Johanna Speaks

Have you ever wondered why bakers use all-purpose flour rather than cake flour when baking? I sometimes wonder, and that's why today's blog post is about the difference between cake flour and all-purpose flour. 

I was recently looking for a cake to make for our church's potluck this Sunday, and I couldn't figure out what flavor to do since I didn't want to do vanilla or chocolate. For the last potluck, I made a lemon cake. But this time, I wanted to do a flavor I hadn't done yet, so I chose a strawberry cake with strawberry frosting. 

In the ingredients list, it called for cake flour. So I did research, and this is why people will sometimes use cake flour rather than all-purpose flour:

If you want a lighter texture, you would use cake flour since cake flour has less gluten and protein, which causes the cake to be more delicate and spongy. It also has a lighter color than all-purpose flour and is ground finely using soft wheat. You would use cake flour for pastries, cakes, or whatever baked goods you want to have a soft, delicate, light, or spongy texture. The downside is that if you're planning to have a lot of frosting or filling, the cake is liable to crumble or fall apart since it's so delicate and soft. 

You would use all-purpose flour if you want a stronger, grittier texture that will hold up well. Since all-purpose flour is ground together from hard and soft wheat, it has more protein and gluten, which causes the texture to be stronger and will hold up well under weight. So, if you want to put lots of frosting, filling, or any heavy weight on your cakes, it will hold up better than if you had used cake flour. Just depends on what texture you like better. 

I watched a video of a lady baking two cakes, one using all-purpose flour and the other with cake flour, just to see the difference. The cake made with cake flour seemed lighter in color than the cake made with all-purpose flour. She tried each of them and said the cake made with cake flour tasted so light, airy, and the texture was like a pillow. Then she tasted the cake made with all-purpose flour, which had a grittier and firmer texture. She said she liked the all-purpose flour cake better because she's so used to its texture. 

You can use either one. It's really up to your personal preference.

Here is the video of the lady who baked the two cakes:

My dad suggested doing a choir for our church, so Mrs.Orr ( our church pianist who has also directed a choir before ) said she could round up some people and have a choir ready for Easter even though Easter is in less than two weeks. And we only have about three times to practice. 

There are about ten people in the choir. I am also in it. At first, I was going to be the only soprano, but then another lady came, and she was also a soprano. So now it's all good. 

The song we are going to do for Easter is called Resurrection Victory. Here is a link to the song:

We went through half of the song since everybody had to learn the tenor, alto, and soprano parts. Next time we practice, we will go through the other half. I also just realized how high the very last part of the song is for the sopranos. 👀 Hopefully, it won't be too bad. 

I got to go to Kobe's restaurant with my friend's family since it was her birthday and her brother's that same day. They are twins who turned fourteen yesterday. Their names are Abby and Adrain. 

This is what I got Abby for her birthday:

• Bracelet-making kit.
• Hair Clips. 
• Pack of Cute Silver Earrings.
• MadeOn Lip Balms. 

When we got to the restaurant, we had to sit down and wait ten minutes for a table to be ready. Then, they took us to the table and gave us the menus. I wanted what Abby was having since it sounded really good. She ordered the Habachi Chicken, which is chicken and teriyaki sauce, vegetables, and rice, either fried or steamed. She chose steamed rice, and I chose fried rice. Their family has been to Kobe's before and liked it a lot. 

While we waited for the chef, they served us salads and soups. The salad tasted pretty good, and the soup was interesting. It was like a soy sauce mushroom broth soup. I liked it, and I also didn't at the same time. It just had an interesting flavor. 

The chef came with all our food, which hadn't been cooked yet. We got to watch him cook it in front of us. He first played with the knives, which was pretty cool and scary. 😁 Then, he put oil on the pan, and up went the flames! It felt so hot since we were so close to it. After that, he started cooking all the vegetables. Before some of the vegetables got too hot, he threw broccoli in our mouths one by one. I knew I would never be able to catch it in my mouth, but surprisingly, I did on my first try. Abby and Adrian missed a few times but eventually got it in their mouths. It was a lot of fun.

After the chef had been cooking the food for a bit, he stacked up some onions, put oil on top, and again, up went the flames! He started singing Happy Birthday to Abby and Adrian, and we all joined in. 

When the food was all ready, he started putting it on our plates. The food was so good!! I loved all of it! Everything tasted amazing. Abby and I used chopsticks. I tried using the chopsticks to eat the rice, but that didn't work, so I switched back and forth between the chopsticks and the fork. 

Then, after everybody was mostly done eating their food, they brought dessert to Abby and Adrian since it was their birthday. It was one big ice cream scoop with a chocolate drizzle and a candle on top. 

I had a great time and felt so full and tired afterward.

Here are some pictures and videos that I took:

So, starting today, our family will be doing a health challenge every day until Easter. Noelle made a group chat for all the people who will be doing it:

Risa, Noelle, Cameron, Gideon, Mom, Dad, Johanna, Simeon, Jonathan. 

We each get to pick and personalize our challenge. But it can't be so easy or hard that we won't stick to it. It has to be a bit challenging for us. 

This is my goal:

So Ezra and I got to go skiing last Friday with our friend James since he has a season pass and extra snow gear for us to use. 

We left the house at 7:30 a.m. and headed to the ski lodge. It took us about three hours to get there since there was a lot of traffic, and we got stopped multiple times to make sure we had chains. We had them but never needed to use them since James' truck had a four-wheel drive. Usually, the drive would be two hours long. 

When we finally got there, we were given cards, so when we wanted to use the ski lifts, the people could scan our cards and let us go. 

There are three types of skill levels. Green is for the easiest hills. Blue is for medium hills. And Black is for the hardest hills to ski down. We, of course, went down the Green level since we had never skied before. 

James showed us how to slow down or stop if we go super fast. After he had taught us, I started to ski down the hill. I thought Ezra and James were next to me, but they were still at the top of the hill. I waited for about five minutes, but they still hadn't caught up with me yet, so I just kept going through the level. Then, once I got to the bottom, I waited for them to come for ten minutes, but they still hadn't come yet. Skiing, for some reason, came super easy to me. 

I got back on the ski lifts and did the whole level again. And the funny thing is, I found Ezra and James still on the level and passed them. I passed them about four or five times while they were still on the level. 😂 James is a pro at skiing, but he was teaching Ezra. James told me that skiing is kind of like rollerblading, and I've done rollerblading and ballet, so I'm guessing that's why I was able to learn really fast and balance well. And Ezra said he hates rollerblading, so maybe that's the reason. I mean, he also hasn't done ballet. 😁After a while, he was getting the hang of it. 

Here are some vids and pics I took while I was there: