Help Please

bigspender2

Hi

Was wondering if anyone could help me with some EASY recipes for cakes i could make with my nearly 4 year old daughter.

Thanks in advance

Rachie_B

muffins are easy ,as you can alter the recipe to whatever your child will / wont eat

you can make sweet or savoury versions,they freeze well and ,as the batter is supposed to be lumpy it rarely goes wrong lol

you can also make different sized ones,my 4 yr old loves the really teeny cases for making muffins ,whils daddy & big bro prefers the big ones

katieowl_2

Well I don't know if this counts as a 'cake' but they are yummy and pretty healthy, and you can put the fruit and stuff she likes in them....We sometimes use the 'basics' mixed dried fruit, I usually add chopped up dried apricots (snipped into little pieces with scissors) or dates, and sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. We have made it with trail mix too, always different but always good. Sometimes I put in some cinnamon as well. Bonus frugal points if you can find a bag of reduced very ripe bananas in the supermarket or a big scoop for £1 in the market! They are sort of wet but chewy and very moreish.


Fruit and Nut “Biscuits”

200g Fruit and Nuts
175g Oats (Porridge)
3 Ripe Bananas
75ml Sunflower Oil

Mash bananas (I use a potato masher) and stir in other ingredients.

Spoon onto a paper lined baking sheet, shaped into fingers or rounds and cook for about 20 minutes (gas mark 4).

Makes 15

Rachie_B

basic muffin recipe here : http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=1659290#post1659290

we like to make jam / marmalade / choc spread ones as a treat

put a small amount of the muffin mix into the cases,then a little bit of jam,marmalade etc then a bit more muffin mix

yum yum

rchddap1

You could just do some simple small cakes (a la victoria sponge) and then leave her to have fun decorating with different icings, and toppings. You'll probably end up with one huge mess, but its very simple and she's bound to have fun.

You should have seen what happened when I left our teenage girls with a few cakes (also used different food dyes in the mix), loads of toppings and some different colours of icing that I'd made earlier. Actually scratch that.... you wouldn't want to see as they made a huge mess of the kitchen and all the cakes turned out 'multi coloured' and 'multi toppinged' (if you know what I mean).

Did result in big smiles though.

henhog

You could borrow a children's cook book from the library or buy a cheapo one. I've got The Children's Step by Step Cook Book by Angela Wilkes, published by Dorling Kindersley books. There's plenty of cake recipes in there and lots of savoury and it should last for a good few years. It has lovely step by step pictures for each recipe so older kids can make the stuff themselves and little ones can look at the pictures and choose what they would like to make.

r.mac_2

basic sponge mix

4oz sr flour
4oz sugar
4oz butter
2 eggs

cream butter and sugar by hand or with a mixer. Add eggs and beat, add flour and beat.

you can add food colouring to the mix - the little girls i look after like to make their cakes pink. a nice surprise when you bite into them!

you can add raisens and other fruit or nuts - just thrown in a handful of wahtever you have.

make a big sponge and split, fill with jam and ice
use individual cake cases
use mini cases

why not make the basic mixture split into two bowls and add different ingredients to each bowl. one for mum, one for daughter?

good luck - cake baking is such fun!

arkonite_babe

what about fifteens? I've posted the recipe on the index, I'll see if I can find the link. Good for kids cos there are no hot ovens involved and they get to bash up biscuits!!


FIFTEENS

kittiwoz

You can make a pound cake as suggested by r.mac as an all in one if you have an electric mixer. Just put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. If you do it by hand you can either start by creaming the butter and sugar or else rub the fat into the flour or melt it to make an all in one. Any of those will prevent lumps and give a suitably homogenous mix.

If it makes things easier you can also measure the ingredients by volume rather than weight. You need either equal weight of flour, sugar, butter and eggs or equal volume of sugar, butter and eggs and twice the volume of flour.

SnowyOwl_2

A little baby could do this one. Oh and it's totally and utterly fantastic and makes ya really fat! I can't remember who it was who originally posted this, but thank you, you Domestic Goddess you!

CARROT CAKE

8oz s/raising flour,
½ teaspoon ground mixed spice,
5oz soft brown sugar, can be dark or light, whatever’s in the cupboard
5 oz carrots, grated,
2 eggs,
¼ pint corn, sunflower or walnut oil
2 tablespoons (ie 2 x 15mls) milk.
1 teaspoon vanilla essence – not essential, if it’s in the cupboard already throw it in but no need to buy it specially

180C - 40 mins, 1 lb loaf tin,

just mix all ingredients together, then bake!

Topping -

2oz butter, softened,
8oz icing sugar

Just beat until nice and soft and well combined – it can be a bit sweet though. If it doesn’t appeal sift a thin layer of icing sugar over the top of the cooled cake instead.

r.mac_2

this thread inspired me to make muffins last night - just added some lemon rind and juice to the basic mix and they were yummy (managed to get a couple in the freezer before i scoffed the lot).

snowy the carrot cake recipe looks devine - think i'll have to try it. would be wrong not to as i have all the ingredients