Reactions to home baked cakes

Mado

You Know sometimes I feel sorry for HM the Queen.
She probably never had a chance in her life to get down to the royal kitchen and have fun baking...

pavlovs_dog

lol, if the royal wave is anything to go by, i bet she'd have the perfect wrist action for folding rather than whisking :rotfl:

gravitytolls

Fantastic recipe for self saucing chocolate pud:

serves 8
750ml/1.25 pint dish/basin

FOR THE PUDDING

125g/4.5oz plain flour
60g/2.25 caster sugar
2tsp baking powder
2tbsp cocoa powder
120ml/4fl oz milk
1 egg
40g/1.5oz melted butter
couple drops vanilla essence
60g/2.25 oz chopped walnuts (optional)

FOR THE TOPPING
180g/6oz muscovado sugar
2tbsp cocoa
250ml/9fl oz boiling water

grease dish

combine dry ingredients.
add wet ingredients.
Pour into pie dish
cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight. (actually I don't do this as I always decide to have it as I begin dinner).

Preheat oven to 180C/gas 4
sprinkle sugar and cocoa over top of pudding, pour on boiling water.
Bake for 45mins until puffy and firm to the touch in th ecentre.

Absolutely amazing, and rather rich.
We have it with cream:drool:
or ice cream:drool:
or custard:drool:

Anyway, it's yummy, and easy, I hope you like it.

Karen

gravitytolls

Actually, by the time you've unwrapped, read instructions, reheated, disposed of rubbish etc, you migh tjust as well cook, it doesn't take much time really, when you've practised for a bit.

SnowyOwl_2

Oh GravityTolls, I can feel it all heading out then south just reading that recipe... Tell me, can this pudding be baked ahead of time then heated up in a microwave? The reason I ask is that my colleagues rather pointedly asked if I make puddings as well as bake cakes. Well I do, and I enjoy it, but as I would also scoff the lot in one day I don't dare unless I have visitors coming (and even then it's been known for them to just get icecream...ha ha! However I have all the ingredients for this one in the cupboard so would like to do this one and bring it in to work to "celebrate" a birthday. It would be a bit different to the usual cakes as is office tradition.

We have a canteen at work and they charge 70p for a pre-packaged muffin, 40p for a scone....50p for a flipping teabag and some hot water. It's outrageous, think I should start charging for my homemade goodies then everybody would be happy (except the canteen)!

VickyA_2

Sorry, it looks like I've come to this very late in the day.

My friends are amazed that I "somehow find the time" to make all these wonderful things. I pointed out to one that my blueberry muffins take about 30mins from weighing out the mix to taking them out of the oven. Her comment? "I can't afford half an hour" - but she does have a daughter who would probably love to mix and bake.

Every now and again, I make sure I have 2hrs at a weekend to bake and cook. Result? All I have to do after that is take the stuff out the freezer when I need it.

gravitytolls

I should think snowy. If we have any leftover(I sometimes double the quantity), it goes in the mike, but in portions, and it's just as yum.

I'm sure they'll be impressed, it's rather rich.

mink35

pavlovs_dog wrote:

going back to those stained glass window biscuits, does it matter what type of sweets you use (do they have to be boiled), do you mix up the colours or leave them as one, and am i right in thinking that you dont cut the hole right the way through the biscuit?

Doesn't matter what boiled sweets you use - fruit drops are usually ok. I don't mix the colours up in each biscuit but you could do.

The hole is cut all the way through - eg use a round (jam tart size) cutter for the biscuit then a small star cutter in the middle. Put the biscuit on the baking sheet before filling with the crushed sweets. When they're done you can hold them up to the light and see through them.

You can change the shape of the biscuits and the 'window' if you've got the right cutters or if you're handy with a knife!

Queenie

pavlovs_dog wrote:

queenie...mash potato?

:think: Nope

catznine wrote:

Is it Mayonnaise Queenie?

:think: Nopety nope!

Vicky_A wrote:

Every now and again, I make sure I have 2hrs at a weekend to bake and cook. Result? All I have to do after that is take the stuff out the freezer when I need it.

And that really is the knack to it.
My paternal G/mother used to have one big bake up (she had 13 kids! :eek:) one day per week when she would bake up cakes, buns, biscuits and breads. No freezers in those days but, with old fashioned pantry's, muslin, cheesecloth, bread crocks and careful planning she somehow managed it. (Although she didn't go out to work in the modern sense ... apparently she was the "woman down the street" who family, friends, neighbours and local people would call upon for advice, midwifery, "laying out", herbal remedies etc - all pre-NHS )
Oops, I've waffled on, sorry - but thank you Vicky A for nudging back into my head a memory of yesteryear

VickyA_2

oooh yes Queenie. My gran used to have a day a week when she used to bake, bake and bake. She kept church fetes going with her plum bread. I used to love making bread with her too - that smell of rising bread (the yeast, I imagine!) and me getting my hands dirty. Shame she's slowly losing her marbles now though. However, the best ever homemade stuff is my great Auntie Eileen's lemon curd. She's famous for it in our family. And her fruit cake that she "feeds" brandy into. My dad always gets a fruit cake from her for his birthday.

My mum is amazed at the "cooking from scratch" that I do as she thought that all we eat is processed stuff. I make more stuff from scratch than she does - and she's 54 and had been to catering college years ago, whereas I'm 26 and just visit this site most days!