4. Fairy Cakes

These didn't really present much of a challenge; I've made loads of fairy cakes over the years. I felt a bit frustrated making these, partly for that reason, but also because I'm being so rigid about baking everything in the book, I had to leave these plain. It's only on my second foray into fairy cakes that the wonders of icing will be discovered! That said, it was nice to be able to turn these out so quickly and it's immensely satisfying to produce something lovely with minimal effort.

I decided to make the chocolate version, as they were intended for some of my A Level students and thought they'd be a bit more appealing. I used Stork instead of butter (still got some to use up) and Green & Black's cocoa (had to get some luxury in there somewhere). It's such a basic recipe, but I took Mary's advice and mixed it for several minutes. A lovely, light mixture was dolloped into the cases as a result. Because the tray was (weirdly) too small for the cases, the buns baked in a slightly wonky fashion, and I again had the 'are they ready?' dilemma. 15-20 minutes was needed, and I gave them 20 in the end, as they looked a bit too squishy at 15.

Baker's verdict: satisfying to make because they were so easy; taste and texture very good.

Husband rating: 8 - really good taste, lovely to eat, but small and a bit plain.

Students' opinion: nice, but needed some icing.

3. Traditional Parkin

This bake presents the same scenario as the fruit cake; no eating allowed for a week. This is probably just as well, given the amount of cake consumed in recent days! I'm also intending to feed this to one of my Y13 classes, just because it'll cut neatly into little squares and because I'll never manage to bake everything in the book, eat it and stay slim! We will, of course, be having a taste - purely for the purposes of reviewing the success of the bake.

So, parkin. I've made it before but I'm sure I didn't put porridge oats in it, as this recipe demands. I'm not convinced I'm going to like the possibly 'chanky' texture, but we'll see. Anyway, as illustrated above, there is a hefty amount of sugary, fatty stuff in here: 175g of treacle, sugar and about 150g of butter - all melted down into a lovely- smelling goo. There's also cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in this, so it's going to be really spicy.

It was pretty easy to make; I found fiddling with the measuring spoons the most faffy part. The 'how will I know when it's done?' issue reared its head with the (to me) vague instructions to cook it for 'about an hour or until firm to the touch'. I actually cooked it for less because I've a tendency to over-bake. Despite appearances to the contrary (it's a shadow, honest), I reckon it's cooked perfectly.
Baker's verdict: easy, smelt delicious. I didn't really like the texture and I'm not sure whether it's because of the oats, the storage or over-baking. It should have been more gooey inside. Much better when warmed up and served with custard.
Husband rating: 6.5 (7.5 when warm with custard) - a bit on the dry side but the flavour was good.
Students' opinion: some liked the oaty texture; most wished it was less crumbly, but enjoyed the taste.

2. Cranberry and Apricot Fruit Cake

  

I'm in the odd position with this, my first ever fruit cake, of not being able to comment on how it's turned out yet, but I wanted to post my notes on the making and baking of it before I forget. It's one of those cakes which is best eaten after a period of storage, so I've had to relunctantly swaddle my creation in clingfilm and put it in a cupboard, pending a visit to friends next weekend.
Anyway, this cake took about 4 hours to make and needed 2.5 hours in the oven. It's crammed full of apricots, cranberries, sultanas, pineapple and almonds (see picture 1) and took a lot of fiddly preparation. I tried a few new techniques for this, using scissors to chop the apricots up and the mezzaluna knife for the almonds (husband's idea). The actual cake bit was very straightforward, but lots of elbow grease was needed to mix everything up.
During its baking, lovely, buttery aromas wafted from the oven: it turned out to be quite substantial leakage from the springform tin, of butter used to grease it and butter from the cake (which hadn't totally broken down in the mixing stage). I was anxious about it being undercooked, but the skewer was clean and it was a nice colour, and even though husband thought the temperature was at 120 instead of 130 (eek!), it had cooked for the required time + 5 minutes.
Baker's verdict: easy, but labour-intensive to make. Smelt lovely.
Husband rating: tbc (but he said it looked and smelt good)

Here's what it looked like when cut, after a week's storage. As expected, it was hard to get a nice, neat slice, thanks to the amount of fruity bits, but other than that, it held together very well. For my first attempt at a fruit cake, I think I've done a good job. It turned out to be lovely and moist, baked really well and actually not too heavy on the stomach (although ridiculously heavy in the tin!) Husband has confirmed that he doesn't like fruit-cake, but is willing to try some.

Husband rating: 7.75/10 (because he doesn't really like fruit cake)

1. All-in-one Victoria Sandwich

Here's my attempt at Mary Berry's recipe for the classic Victoria Sandwich. I've made these before; mainly with my Mum, but never following this 'all-in-one' method, which involves bunging all the ingredients into the mixing bowl in one go. I adapted it slightly by using half-and-half butter and Stork (just because I had some to use up). I also added buttercream rather than just jam to make it even more yummy.
Baker's verdict: really easy to make; baked to perfection - lovely and light. I did find that the top layer slid away from the bottom when I cut slices from it. Next time I'll shave some of the bottom sponge off to make a flatter surface!
Husband rating: 8.5/10 (a bit more jam please)