Thoughts on Baking

I've been doing a lot of baking just recently, pretty much on a daily basis. Aside from the obvious joy of having a constant supply of scrummy sweet-things to nibble on with morning coffee/afternoon tea, it's been the actual activity of baking which I've felt the need for of late.

Could be down to the weather (ie the need to feel warm and cosy in the kitchen when the weather outside is so rotten), could be hormonal (ie a form of Nesting Instinct), could possibly be Procrastination (ie baking when I should be doing other forms of more dirty, mundane housework), or it could be the Desire to Provide (ie complaints from family members when the cake tins are Empty, shock horror).

Whatever the reason, baking for family and friends (ok, and myself too) gives me a great deal of pleasure. And as a stay-at-home Mum, I guess it kind of comes with the job description :: baking is so very utterly Domestic and Homely that it would seem odd to me not to do it as a part of my daily/weekly at-home routine.

I love to include a little home-baked something in with the Little People's lunch boxes, just as my own Mum always did for me. As a child, my lunch box was often full of crumbling, homemade fruit cake or sticky little jam tarts, and shamefully I often longed for the pre-packed shop-bought chocolate biscuits that my friends always had. Its only now that I'm providing for my own children in the exact same way that my Mum did for me, that I recognise how wonderful and thoughtful those home-baked offerings of my childhood were.

I wouldn't say I'm a particularly skilled baker. I don't seem to have the bakers equivalent of gardeners green-fingers (hmmmm what colour would a bakers fingers be I wonder??). I quite often have disasters. But over the years that I've been making cakes and biscuits, cookies and buns, I've built up a small but satisfying little pile of fail-safe recipes, many of which I've shared with you here in the Attic. If you look at the Categories over in my sidebar there, you should see one called "Baking" :: click onto it and you'll have access to all my archive posts which contain bakey goodness, many with recipes included.

Occasionally I do like to try new things, get inspired by recipes I come across. The above picture is from the pages of Prima magazine (Novemer issue, the one that contained the free calendar). I was WOWed by the picture of those cookies in the vintage tin, by the title that said "Easy Bakes" and by the ingredients which included white chocolate, pecan nuts and cranberries.

But the recipe to my mind was overly complicated (included ingredients I didn't have, and involved chilling the cookie dough).

So what I did was to use my fail-safe recipe for cookies that always works out for me (my Chocolate Chip cookie recipe, which you can find here), substituting the 100g choc chips for 100g chopped white chocolate. And as the magazine recipe instructed, I mixed half of the white choc in with the cookie dough, and sprinkled the other half on top of the cookies, then studded the top of each one with some dried cranberries and half a pecan nut.

They turned out beautifully, and I'll be making these again for sure.

I find that I choose to bake cookies, buns and tray-bakes far more often than big, full-on cakey-cakes. Something about embarking on a grown-up Big Cake that scares me slightly :: I've had many, many disasters in this area, many hissy fits over undercooked cake middles and flat things that have refused to rise and look properly cake-like.

A few weeks ago, I tried out a new recipe called "Moist Orange Cake" from the Be-ro book, and it was not good. The resulting cake was tasty, and moist yes, but it failed to rise. It was flat, flat, flat and looked soooo sad! But not to be put off, I decided to give it another go last week, this time using my old recipe for Lemon Drizzle cake (which you can find here). This is an amazing recipe and has never failed me :: it always rises beautifully and the sponge is moist and light. So I kept the basic recipe the same, changing the lemon zest for orange zest, the milk for orange juice, then topped the finished cake with an orange glace icing instead of a sticky lemon-sugar drizzle......

....and oh it was good! I was so proud to have made a proper grown-up cake which could be put proudly on my cake stand!

 

Yes it really was good.

Scrumptious and scoffable.

And so we come to today's baking, today's morning activity of choice.
Clean the floors? Tidy the piles? Nah....let me bake chocolate cake!!!!

