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).


Wednesday 3 June 2015

73. Cut And Come Again Cake

So, I haven't baked anything for months and months, and I've really missed it. Weekends have been very busy and I haven't braved doing any baking with the resident toddler yet. Also, the oven in our current house isn't reliable, and I got very demotivated after several incidences of over-baking! I did bake some cupcakes for some students at school, which went down well, but didn't advance my project. Finally though, after weeks of getting cake hospitality from my Mum, I decided to bake something to repay the favour.
I fancied attempting a simple fruit cake, so decided to do this one, which didn't require masses of ingredients or any complicated processes. It was a pleasure to don my apron again and to experience the delightful smells emanating from the oven. I was very cautious with the oven, choosing a slightly lower temperature and a shorter time. When the skewer still came out sticky, I chose increments of ten minutes between testings (and a layer of tin foil on top to prevent too much browning) to make sure it didn't over-bake. Disappointingly, it did. It looked dry when I cut it and it tasted (felt?) dry too, but fortunately the presence of lots of fruit saved it from being a  mouthful of sawdust, or stale breadcrumbs!
Baker's verdict: easy, tasty, but came out dry.
Husband rating: 7/10 - really good flavour, very moreish, a tiny bit on the dry side and not too keen on the currants burnt on the edge as they go a bit bitter. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
 
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