Rujuta Umarji is an accomplished baker, but several years back, making a smooth lemon curd had become her Achilles’ heel.

“Every time I tried to make it, it turned into scrambled eggs and lemon juice,” said Umarji, director of data curation at the U-M Institute for Social Research’s Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.

“When you add raw eggs to hot lemon juice and sugar, you have to whisk everything quickly or it gets clumpy. I found that part challenging,” she said.

To see if other bakers had lemon curd tricks, Umarji began watching YouTube videos.

“Someone suggested putting a bit of the hot liquid into the raw eggs before adding them to the pot, a process known as tempering. That way, the eggs aren’t so shocked when you slide them into the hot mix. It worked, and I finally made my first smooth lemon curd,” she said.

In addition to being creatively challenging, Umarji said she finds baking calming.

Like many hobbyists, Umarji, who has been baking for nearly 15 years, finds joy in seeking new ways to evolve her skills. And her family, friends and ICPSR colleagues get to reap the tasty benefits of her efforts in the kitchen.

Getting into the flow

Umarji took up cooking as a senior in college to distract herself from the apprehension she felt about graduating.

“It was a stressful time. Up to that point, I’d always had a plan, but I didn’t really know what I was going to do next,” Umarji said. “So, a friend suggested I find a hobby to take my mind off it all.”

She settled on cooking because she figured it was a good life skill — and because she’d accumulated some armchair knowledge watching hours of the Food Network.

At first, Umarji experimented with both cooking and baking, but decided, as a hobby, she preferred the latter.

“When I’m cooking, I’m hungry and I just need to eat; it’s purpose-driven. But baking is both an art and a science, which I love,” she said.

The first time Umarji shared sweets she’d made was in her first term of grad school, when she was invited to a potluck.

“I made chocolate rum balls, and, at the party, people kept saying, ‘These are so good,’” she said.

At her next potluck, Umarji made lemon ricotta cookies with a recipe from Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis — and the response was even more effusive.

“It felt great to make something that brought others so much joy, and I realized I’d also really enjoyed the process of making the cookies,” she said. “From there, I just got more and more into baking.”

Today, Umarji said baking is almost a meditative experience for her, helping her feel refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of her life.

“When I’m baking, I feel like I’m in a state of flow because I’m fully immersed in what I’m doing,” she said.

“For many, watching TV or scrolling through social media are ways to relax, but I’ve noticed that if I binge-watch a show, I don’t always feel fully relaxed. With baking, though, I’m looking at a recipe or concentrating on what I’m creating, and it’s a different level of relaxation.”

Looking for new challenges

Stretching herself artistically and bringing joy to others are what drive Umarji’s baking hobby. That’s why she looks forward to ICPSR’s Halloween baking contest in October every year.

“I really like Halloween, and it’s fun to come up with creative ideas to fit the theme,” she said. “The challenge is making something that looks cool and tastes great.”

Umarji has won the contest six times, including for “Little Shop of Horrors” cupcakes she topped with strawberries carved to look like Venus fly traps.

She also won ICPSR’s Pi Day pie contest three times — for strawberry balsamic pie, apple pie with chai spices, and peach bourbon pie with brown butter crust.

Umarji recently started working with the Detroit chapter of For Goodness Cakes, an organization that enlists volunteers to make cakes for children in need. So far, she’s made five cakes.

“The kids will often note their favorite flavors, colors or interests,” said Umarji, who recently baked a CoComelon cake, based on the children’s YouTube channel. “I’m proud of being able to do something I enjoy, while also giving back to kids in our local community.”

Not too sweet

Umarji says cupcakes have become her signature treat. For the ICPSR Halloween baking contest, she’s made carrot cake, strawberry, red velvet, apple cider, and pumpkin cupcakes.

When she’s baking for her family or herself, though, she prefers treats that aren’t too sweet, like flavored cakes without frosting or chocolate with fresh fruit.

“I don’t have much of a sweet tooth myself,” Umarji said, laughing. “One of my favorites is a cake that uses the whole orange, including the peel. It’s wonderful to have with tea or coffee.”

Later this month, Umarji is also taking her first professional lesson: a cake decorating class at Sweet Heather Anne Cake Studio in Ann Arbor. Last winter, Umarji strained her forearm piping thick frosting onto dozens of cupcakes, so she’s hoping to learn new techniques that improve her cake decorating skills and minimize injuries.

Finally, Umarji has her sights set on learning to bake bread.

“Paul Hollywood, a judge on the ‘Great British Bake Off,’ likes to say that you’re not a real baker if you don’t bake bread. While I don’t necessarily agree with Paul, bread is something I’d like to add to my repertoire. I did make challah bread once, and it looked pretty, but the texture and flavor needed work,” she said. “So, that’s a future goal.”

Baking for beginners

For those interested in learning to bake, Umarji has a few tips.

Follow the directions. “A lot of people try riffing on a baking recipe, and, while you can do that with cooking, baking is precise. Like chemistry, if you veer from the formula, things will probably not turn out right.”

Start simple. “It’s easy to get intimidated by the number of tools you think you need, but you really don’t need that much to start. I was just a student when I began, and all I had was a mixing bowl, a hand mixer, and a baking pan.”

Try proven recipes. “For beginners, I always recommend Sally’s Baking Addiction. She has very detailed, easy-to-follow instructions, and every recipe I’ve tried has turned out great.”

Sprinkle with salt. “I always put a bit of salt in my desserts. I’ll either use salted butter or I’ll add a pinch of salt. The salt balances out other flavors and keeps things from becoming too sweet.”

Don’t make cookie dough balls round. “Someone asked me the other day how my cookies turned out so circular. The secret is that you make the cookie dough balls taller than they are wide. Then, as the cookies bake and flatten, they spread out into a perfect circle.”

Use a spoon, not a cup, to scoop flour. “If you take a measuring cup and scoop flour, you’re densely packing the flour into the cup, which means you’ll end up with too much flour and whatever you’re making will be dry. Instead, spoon the flour into the measuring cup.”

For more baking inspiration, follow Umarji’s Instagram account.