A few months ago, I checked my list of "Things I want to do this year" and one of them was "To bake (?)". Yes, that's exactly how I wrote it, with a question mark.
Why a question mark on my desire to bake? Here's my reasons:
(1) I'm what you call a "cooking" person. Ask me to cook and I would gladly do it. Cooking excites me, de-stresses me and fulfills me. Baking, on the other hand, does not entice me. I can bake but I'm not passionate about it the way I am with cooking.
(2) I love cakes and some certain desserts once in a while but sweets are something I can do without for a long time. Hence, I feel no urge to bake...when I have cravings for cake, I just buy a slice thinking it is the most practical thing to do.
(3) Live simply, that's what I say. When I want cake, I just buy it. No more fuss, no more dramas.
This year, our kitchen's life turned upside down when suddenly, out of nowhere, the Husband expressed his desire to bake. I'm like" Wow, where did that come from???". You see, the Husband seldom steps foot in the kitchen except to wash dishes or help me clean up. He may know how to cook the basic Filipino dishes, but I have always managed cooking on my own and only ask for help when things are hectic in the household.
One night he told me that he wanted to bake cupcakes. So one fine Saturday, we trooped down to the shops and bought baking equipments, (we never had baking equipments as I never really intended to bake at home) ingredients and lots of edible decors for cakes.
Our first baking project twogether were these vanilla cupcakes:
Since it was our first try at making cupcakes, the goal was just to learn and have fun and I'm glad that we were able to achieve both. :) The big bonus was that the vanilla cupcakes turned out delicious and moist. On how we decorated our cupcakes, we just followed our creative instincts.
Husband was very pleased with his newfound hobby and it seems that he does have talent when it comes to baking. For one, he has a sweet tooth (can't live without chocolates or desserts) and second, the designing part of cakes is an outlet of his creative talent (He's a graphic artist).
The second time we made cupcakes, we tried making statement cupcakes. We have this concept of "I do...me too!" that we plan to make t-shirts and mugs for us (Chris being "I do", me being "me too!")...like marriage vows, only cooler and cuter haha. Since our plan hasn't materialized yet, we wrote it in cupcakes in the meantime.
For more photos of our cupcake creations, please check them out here:
Cupcakes by Chris and Ibyang Part 1 and Part 2
Other than cupcakes, the Husband also bakes Friands (nut-based mini-cakes, see photos below) in different flavors (blueberry, apple, almonds, milk and white chocolate) now. And I'm proud to say that I can now leave him alone. I help him a bit but he can really bake on his own.
For his birthday party last month, we were equally pretty busy in the kitchen: me cooking and him baking (he baked Friands for our guests). For me, that was such a beautiful sight! Other than dreaming of learning how to bake this year, I also dreamed that one day my Husband and I would find ourselves twogether in the kitchen---I never thought it would happen so soon and I never thought that he would love doing it. At least now, we also have time spent bonding in the kitchen.
Soon, I will be sharing with you the recipes of my Husband's sweet creations. In the meantime, I wish you a sweet and happy weekend! 
