A few months ago, gripped by baking fever, I purchased Mary Berry's Baking Bible. I quickly decided to embark upon a mission to bake everything in the book, and turn myself from an occasional baker into a bit of an expert. My Grandad Ern was a Master Baker by trade; the man responsible for introducing Danish Pastries to England in fact, and I wish it had occurred to me to spend more time learning from him, rather than simply enjoying the fruits of his effortless labours. This project is almost a way of making amends for that; I'd like to follow in his footsteps (if not in my career, at least as a hobby) and continue the proud heritage of baking in my family.
I credit my friend Rachel with the idea to write a blog about my baking exploits, hoping that there will be more successes than failures as I attempt all 213 of the Queen of Baking's recipes.
So as not to bore the husband with a monotonous diet of sponges, followed by weeks of biscuits, I've decided to tackle the recipes by selecting the first bake from each chapter, followed by the second recipe and so on. I'm not going to pick and choose; I'm determined to face my baking demons and learn how to do everything baking-related, even if the consequences are disastrous!
Everything will be photographed, with comment about how I found baking it, and a husband rating (to be taken with a pinch of salt as he has a very selective cake-tooth).


Tuesday 26 August 2014

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.
 
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