93. Irish Soda Bread

I fancied a break from cakes (ok, that's a lie; I thought it would be best for our waistlines if we had a break from cakes), so decided to try my hand at some bread. I've made soda bread before, years ago, and this was a super easy recipe for Elizabeth to help with. It contains very few ingredients; I used a mixture of yoghurt and milk instead of buttermilk (not easy to come by), and for the first attempt, made two separate loaves, as my Mum only had small baking trays.
They didn't require as much baking as suggested in the method, but despite the hollow sound when tapped, I wasn't convinced they were fully baked in the middle. I researched the required texture, and my Mum recalled soda bread being a bit scone-like. It was certainly very dense, but didn't seem stodgy or underbaked. It was nicest warm with butter and cheese, but the taste of the bicarbonate of soda made what my Dad described as a bit of a fishy flavour.
I made a second loaf a few days later, as I had plenty of yoghurt left and we'd run out of bread; this time I added some dried oregano to give it a different flavour. I'd need to add more next time as it was a bit too subtle. I think there's lots you could do with flavours; it's such an easy bread to make, and I knocked up my second loaf while waiting for the porridge to cook! It doesn't keep very well - it really needs to be eaten the day you make it, or filled with something quite 'moist'/dipped in soup on the following day. Quite a handy loaf to just knock up, and easy for kids to be involved in the making of.
Baker's verdict: easy to make; nice warm with proper butter. Quite a nice texture to eat.
Husband rating: 7/10 - nice with some butter; nice texture on the outside. Not had soda bread before, but it was very heavy and cakey - not sure what it's supposed to be like. Certainly very nice with a meal, on the side.

92. Double Orange Cake

This week (yes! I'm baking weekly!), I decided to give husband the choice of which cake to bake, from the highlighted list of bakes suitable for child interference. This was his choice, and I was really pleased to see that the only additional ingredients I needed to buy were two oranges.
Apart from the initial faff of lining the tin, this was a really easy recipe, once again following the all-in-one method. The highlight for Elizabeth was juicing the oranges (the zesting bit is too difficult/dangerous at the moment); so much so that I had to sacrifice an extra orange, just so she could juice it. She did at least drink the juice though, and I enjoyed nibbling the flesh from the oranges as well.
The method suggested baking for 35 minutes, so I plumped for 25 minutes, but although it had risen well and was springy to touch, a quick skewer test proved that it wasn't cooked through, so I put it back in for 5, and then an extra 5 minutes. It was perfectly baked by then, so this must be one of the only bakes which required the full time in our erratic oven!
The icing bit was simple enough, although I did make it a fraction too runny and lost a lot over the sides, which I kept scooping back on. I was a bit too early with the orange shreds - I learnt why the icing needed to have set before you decorate: they sink into the icing! Luckily I kept some in reserve, to do it properly.
The recipe suggested it was best served the day it was made, so Joe had a small slice that evening. The rest was saved for a brunch date with some mum friends the next day, but three days later, we're still eating it and it's still very moist and flavoursome.
Baker's verdict: really simple to make, apart from a bit of fiddling with the oranges, and very tasty.
Husband rating: 9/10 -  I love this sort of cake; quite similar to lemon drizzle in a lot of ways; lovely, moist, citrusy sponge and the icing on top went really well with it. Would be 10/10 if it was a bit more orangey.

