63. Iced Gingebread with Stem Ginger

Hurrah! I'm now up to date. I actually only made these a week ago, and was just waiting for our internet to get back up and running before I could blog. We moved in, I found myself with a nice big worktop: I baked. I decided to tackle the next one on the list, which was this, and just got on with it while Elizabeth toddled about around me. It was very easy, although very sticky (curse the treacle and golden syrup!). My electronic scales were out of action, so I possibly wasn't totally accurate with the measurements, but it was as near as dammit, so good enough. When I went shopping for ingredients, I couldn't find 'ginger syrup', but I did find stem ginger in syrup, so could only assume that's what it was. I'm intrigued to know if I was right - the icing was ridiculously sweet as a result of adding what was essentially liquid sugar!
Anyway, easy to prepare; I did overbake them though. New oven and all that, but they did seem to catch a bit round the edges which was disappointing. Lovely flavour though, and the middle was fine. The cake did have a dip in the middle (I remember this issue from the Parkin recipe - too much treacle?!) It meant that the icing pooled in the middle; I shouldn't just iced it upside down, but the thought always disturbs me! I'd make them again, but probably not bother with the icing, as it really did make them far too sweet and gingerbread is just as tasty left alone.
Baker's verdict: simple to make, I'd just need to keep a closer eye to make sure they didn't go over.
Husband rating: 6.5/10. Didn't really like it with the icing, and they were a bit dry, but tasted nice without the icing and once I'd been eating them for a bit.
 

Novelty Cupcakes

I made these especially for my Y13 A Level English Language class. It was our last lesson and I promised them some homemade cake. They're just basic cupcakes (with some chocolate chips added), complete with icing and then fondant 'wugs'. We'd been studing Child Language Acquisition, which covers an experiment whereby the fictional creature, 'a wug' is discussed. Apparently this is what they look like. It seemed apt! I think my piping is improving; the icing looked quite respectable (I used a big nozzle for the typical cupcake effect). The comical thing was faffing about at 9.30 at night cutting little blue creatures out! The things you do in the name of baking, eh? Anyway, they went down very well, although the icing always makes everything really sweet, and I can remember husband saying so! I enjoyed the novelty element though, and it proved you don't have to be brilliant at decorating cakes for them to look effective! You just need humour...

62. Sultana and Orange Traybake

To my shame, I totally forgot to photograph this one, so I'll need to bake it again to provide evidence! I do remember making it just for the fun of it, and for something to take into work, and I also remember it being really easy and really tasty. The combination of flavours works really well, and I know my colleagues enjoyed it. I'll definitely make it again!
Baker's verdict: easy, tasty, more to follow...
Husband rating: again, too long ago...

Elizabeth's Christening Cake

Obviously, I had to make this myself. I just can't bring myself to buy cake anymore, and certainly couldn't have anyone else bake such a special cake, nervous as I was about doing it. In the end, I kept it very simple. Because we had quite a few guests, I simply decided to make a larger Victoria Sandwich, but used my traybake tins instead of sandwich tins. So I made a 6 egg mixture (I think) and then sandwiched the two sponges together with lemon curd and buttercream. I put lemon curd around the edges of the cake and once again did battle with the icing (getting easier now). It didn't roll on perfectly, so my Mum assisted with some decorations in the form of ribbon and silk flowers (from my 18th birthday cake!) and I used my new icing cutters to dot the cake with some pretty flowers. I will get better at this decorating lark; that's a project for another day!
Baker's verdict: not a problem making this very simple cake on a bigger scale - as usual very light and tasty.
Husband rating: I made this in May; it's nearly September. He won't remember.

61. Fast Flapjacks

I love flapjacks. Making them brings back happy childhood memories of baking them with my Grandma (Grandad Ern's wife). I baked these particular ones more or less as soon as I purchased Mary's book, but hadn't decided to write the blog then. Anyway, I've now made them another two times and here are the results. Rather comically, I misread the cooking instructions the first time round. I put them in at the conventional oven temperature rather then the required fan temperature, and ended up with rather brown, rather tough flapjacks! I still offered them, rather sheepishly, to my colleagues, who said they enjoyed them, chewy or not. Perhaps they were just being kind though. Anyway, it troubled me that I made a pig's ear of something so simple, so I made another batch and put some chocolate chips in, for my A Level students. They were much better, as you can see from the contrasting photos! I do struggle a bit with my patience where the adding of the chocolate chips is concerned: I never leave the mixture to cool down enough, so they tend to melt as soon as I stir them in. But then, wouldn't they do that in the oven anyway? Either way, the end result is the same: chocolate-flavoured flapjacks. It's a good recipe; very simple and if you're in your right mind when dealing with the oven, you can't really go wrong. You do just need to keep an eye on the colour and don't be hesitant about taking them out just because they're still soft and bubbling. They do set!
Baker's verdict: a good staple; easy to make and lovely and buttery.
Husband rating: again, I made these so long ago, he won't remember...
 

60. Cherry and Almond Traybake

I baked this so long ago, in a bid to keep going with my project, that I can remember very little about doing it! We have finally moved into a new home, in a new county, so have spent the last six months doing all the onerous stuff one has to do when moving home, while looking after a toddler. Hence, very little baking has been accomplished, and, as you'll have noted, no blogging whatsoever. But now we're settled (still waiting to start my new job), I'm determined to make room for both aspects of my project and really get cracking on it again. I've missed baking so much!
Anyway, I do remember baking this because I wanted to make some final cakes for my colleagues before I left for pastures new, and traybakes are very colleague-friendly, being easy to portion and serve. I do recall this being easy to make, but drying the rinsed cherries is always a faff. I understand why you need to do it (to stop them sinking to the bottom), I just don't seem to do it very well! The cake, I recall, went down well, and was very moist and tasty. It had the ever-appealing flavour of a Bakewell; cherries and almonds are so lovely together.
Baker's verdict: easy to make and very light and tasty.
Husband rating: not even going to ask - it was too long ago!