Another recipe from the Prima magazine, a Nestle Carnation promotion I think. you can find the actual recipe for this Chocolate Fudge Cake on the Carnation website here.

This was a very adventurous cake for me, involving two round tins and some fierce praying for Good Rising. And hey-ho, it did indeed rise, like a proper, grown-up full-cake should! I was sooo happy!!

I found the cooking time given (20-25mins) was wildly inaccurate though, it ended up needing more like 35mins, and even then I don't think one of the halves was completely properly cooked. But no matter, the amaaaaaaaaaazing chocolate-fudge icing covered up that little sticky sunken undercooked middle bit, and helped to produce a cake to be proud of.

 

Wow....does that look good or what????

I've yet to taste it as I'm waiting to present it to my family with a flourish at the dinner table tonight, and it won't quite look the same with a great big slice cut out the side of it. I have high hopes though, and think I might even be brave enough to make this cake for a school fundraiser event in a few weeks time.

Gosh, has this seemed like a long post to you?? I feel like I've been sat here chatting to you for ages!! Thanks for being here with me and allowing me to blather on, i do appreicate your company.....right, time for me to go and have my afternoon cup of tea with a little bit of something sweet from the cake tin.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ps meant to say that the very top picture is of my new cake tin, given to me for my Birthday by a lovely friend...isn't that old Ladybird illustration fab???!!

Edited to add :: Oh. My. Golly-goodness. That cake! That c-a-k-e!!! It's quite honestly stupendous. The sponge :: light and moist, the chocolate fudge icing :: incredible. The Little People were beside themselves with excitement and joy over being allowed this cake for pudding and it was given a score of 100/10. J was very complimentary too. And as for me...well, yes, can you see my Domestic Goddess Halo shining brightly?

xxxxxxxxxxx

Comments

[Helen]

Oooh those cakes look wonderful. Might have to attempt a choccy one myself!

* Thanks for being the first to comment on my brand new blog! Was very excited when I spotted it :-) *

[Heather x]

Oh Lucy your baking looks awesome and yummy, my belly is rumbling with anticipation but alas I have nothing sweet to comfort it lol.
I think I may have to bake one of my flat creations tomorrow :0)
*hugs* Heather x

[claudia]

Lucy, I DO understand you sooo....I am possibly in a worst condition than you, as a few years ago I bought my first bread machine...since then, I discovered bread making, natural yeast, levains, the smell of bread an cakes first thing in the morning...and we all got rounder at the edges :-)
but it's soooooo fulfilling....

[Anna, Sydney]

What a lovely post. You know, I read your posts several times during the day. They provide such joy.

[valerie]

they all look really delicious you look like a pretty good cook to me

[Anne H]

Hi - yes I've always loved baking - except sometimes when the children were little I would bake a whole batch of biscuits and then eat most of them myself! Now I find myself always making tiffin for people at work - always a success! and a much requested recipe! Love your cake tin - reminds me of Janet and John books at infant school and our own teas when I was little - when we used to 'go round the table' and eat one of everything!! I was always there when my children came home from school - I think it's a special time you can never repeat so hope you continue to enjoy it! I still love the times when the family are together and I can bring out home made cakes...

[victoriag]

Oh no...must you post about these luscious treats? Accckkk! Makes me want to run right home and bake...right now! Yummmmmmmy!

[Nicky]

Wow! A kindred spirit! I too have been doing lots of baking recently - no excuse other than wanting to eat the cakes etc...!
I recently bought the Hummingbird bakery book, have you seen it? Divine is all that I can say!!! Especially the banana and chocolate cupcakes x

[Beah]

Hello, I just came across your blog and I will be back soon for sure. I love your style, your inspiration, your colours and the way you crochet! Thank you for sharing.

[Amanda]

Your orange cake sounds delicious, and your chocolate cake looks delicious!

[MaiT]

I'm hungry...