91. Easter Simnel Cake

Mum and I have been talking about baking a simnel cake for years and years and never got round to it, so this one has been a long time coming. It also looked like a nice easy recipe to involve Elizabeth in, so we had a fun few hours measuring and mixing, and playing with bits of marzipan.
The method, happily, is the all-in-one approach, which just meant lots of adding of ingredients to the same bowl on the scales, and lots of good number recognition practise for the preschooler. There was no temptation to stick her hand in and steal any of the ingredients as she currently has an aversion to a)dried fruit and b)anything we tell her she'll like, which she's never tried before. She wouldn't even try a glace cherry! She proved very helpful with checking we'd included all the ingredients. The list was in a peculiar order (I always like to put the flour and sugar in first) and I was a bit sleep-deprived, so it was essential to check that I'd got everything in. I also had to read the method really carefully, and could easily have missed the instruction to put a disc of marzipan on top of half the cake mixture.
The recipe suggested baking for about 2 1/2 hours, so I baked it for 1 hour, then put a disc of foil on top to stop it browning too much (this didn't really work!) and popped it in for another hour. When I tested it, the skewer came out clean, so I followed my gut and ignored the suggested extra half hour. I was disappointed that it looked dark around the edges, despite my best efforts, but it wasn't burnt, and I knew it'd taste ok.
Time constraints meant the cake had to be finished the next day, and having slept on it, Elizabeth decided she would try some marzipan after all, and then wouldn't stop nibbling the offcuts! I attempted the 'crimping' but it looked rubbish, so I gave up. My layer of marzipan didn't seem as thick as the one in Mary's photo, so I didn't have much to pinch. I also failed to read the instructions about the marzipan balls on top, and accidentally included Judas (the 12th Apostle) when tradition holds that he should be cast out of marzipan land for being a turncoat. The lack of symmetry presented by the number 11 bothers me anyhow. It was all finished by an egg wash and a spell under the grill to brown the top -  a new technique; not grilled a cake before!
First sampled yesterday, on Easter Sunday, by the family. We were all pretty impressed, and there's still half of it left for us to plough through over the next few days.
Baker's verdict: easy to make and really tasty. Loved the addition of the lemon zest. A winning fruit cake recipe!
Husband rating: 8/10 - new convert to fruit cakes, but probably one of the best I've had yet. Really nice with the lemon zest and I like the fact that it didn't have much spicing in it. The thin layer of marzipan on top, which added a nice bit of chewiness, was just right.

Easter Brownies

Not one from Mary's Bible, but worthy of a mention! I found this recipe while trawling through old editions of home decorating magazines for the scrapbook and thought it would be a good one to try with my little helper.
I don't need to say too much about the method as I've included a photo of it all, but there were some necessary tweaks. Firstly, I didn't have a '15cm sq brownie tin'; I had an 18cm one, which was clearly suitable for baking brownies in. In fact, I couldn't really see how all the mixture would fit into a 15cm one!
The next issue was the baking time. I thought 20 minutes seemed remarkably fast, but went with it, even reducing the original 15 to 13 minutes to accommodate my oven. As you can see from the first 'finished' picture, they looked kind of done, so we (my mum helped, as there was a child and a baby to do things with at the same time) took them out and left them to cool. When I asked my mum to lift them out of the tin, she noticed that they seemed rather floppy. A quick skewer test revealed a really runny inside - not by any means 'fudgy', more like molten!
So, we popped them back in, in increments of ten, or five minutes, and kept testing with the skewer until they seemed less raw in the centre. I consulted Mary's brownie recipe, and although the quantity was greater, they were baked for 40-45 minutes! So we used our baker's intuition a bit and watched as they puffed up and got the typical brownie 'crack' and the eggs finally started to ooze a bit. Once the skewer was almost clean, we took them out. I can't say what the exact baking time was, but I'd aim for 35 minutes and then just check them next time.
Baker's verdict: easy and fun to make, apart from the farcical method, and very tasty. Could probably be a bit gooey-er, but were a really nice texture. I'd try the same recipe with different chocolate treats and can see this becoming a bit of a speciality of mine.
Husband rating: 9/10 - lovely, not too sweet, very moreish, nice cocoa flavour. Very good brownies.

90. Banana and Honey Teabread

Once again faced with some over-ripe bananas, but wanting to try a different recipe, I chose this for mine and Elizabeth's next baking collaboration. I later discovered that I had three banana loaves already in the freezer, but one can never have too much cake handy!

Very straightforward recipe and method, but I was surprised to see that nutmeg was an ingredient. Never had nutmeg with banana before, and not a huge fan of the flavour, but was quite intrigued to see how it would work. Quite a lot of honey (the thick pale stuff, not the runny variety) was used: 6 tablespoons in fact, so I expected it to have a really strong honey flavour, especially given the inclusion of honey as a topping. Elizabeth certainly enjoyed tasting the honey, and she's since developed a real passion for honey on toast! She really enjoyed bashing the sugar cubes with a rolling pin to make the topping too - this was definitely a child-friendly recipe.

I kept an eye on it while baking, but still managed to over-do it a little bit - bloomin' oven! I didn't worry though - previous 'browned' banana bread loaves have not been adversely affected by a bit of over-baking.

Baker's verdict: easy to make, substantial and tasty. The nutmeg flavour was a little odd, and the honey wasn't as dominant as expected, but the honey on the top worked really well. I think I'll stick to the other banana bread recipe, but use the honey glaze to make it a bit more special.

Husband rating: 5/10 - compared to the other banana bread loaf, it wasn't as good. The nutmeg flavour was too strong and it didn't really taste of banana and wasn't as moist. The other one is simple, tasty and just better in every way. Baked very well, but the recipe wasn't to my taste.