I can cook but I can't bake - help?

Horace

I use the Be-Ro baking book - the recipes are relatively easy too and they work. I also use some Australian Women's Weekly books (they use cups as measurements) - far easier than the faff of weighing everything.

One of the best recipes I found was a sultana and walnut loaf that I found in an Aldi magazine (they also have recipes on their website), all kinds of fruit goes into it and if I don't have any walnuts then I leave them out. I have made a sultana, sour cherry and apricot loaf, an apricot loaf, an apple loaf.

As for pasty I know that I can't make it so I will cheat and use ready made.

I substitute sugar for stevia and use a heck of a lot less - have had no complaints so far.

JustThisOnce

I second no-bake traybakes - it's difficult to get them wrong (even though it seems like I'm trying really hard sometimes!) and there are some lovely ones out there. Also, a simple baking book like the Be-Ro one is a good starter - sometimes internet recipes can get over-complicated, or be unreliable. I think quite a few OS-ers have posted bakes on threads - worth a search?

If you do want to use the oven, the other thing to try is cakes and traybakes that don't need 'techniques'. If you're starting from scratch, it's hard to work out when you've got butter and sugar creamed to the correct level of fluffiness, or eggs and sugar to the right 'ribbon trail', and most books assume you know what that means. Even rubbing butter and flour together can take a little while to get right. So look for recipes that are just about mixing all the ingredients together - brownies, flapjacks, banana bread, fruit tea loaf, almost all muffins.

For anything more complicated, I always think it's good to see it done first. If you haven't got a baking friend or relative, maybe YouTube or the BBC Food website (which has videos for various techniques) could help?

Finally (I know, I don't half go on ), a 'failed' recipe isn't always your fault. Recipe writers can make mistakes with quantities, times, oven heats, or just by leaving out the detail you need. If you're a confident, experienced baker, you'll know you need another egg, less sugar or 20 minutes more in the oven. If not, you're more likely to think it's something you've done wrong.

HTH