following the recipe, but also exploring the techniques used within the recipe. As a result, I constantly ask myself, "is there a better way to do this"?To guide you toward better baking, my discoveries are shared with you. As a teacher, I believe that once you understand the techniques, you will have more confidence to broaden your horizons and make wonderful creations of your own. - Carole

Visit Carole at www.carolewalter.com.