[cathleen]

That Carnation site is awesome. Just printed out some of those delectable muffin recipes too. It's always a pain to covert those grams though and I don't believe I've ever seen Carnation Caramel here in the US. Anyone else in the States ever see it??? Thanks Lucy for your lovely open heart. You are always so willing to share. Oh, and your little birdie is a beautiful little creation. You're amazing!

[Jacqueline]

I have tried your lemon drizzle cake and it was a great success. I also tried your choc chip cookies, which were not so successful, but that was down to me. The chocolate cake looks great, I will have to give it a go.

[Amy Caroline]

Might have something to do with that baby you are also baking!!!
That cake looks divine. I just finished looking at another's friend's blog and she made cinnamon rolls. I think there is more baking in my future... beside bread!!

[Jackie]

Lucy ~ there's nothing quite like a cup of tea and a lovely big and gooey slice of homemade cake to go with it! Your cakes and cookies do look very yummy indeed. Unfortunately I packed all my baking things away when we were decluttering the house a few weeks ago getting it ready to go up for sale which should be in a couple of days time! ~ I must say that I am missing baking a lot and am also definately missing eating the cake too :O)

[Marie]

I could totally have written this post (well, except for the SAHM bit - unfortunately I have to fit my baking time in around working *sigh*

I will have to give the orange cake recipe a go, it looks lovely. I can completely recommend this recipe for carrot cake:

http://protectthecookie.blogspot.com/2009/04/bakefest-and-addition-of-superwhizzy.html

Totally moist and lightly spiced and delicious. Even my kids love it.

xMx

[Heather]

a slice of any of your cakes would go down very well right now!

My mum always baked (and still does) for all of us and there is nothing so nice and homey as homemade cake or cookies when you get in from school. thanks for bringing back happy cake-day memories :)
xxx

[Tara]

I also go through those little baking phases, although I'm sorry to say mine don't last very long and aren't very inventive. If I had my dream life of being a house-wife and mother, I'm sure I would be more bake-y and craft-y. Alas, I am still a student now and have no babes yet, so I will continue saving recipes for the days when I get to send lunches to school. Your lemon cake recipe is about to be added to my book!

[Carole]

Hi Lucy, Those cakes look sooo yummy. Now i`ve just made coffee so can you send me a piece of chocolate cake. I won`t have any excuses that the little people have eaten it all lol!
Love Carole xxxx

[SisterJoyous]

Hi Lucy, thanks so much for your lovely, homey, colourful blog - it inspires me on a daily basis! I have a card above my desk of very colour-soaked images, and it says "My eyes are hungry". I often feel like that, and soaking your pictures up satisfies a real craving in me - not just for colour, but for homey-ness too.

It's also great to have found a blog like yours that's updated regularly - I can make visits part of my day - especially when another funding bid (day job) is making my soul plummet.

Also - CAKE! Hurrah.

Thanks - Joy x

[Veronica]

Everything looks so tasty, but your orange cake... oh my. I am going to have to give that one a try. I've even written a note on my calendar reminding me to try it in February. I love bright, sunny citrus flavors when winter is in full swing. Thanks for sharing!

[Sarah - Jane down the lane]

Hi Lucy,

I too am a very big advocate of the Carnation chocolate cake recipe, never never fails and I am always bathed in praise when I give it to anyone, tee hee, evaporated milk is the secret and the icing is AMAZING TOO!
Loved all your sentiments on home baking and am off to try your orange sponge cake recipe, wish me luck,

Sarah x

[Emma]

soooo? How does it taste???? :D

It loooks very yummy!

[Anna-Karin, Sweden]

Oh how I wished I was at your house tonight!! It all looks so very yummy. I often do your "choclate chip cookie". It's so easy to bake and taste gorgeous!! But this Chocolate Fudge Cake... well, I can't describe how wonderful it looks.
Have a great evening!
Hugs, Anna xxx

[Meagan S.]

I'm hopping on a plane to jump the pond and have dessert with you tonight! Looks so yummy. Thanks for sharing.