Baking experts - what can I make with these meagre ingredients?

JoJoB

Have to bake something for a Children in need party on wednesday but cupboards are pretty bare and not much spare cash (pound or two). Any foolproof recipes with the following?

200g plain flour
30g self raising
baking powder
bicarbonate of soda
icing sugar
castor sugar
writing icing
sprinkles

Ideally cupcakes, but I'm not sure how to combine the plain and self raising flour or how much baking powder to add, or if I need an egg or anything (complete amateur lol).

Any tips appreciated!

RAS

Any fat (marg, butter)?

Also any cream of tartar?

tanith

You'll need eggs and/or fat I think to make anything that I can think of..

Fen1

You could try the following recipes. The link at the top is an American / British glossary.

http://world-food-and-wine.com/american-british-cooking-terms

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/american-style-vanilla-biscotti-recipe

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/graham-crackers-recipe

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/rich-crackers-recipe


http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/christbaumgebach-christmas-tree-biscuits-recipe

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/italian-easter-cookies-recipe

UnderPressure

This seems like a nice recipe but you are going to need a some eggs and butter or margarine:

http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/491071/Basic-cupcake-mixture

Or to make it even simpler why not make some good old shortbread and then decorate them with a bit of icing and some of your sprinkes:

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/4570/simple-shortbread.aspx

just so you know Self raising flour is basically plain flour with a rising agent added in most case baking powder, the exact quantity is unknown and probably one of thise closely guarded secrets from the flour makers lol, I have always found that 2 teaspoons of baking powder per 8oz of plain flour works a treat Teaspoons as in a teaspoon that has had the back of a knife over the top to make it level NOT heaped, also to get more air in the mixtyre give you eggs a good beating before you incorporate them into the mixture.
The shortbread is probably your easier option if you can stretch to a pack of corn flour replace 2 ounces of the plain flour with 2 ounces of cornflour trust me it makes a huge difference Oh and for me anyhow shortbread should be made with unsalted butter but margarine will do if that is all that is around

Go on how did I do for a man??? LOL Best of luck

mrbadexample

UnderPressure wrote: »

Go on how did I do for a man???

Pretty good, I reckon. But what do I know? :rotfl:

Penelope_Penguin

JoJoB wrote: »

Ideally cupcakes, but I'm not sure how to combine the plain and self raising flour or how much baking powder to add, or if I need an egg or anything (complete amateur lol).

Any tips appreciated!

To make cupcakes (what my generation call fairy cakes ) you'll need fat and eggs. This is the recipe I use (you can decoarte these - no need to make butterflies ).

Penelope_Penguin

UnderPressure wrote: »

just so you know Self raising flour is basically plain flour with a rising agent added in most case baking powder, the exact quantity is unknown and probably one of thise closely guarded secrets from the flour makers lol

Really? The quantities needed to convert plain to SR is on the side of my pack of baking powder :rotfl:

UnderPressure

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

Really? The quantities needed to convert plain to SR is on the side of my pack of baking powder :rotfl:

ooooooooooooo well spotted it is on mine from tesco as well I have never noticed that before

Justamum

If you've got some cooking oil you can make a cake without any eggs.

2 cups sr flour
1 tsp baking powder (2 tsp if you are using plain)
1 cup caster sugar

Sieve these ingredients together

1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tsp essence of your choice

If you don't have any orange juice, make up the liquid to 1 1/2 cups with water, then add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar.

Mix the wet ingredients well, then mix thoroughly into the dry ingredients. This makes about 20-24 small buns, or a 10" x 8" cake.

To make life easier you could just make some glace icing from icing sugar and a bit of water, or just sieve some icing sugar over the top (I'm [STRIKE]a bit[/STRIKE] completely lazy when it comes to decorating cakes!)

LolaLemon

quick cookies.

100g flour (any)
100g butter/marg
50g sugar (any kind - granulated, fine, damera etc)

Mix together with hands (i have done with a spoon too and in ok)
If u want to add anything else for flavour, u can. like chopped chocolate, cinnamon powder, vanilla essence etc.... my rule for this is if its powdery add a teaspoon to the flour... if its liquid, half a teaspoon to a full teaspoon.... if its chocolate... u can never have too much! hehehe (ive done with sprinkles, abt 2 tablespoons then added some more just before they went in the oven.)

roll into a big ball, then take off a good pinch and roll into small balls, place on baking tray and flatten with thumb, or back of a wet fork.

(if u use cocoa powder or hot chocolate powder {2 tbsp} roll the balls as flat as u can {u can use a rolling pin if u want just dont make them too thin, these are georgous with hotchocolate or coffee)

bung in the oven at 180^ for 12-15mins. depends on how big a ball u make as to how many cookies/biscuits/shortbread you get. normally between 12 and 24.

I got these from a kids cook book and are fantastic... I make these if i get unexpected visitors.