While baking is undoubtedly a science, you do not require a graduate degree in the former to create delectable bakes at home. It is also said that behind every delicious morsel of any scrumptious cake is a successful, easy-to-follow recipe, but what we feel is equally important is having the right tools and ingredients to undertake any given baking task. A destination to create, innovate and bake, Bakers’ Point in Shuwaikh is the one-stop destination for all of your culinary escapades, and it’s also the setting where we were challenged to undertake a professional Cream Tart recipe at home.

Our anxiety was eased (okay, kinda), when we learned that this recipe challenge came about with Bakers’ Point’s latest recipe collaboration with local chef extraordinaire, Talal AlHamdhan of Talal’s Cake Academy. A first of a series of collaborations with distinguished movers and ‘bakers’ in Kuwait’s culinary scene, we instantly felt that this recipe collaboration was a match made in heaven. Talal understands the anxieties of novice bakers and encounters this all the time when he is leading his famed culinary seminars, this is why he believes that baking enthusiasts of all levels can recreate even the most professional of cakes and tarts at home with a little encouragement from Bakers’ Point. Plus, we love ourselves a challenge here at bazaar, so we set off optimistically, stead-fast on accomplishing the task ahead.

First up: Picking up all the ingredients and tools we needed from Bakers’ Point to attempt the happiest, and might we add, fanciest, Back-To-School Cream Tarts that we’ve ever seen. We’re going to be making our very own tart ‘cookies’, even though Bakers’ Point does sell various shapes and flavors of tart bases and shells, only because we are brave like that and we believe that we will get this right by following the recipe and having the right tools we need. Then said Tart cookies will be topped with the fluffiest, white chocolate and vanilla cream filling, to be gently encased by a matching layer of Tart ‘cookie’. Sounds easy, right?

If you’ve never been to Bakers’ Point, then you need to pay them a visit today! The all-inclusive baking concept is home to everything you could even think of for baking. The aisles are well organized, and the space is so inviting, that we felt our own hesitations about attempting this challenge melt away as we looked closely at our ingredients list.

The recipe is clearly divided into two sections, the first tackling the tart dough, the second explaining the cream filling. While we were here to specifically shop our ingredients list, we felt ourselves leisurely browning the aisles filled to the brim with baking delicacies, and we must say, the prices here are super competitive!

Once we’ve refocused our energies, we found the professional-grade BakeMate Sponge Cake Mix we needed within arms’ reach. We also quickly found the rest of our dry ingredients (BakeMate Icing Sugar, Sugarless New Vanilla Powder, and Cream Chantille mix), along with the ‘wet’ ingredients like butter, the Abed Cream clearly listed, as well as the special White Chocolate Cream to be added to our filling mix.

From there, we moved on to gathering the tools we needed to make our Cream Tart Cookes come to life, from piping bags, baking sheets, to the gorgeous letter and number stencil cookie cutters (Which we will be using when making all cookies from this point forward). We also noted the best professional grade mixing bowls, whisks and silicone molds and literally every kitchen accessory under the sun. But we were on a mission, so we speedily queued up and paid to run home and attempt this challenge.

It is Back-To-School season after all, and these Cream Tart Cookies were too cute to pass up! Before we began our baking escapade, it is important to remind ourselves, and our readers, that baking IS a science, so measuring out all of your ingredients ahead of time is key to a successful recipe, and a kitchen scale is an excellent investment to ensure your recipes come out flawless. And while you might be afraid of your technique, that can be improved with practice.

Here’s our ingredient list and measurements for both the Tart Dough and the Cream filling:
Tart Dough:
360 grams BakeMate Sponge Cake Mix,
125 grams BakeMate Icing Sugar,
2 Egg Yolks,
200 grams Blue River Premium Butter,
1 teaspoon New Vanilla (Sugarless)

Cream Filling:
250 grams Blue River Premium Butter,
1 teaspoon New Vanilla (Sugarless), 2
00 grams Abed Cream,
125 grams White Chocolate Creamy,
125 grams Cream Chantille,
200 grams BakeMate Icing Sugar.

Disclaimer: The mere mention of ‘tart’ pastry is very triggering for this bazaar team, but armed with courage, we bit the metaphoric bullet and just went for it. We’ve also broken down our experience in these easy-to-follow steps for you:

Part 1) The ‘Cookie’ Tart Dough:

We first began with the dough base for the tarts, as this needs to be refrigerated for several hours, or preferably overnight. The best part about the recipe is that we begin by using the BakeMate sponge cake mix, so whatever is needed to get the right texture is already taken care of!

We mix the BakeMate Sponge Mix, along with the BakeMate Icing Sugar into a mixer, then slowly add the egg yolks, butter, and vanilla. This is mixed and kneaded a few times just until it starts coming together, then it is wrapped up in cling film and placed in the fridge.

We said goodnight to our dough, and prayed we got it right when we took it out of the fridge the next day. The recipe did say that the dough will crumble slightly the next day as we kneaded it to soften, but then it quickly came together next. Phew!

Then the fun part, rolling it out, and measuring it to 0.5 cm thickness and cutting out the shapes we needed using our letter cutters. We did a double set of letters, as we needed each letter twice. Bazaar tip: Make sure you have a nice cool flat surface to work with! We also added a small amount of flour on the rolling pin to avoid it sticking to the dough. Chef Talal actually advises to use parchment paper between the dough and the rolling pin, which was a smart move as the dough rolled out really well and we got our shapes looking really good, albeit some bits crumbled off, but that’s neither here nor there.

We then baked the shapes for 10-15 minutes, until we saw that beautiful golden color appear around the edges.

Part 2) The Cream Filling:

Then came the cream filling, which was actually super easy to replicate! We first softened the butter for 5 minutes, added the vanilla and then gradually added the icing sugar. You can do this by hand, or the paddle attachment on your stand mixer.

Once incorporated, you whisk in the White Chocolate Cream, and Cream Chantille mix for two minutes.
Lastly comes the cold (yes, make sure it is cold!) Abed Cream, and keep whisking until stiff peaks appear.

Part 3) The Assembly:

Finally, it was assembly time! We used our Piping Set, which we also got at Bakers’ Point, and set about filling our Tart Cookie Bases, and this part was so much fun! Okay, we might have over filled some cookies, and it did take a few practice runs until we got it right, but the cream filling is super tasty, you could eat this alone!
Once the piping is done, we brought the corresponding batch of already baked and cooled Tart letters to complete the back-to-school message, and ever-so-gently placed these on top of the piped letters. Et Voila!

Our Review: All in all, this was a super fun, easy to replicate recipe, yet it was quite mentally challenging at the same time, as the mere thought of attempting a tart base would send this bazaar writer running quite fast in the opposite direction. However, the BakeMate Sponge Mix, and the recipe itself, took a lot of fear out of the challenge. More importantly, finding everything we needed in one place to attempt this challenge also took a lot of guess work out of the entire experience. We advise you to try something new, and head to Bakers’ Point yourself to get your baking on!

Unleash your inner baker (or feed your current one!) and visit Bakers’ Point in Shuwaikh Industrial 3, Blk A, St. 85, beside Manara mall. Follow them on Instagram for the latest updates @bakerspoint.kw.