S/R flour problem - is it me or just the flour?

faerie_girl

I have always been good at baking as my nannan taught me the basics at a young age.
When i moved out of my parents i didnt really get all the utentils and stuff needed to make the cakes and buns that i love doing.
My OH's Gran brought round some very old weighing scales with some weights and i attempted to make a cake.
i used - s/r flour 4oz
sugar 4oz
margarine 4oz
2 medium eggs
(i think thats all)

It came out flat hadn't rose at all. Now i dont know if it was the flour or if i didnt weigh it proparly. My OH bought me a pressie - a new electric scale so i want to try again. I love baking and cooking and i feel like i am useless and out of shape baking wise. I want to get back into it again making all those lovely cakes i used to.

Now heres the thing - do i try again (it could have been my mearurements)
or do i try again and add some baking powder (it could have been the floor as it was from the 'basic' range)

If i added baking powder and it was me not measuring it correctlly would the cake raise too far? Is there a way of testing the flour lol to see does rise correctly and is self raising like it should be?

What a dilema lol

faeriex

Rikki

The recipe seems correct. Although it will only make small cakes if the tins are too large, that amount is best for 7" tins.

Personally I weigh my eggs (in the shell) and use equal amounts of the other ingredients.

Try using three eggs and 6oz of the other ingredients and 8" cake tins.

thriftlady_2

Hi Faerie Girl,
Was it an all-in-one recipe where you beat everything together in the bowl, or did you cream the butter and sugar together first, then add the eggs and fold in the flour ?

For an all-in-one you need to add baking powder despite using self-raising flour. Mary Berry, in her Ultimate Cake Book adds half a teaspoon for every 2 oz of SR flour.

In fact it's a really easy formula to remember 1 egg and half a teaspoon of baking powder to 2 oz of butter/marge, SR flour and sugar.

The other reason why it didn't rise well could be your cake tin. How big is it? Mary Berry uses a 7 inch (18cm) tin for a 3 egg cake, and an 8 inch (20 cm) tin for a 4 egg cake. So, for a 2 egg cake I'd say your tin needs to be about 6 inches.

HTH:)

Penelope_Penguin

What method did you use? If you used the *old fashioned* creaming butter and sugar, then adding egg, then folding in flour, that shoudl be OK.

If you used the *all in one* you need soft margarine (Flora type) and an extra tsp baking powder.

SR flour contains baking powder. If you take a small amount and add some vinegar, if it's still potent, it should fizz, as the acidic vinegar reacts with the alkaline in the baking powder. Never tried it myself - will give it a go later

Your cake might not taste too bad, you know. Slather it in icing and everyone will love it.

HTH, Penny. x

Edit - like thriftlady says..........:p

susank

I never did make good anything with the value flour - I dont know why but I need to use Homepride flour as everytime I use something else it does not work the way it should - not very old style but.........

faerie_girl

thanks everyone. It was quite a small tin that i used. It tasted like a normal cake. A friend came round i offered him a slice and told him it was a special family recepie that had been passed down to me. He loved it lol.
I will try the tip that penelope has suggested. I will probally add some baking powder as the flour was the cheapest they had lol but i thought i would give it a try.

Thanks everyone

faerie xx