Sibu Tales : Making of our First Butter Cake

The first butter we Girl Guides of the Methodist School ever made was taught by Mrs. Temple at the Hoover House. We were all barely in our teens but we were keen to learn something from the West, and taught by an American. For many Mrs. Temple was the first white woman we made friends with. Besides her some of us were taught by Mrs. Coole in Sunday School and many of us had seen Miss Constantine in a distance in the primary school. But Mrs. Temple was the first American woman who really spent time with us, teaching us, coaching us and seeing us make mistakes.

Being very Foochow most of us did not understand the meaning of "creaming" method or the use of butter and sugar in the making of an American Cake.

So it was really an awesome experience for us. We were shown the steps in the making of the cake and then we were shown what an oven was.

English Butter Cake (Colonial Style)

However, we were then very worried that as we did not have ovens in our homes, we would never be able to make a cake for our mother!!

Indian curry pot.

Our worries were soon allayed because in the Girl Guides we were taught to improvise. So we were shown an Indian curry pot. The pot was filled with sand and the flat cover was also filled with a bit of sand. When the pot was placed over a fire, the cover was also placed with some hot charcoals. That was our Girl Guide Oven in the open air.

It was an amazing innovation. Soon many of the older Girl Guides were making butter cakes in the improvised oven. Mrs. Temple was an amazing captain.