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

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...



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