Mmmmm, cake (for bloke!)

mrbadexample

I reckon it's time I turned my hand to something sweeter.... :drool:

So, do you reckon I could bake a cake? :eek:

To start this thread I would just like some suggestions - not recipes, yet! First I'd like to know what I need. I have nothing in the way of baking stuff. Not even soda. :rolleyes: No tins, no whisks, no ingredients, nothing. I don't want to go mad, think basic. My oven is powered by that electrickery, if it makes a difference. I've never done more than heat a pizza in it.

My mum used to do a wicked chocolate yoghurt cake, but she's lost the recipe. Anyone know something like that? (I've still got that little pot of yoghurt I didn't use in the kedgeree )

This might be more challenging.... :rotfl:

Rikki

I think I could help.:)

Or do I sit this one out?

Rikki

Nah!

Self Raising flour
Butter
Sugar
Eggs

Not necessarily in that order.

Yes you need an oven, cake tin and do you have kitchen scales?:eek:

Starry-eyed_surprise

Hi Mr B

Don't know if your kitchen can cope with this but I have a great recipe for frosted chocolate yoghurt cake. Mind you, you do need a few basic cake making type things -i.e. cake tins. Ideally you also need an electric whisk but elbow grease and a bowl and fork should do the trick if you don't have one. Also, some means of weighing the ingredients would be good. The recipe I have uses measuring cups but if you keep the proportions then I guess that a standard mug could be regarded as being roughly equivalent to about 2 cups (approx 8 tablespoons=1 cup). If you don't want to bother with the frosting, just dust the cake with sugar and sandwich it together with bought chocolate spread or whatever.

What you need for the cake:
100g dark chocolate
half cup water
185g butter
1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla essence
1 and half cups brown sugar
3 eggs
half cup (plain) yoghurt
2 and half cups self-raising flour

and for the frosting you will need 250g dark chocolate, half cup sour cream, 1 cup icing sugar.

What you do:
1. Grease 2 cake tins. Suggest 20cm round tins but whatever you can scrounge.
2. Melt chocolate and half cup water together in a bowl over another bowl of hot water then let the mix cool.
3. Put butter, sugar, and vanilla essence in a bowl and cream (beat together) until it looks light and fluffy. This is easiest done with an electric whisk.
4. Next, put the eggs in to the mixture, one at a time, and beat them in too. If you break them into a saucer first it stops any stray bits of shell getting in by accident!!
5. Now stir in the chocolate/water mixture and the yoghurt.
6. Finally, add the flour. Adding it in two lots is best. Ideally you will have sifted the flour first to put air in it. If you don't have a sieve then just sprinkle the flour from a spoon high(ish) above the bowl.
7. Pour the mixture into the two cake tins and bake for about 40 minutes at 180-200C

Frosting:
1. Melt chocolate as before.
2. Stir in sour cream.
3. Stir in (sifted) icing sugar.
4, Cool in the fridge to thicken it.

Assemble:
Use frosting to join the two cakes together and spread frosting over the top.
You can also split each cake in half first so you join 4 thinner caakes with layers of frosting.

Eat and enjoy.:)
Good Luck. Here's a :coffee: to go with you cake:)

nabowla

If you've never made a cake before, I'd start with a very basic sponge cake. Many cake recipes (including lots of choc cake recipes) are variations of the basic sponge theme so it's worth mastering.

In terms of basic equipment, you need:

Large bowl suitable for mixing ingredients
Wooden spoon
Sieve
Scales
2 round sponge tins (about 20cm circumference and 4-5cm deep)

You can get cheap baking equipment in most large supermarkets and in Woolworths. Before you buy anything though, think carefully about how often you're likely to use the equipment. Cheap scales are a bad investment if you're cooking 'proper recipes' (not just cakes) on a semi regular basis. I started off with a very cheap pair of scales but quickly invested in a decent set of electric scales (£20-£30). The cheap scales just weren't accurate enough and my cooking efforts were going badly wrong as a result. Likewise, cheap cake tins don't last very long at all. But you might want to buy two cheap tins now and then upgrade in six months' time if you find that you're good at baking. You should be able to get a sieve, bowl and wooden spoon quite cheaply at Woolworth's.

