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

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.
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