My baking idol

Five years ago, I had an irrational urge to bake a marvelous cheesecake. I wanted to bake a cheesecake so marvelous and delicious that people would remember me by that scrumptiously gorgeous cheesecake.

It was an irrational baking urge as I, for one, don't like cheesecakes at all. Yep, cheesecake are too rich and creamy for my taste. Huge, quizzical frowns appear on faces when I tell people that I don't like cheesecakes. I really don't care for them. My eyes skip them on cake counters and stay transfixed at other cakes and pies.

So I was plagued by this bizarre desire to bake a cheesecake. At that time, I had thought maybe I could train my tastebuds to like cheesecakes for once. But I had to find that one cheesecake recipe to transform my tastebuds.

And thus, began my cheesecake mission. For weeks, I browsed countless baking books at bookshops. I pored over my collection of baking books. Finally, after weeks of googling, I stumbled upon a whimsical cheesecake recipe at Saveur's website. It was a simple and yet elegant and classy cheesecake - Polka Dot Cheesecake.
(* Polka-dot cheesecake photo from Saveur's website)

I never did baked the Polka Dot Cheesecake but I was so inspired by the woman behind that wonderful cheesecake creation- Maida Heatter. Saveur honoured Maida as the Queen of Cakes. She really loved what she was doing and she came across as warm, friendly and full of joy. After reading that article, I was filled with a deep feel-good feeling and copied her recipes from the website for future baking endeavours.

Nine months later, with sheer serendipity I walked into the Times bookstore with Maida's cookbooks selling at an unbelievable price of RM39.95.

It was too good to be true! I gasped when I saw 3 of her cookbooks on the bookshelf. I had, months earlier, contemplated of buying them online from Amazon.com for a full price of RM120. Quickly, I snapped up two of her cookbooks - Maida Heatter's Cakes and Maida Heatter's Cookies.

And that was the beginning of my baking sucess. I owe it to Maida for all the wonderful cakes and cookies that have garnered me praise and gratitude from people. Her cookbooks are excellent; her recipes are fail-proof. Later, I added Maida Heatter's Great Book of Chocolate Desserts to my cookbook collection.

Last year, I wrote a thank-you letter to her but unfortunately, my letter was returned from the United States with the reason 'adressee unknown'.

Yesterday, I googled and to my delight, I found a recent article on Maida in the Miami Herald. She is the true epitome of a baking doyenne. That is how I want to grow old, like Maida, so full of joy, generosity and passion.