Cake ingredients for a basic sponge:

6oz self raising (SR) flour
6oz sugar (ordinary is ok, caster sugar is better)
6oz butter or margerine (non salted)
3 eggs
Jam

Recipe instructions to follow when I've got a spare five mins (I'm guessing I'll need to explain things like 'cream together the butter and sugar....'!)

twink

this might be a good site for you http://www.simplerecipes.co.uk

Gingham_Ribbon

You could start with something simple, like gingerbread. All the ingredients get chucked into a big pan, simmered for a bit, left to cool, bunged in a loaf tin and stuck in the oven. Bob's yer uncle.

Kazonline

If you've not got a tin then 'Welsh Cakes' are a doddle - and the best bit is you can eat as you go along.....
Sugar, self raising flour, egg, butter/marge - and if you've got them sultanas/cinamon.
Kaz x

larmy16

Mr BadExample - you never fail to amaze me the things you are trying to do - good on you! Sorry if this sounds patronizing, but so few blokes would even have a go. You deserve a star! Also if the cake turns out well - a gold star!!:)

twink

all n one sponge
100g soft marg
100g sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
100g self raising flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder heat oven to 180oc, gas 4
grease and line the bases of two 7inch sandwich tins, i use tin foil for the bases
put all the ings in a bowl, beat two mins, divide between the two tins and smooth the top
bake 25-30 mins
when cooked it will be a pale, golden colour and the centre of the sponge will spring back into place when lightly pressed
turn out of the tin and remove the foil gently
when cold sandwich with jam or jam and whipped cream

nabowla

Basic sponge cake instructions

Take butter and eggs out of fridge half an hour before you start cooking so that they reach room temperature.

Grease the inside of two cake tins by smearing butter around the tin with a small piece of greaseproof paper (or a bit of the butter packing paper). Put a medium handful of flour in the tin and shake around the tin until all the butter crease is lightly coated in flour. The sides and bottom of the tin should be entirely covered in flour - this will stop the cake sticking ('grease and line' in technical terms).

Weigh out 6oz sugar and put into a mixing bowl. Then weigh out 6oz butter and add to the sugar (always do the sugar first, then the butter so that the sugar doesn't stick to the weighing pan!).

Take a wooden spoon and 'cream together' the sugar and butter. In simple terms, use the wooden spoon to blend together the butter and sugar until you have a very smooth mix. Using the back of the spoon to smooth the butter and sugar against the side of the bowl works well.

Break eggs into a cup and beat together. Add to butter and cream and stir in until you have a lumpy mixture.

Weigh flour. Take a cupful of flour from the weighing pan and sieve straight into the butter/sugar/egg mix. Fold the flour into the mixture - basically, folding is just stirring lightly in a figure of 8 motion. You want to get as much air into the mixture as possible. Once the first cupful has been mixed in, sieve another cupful and fold in; keep going until all the flour is in the mixing bowl and well mixed (don't be too heavy handed when you're mixing).

Put half of the mixture in one tin and half in the other tin. Smooth across the tin so that you have a nice, flat mix filling both tins. Put in the oven and bake for c. 20 mins. The top of the cake should be golden. Poke a thin skewer or cocktail stick into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake's ready. If it comes out with a bit of sticky gunk on it, the cake needs a few minutes.

When cooked, take out of oven. Run flat knive round edge of cakes to make sure that edges aren't stuck to tin. Turn tin upside down and tap very firmly - the cake should come out straight away. Leave to cool. When completely cold, spread one half of the cake with a thick layer of jam. Put the other half on top and, hey presto, one basic sponge cake. It's actually very easy!