New to baking

serena

I made this yesterday, and thought you might like to try it too - very easy.

Making time: about 10 minutes
Making time: about 1 to 1 1/2 hours

Ingredients
2 ripe bananas
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 tablespoons boiling milk
4 oz (100g) soft margarine
6oz (175g) caster sugar (granulated will do)
2 eggs
8oz(225g)flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder
2oz (50g) glace cherries chopped (I quarter them)
2oz (50g) stoned dates, chopped (you can buy these in a block in the baking section)

Heat the oven to 350 F, 180 C, gas mark 4 (I have a fan oven and heat to 150 C) and grease and line with greaseproof paper a 2-lb (900g) loaf tin.

Peel the bananas, put them into a large bowl and mash well. Dissolve the bicarb of soda in the milk amnd add to the bowl together with the remaining ingredients and mix very thoroughly for 2-3 minutes.

Turn inot the tin and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the loaf is well risen and golden brown. ( You can test if it is cooked by gently sliding a knife in. If it comes out clean it is done, if it is sticky with mixture, put the tin back in for 10 mins and try again. This works for most cakes)

Turn out, remove the paper and leave to cool on a wire rack. Serve just as it is or spread with butter. I try to keep mine wrapped in greaseproof paper, but it usually disappears fast!

This recipe comes from a paperback book called Fast Cakes by Mary Berry. It is a very good book, don't know if it is still available, but you could look on Amazon or abebooks.co.uk

wendyl1967

An easy microwave pudding.
ingredients.
3oz sr flour
2 tbls cocoa
pinch of salt
4oz margarine/butter
4oz sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 tbls milk
2tsp baking powder

sauce
4oz light soft brown sugar
2tbls cocoa
9floz boiling water

method
put all ingredients (not sauce!!) in a bowl and beat. Spoon into a 2 1/2 pt deep dish. Make the sauce by mixing together the sugar and cocoa then gradually blend in the water, mixing vigorously to avoid lumps. Pour the mixture over the pudding mixture (Yes it is a lot of water but trust me!) Bake in microwave for approx 5 - 6 mins.

The sauce goes to the bottom of the cake mixture and makes an excellent sponge pudding with a rich chocolately sauce. My family love this with custard.

Fay

Well I did it! Yesterday I made blueberry muffins...they are all gone now! Today I made jam donut muffins...boyfriend said they are to die for; and also some double chocolate ones from Nigella...fab. My cousin lives next door to me and he has already liberated 4 from my house this morning.

So easy and so tasty, thank you everyone for your advice. I shall move on to some more recipes now I want to make a special dessert for valentines night

Becles

Glad to hear it went well :j

For Valentines night, if you are feeling brave, why not try a pavolva? It's not too difficult to do, and it looks very impressive.

Whisk 4 eggs whites with a pinch of salt.
Gradually add 8oz sugar while you are whisking. Whisk it until it's really stiff.
Whisk in 1 tsp cornflour, 1tsp vanilla essence, and 1tsp vinegar.

Place the mixture on to a baking tray with a sheet of greaseproof paper. Spread the meringue about 1-2cm thick in a circle for the base, then pile it round the edges to make the sides.

Put in the oven at 140°C and bake for about an hour. It's cooked when it's a pale biscuit colour and feels hard to touch.

When it's cool, whip some cream and add cocoa powder and alcohol of your choice to taste. Fill the middle with the chocolate cream and decorate with fruit of your choice.

The secret is as much whisking as possible at the egg/sugar stages. You need the mixture to be as stiff as you can get it. It's easier with an electric whisk!

Graham_S_4

i have just made bigmuffins museli slice - it has worked a treat. I will have to take them in to work on Tuesday to give away - too much for one person

cheers

Graham

Lyndsay_21

just to let you know i bought a really fab cake tin its totally flexible and non-stick. I used to be carp at making cakes but the times i've used this they've come out perfect. i think it only cost me £3.99 too. i would never go back to my metal tin now

bigmuffins

Hiya!
Glad to hear that recipes were a success :T and thanks for letting us know.

I will be posting more variations on the muffin theme soon! Carrot and orange, banana etc. All easy - just need a bit of time to type them out.

Have posted some easy, authentic curry recipes recently if you want to try them. Small quantity suitable to serve 2 adults and 2 children (or 3 adults) - just search for bigmuffins posts on Recipe thread.

Happy cooking!

Mschappie

Why not try Rock Cakes? These are really easy. If they are not going to be eaten on the first day then they can be frozen or warmed up in the microwave.

8oz SR Flour
4oz margarine
3oz castor sugar
6oz mixed fruit
1 egg beaten with 1 table spoon of mlk

Rub flour and marge together until like breadcrumbs.
Rub in sugar.
Add mixed fruit
Mix together with the egg/milk (don't add more milk as mixture needs to be fairly stiff.)
Fork approx six spoonfuls of mixture onto a greased tray and bake at 170 for about 15 minutes until golden brown. Sprinkle with sugar as soon as the cakes come out of the oven.

Mschappie

wendyl1967

Rock cakes always remind me of school. It is the very first thing in home economics class that we learnt to bake. I haven't made them in over 20 years. Thanks for the recipe.

rchddap1

If I can clear some space in the freezer by 25th I might make a nice batch of muffins (and possibly bread whilst I'm at it). That jam idea sounds great....I wonder if I could find anything else that it would work with...