18. Madeira Cake

It's been ages since I've baked, although I do keep turning out Victoria Sponges as and when the mood takes me! Life has been hectic and consequently tiring lately, and there have been a shortage of occasions to bake for since I last tackled a new recipe. However, I decided to skip the Bath Buns which I'd put on the back-burner for a few weeks, and make a good old-fashioned cake again. I did actually make this cake months ago, when I first bought Mary's book, but that was pre-blog, and I wanted to make it again. It's a very easy cake to make; much like the classic Victoria Sponge, but with the addition of ground almonds and grated lemon rind. It takes longer to bake too - about 1 hour. I deviated from Mary's recipe only to substitute a round baking tin for a loaf tin - my experiences of eating shop-bought Madeira Cake have always involved the loaf shape and it's much easier to slice. The best bit about this cake is the lovely firm crust it develops; the centre of the cake is quite dense, but not claggy.

Baker's verdict: easy to make; tastes really good; great for sharing with colleagues, and would be good used in a trifle. The blueberries went really well with it.

Husband rating: 8/10 - great flavour; loved the crust. Not as moist as some of the sponges, but easy to eat and tasty.

17. Divine Chocolate Birthday Cake

This cake had been on my immediate 'to do' list for ages, and kept being put off by the lack of an appropriate occasion (a familiar tale: did I really think that husband and I would eat so calorifically every week?). Anyway, an occasion presented itself, and was made even more pleasurable by the inclusion of this cake. Despite appearances to the contrary, I was very pleased with how it turned out. This cake is described by Mary as 'dense' and 'fudgy' and contains 6 eggs, most of which were separated and relied upon to work different kinds of chemistry and different stages. (That just means that I whisked and added the whites separately!)

I was a bit worried about scrambling the eggy mixture by pouring the melted chocolate into it, but it didn't appear to create any problems. It was all very satisfying to mix, and pretty straightforward really. I baked it for the required 50 minutes; perhaps I could've braved less and then it wouldn't have cracked - I was just worried about the egg content and wanted to ensure it was cooked through without risking open-oven sinkage. The cracking, and resulting near-disintegration when I released it from the base of the tin was quite alarming, but actually didn't matter a jot once it was iced. The thrill of this cake isn't an aesthetic one; it's all in the eating and the texture. That said, I did fear a large-scale collapse once I'd got to the spreading of the apricot jam and then the icing, but both acted like the required glue to help hold it all together. Of course, once it had set, there was no chance of it falling apart. It was just very difficult to move around, from tin to rack, to cake stand!

Baker's verdict: absolutely divine. I'd be less stressed about the look of the thing next time, because I know it all turns out alright in the end. I'll definitely make it again: this has been my favourite cake to eat so far. We both thought that it was like something you'd buy in a cafe - maybe I should start trading...

Husband rating: 9.5/10. Loved it. Chocolate nice and thick; not the best looking cake but really tasty.

16. Tarte Tatin

Not the most photogenic of bakes, and, as it turns out, not the most successful either, this was my first attempt at this French classic. I've dabbled with pastry from time to time, and was actually really surprised to find that the foundation of this was a shortcrust one. I'd always thought Tarte Tatin was made with puff pastry, and anticipated lots of fiddly rolling and buttering. The pastry, it being short and all, was easy to make; an egg yolk added to make it richer and popped into the fridge for an hour or so until I was ready to make it for Sunday dinner dessert. Lots of apples were needed - about 950g (a standard supermarket-sized bag of 6), and it turned out to be a bit of a problem that the variety I used were really juicy. When it came to draining the juice off the tart once it had baked, the mixture was all juice and no caramel.

It was all very straightforward really, but one thing I've never had experience of, is making caramel. It seemed to take ages to thicken, and being the impatient so-and-so that I am, I cranked the heat up and was then lucky to save it before it got too dark and burnt. I think it was rather more 'over' than 'on' by the time I poured it over the apples, and there were some chewy, toffee-like bits to get our teeth around, which weren't very nice. Another issue I had was with the flipping of the tart onto a plate; I can never do this, be it with a cake or anything else. I'm naturally cack-handed; it doesn't help trying to do plate gymnastics wearing a bloomin' great oven glove either.

Baker's verdict: a bit of a fiddle; the processes were quite awkward in some ways, although the preparation of the ingredients was fairly simple. Tasted pretty good, but I'm not falling over myself to make it again in a hurry. More of a box-ticking exercise really!
Husband rating: 7/10 - didn't like the 'toffee' on top; loved the apples; pastry was nice but not really what was expected of a tarte tatin.

15. Sultana Malt Loaves

Several months ago, I developed a craving for some malt loaf, and was pleasantly surprised to find a really cheap 'value' version in a local supermarket which managed to satisfy my appetite for the chewy, sticky 'lump' that is this particular breed of cake. However, I was looking forward to making some of my own, and curious to see how it would turn out.

My first challenge was finding a jar of malt extract; eventually tracked down in a health food shop. My Dad tells me they used to feed him and his fellow pupils this by the spoonful at school; can't say that appeals after smelling the stuff!

The cake was fairly easy to make; it was handy having some cold tea stewing away in the pot to save fiddling about with that. It made two moderately sized loaves, full of sultanas, and possibly even a bit of scrambled egg: pouring the hot malty, treacley mixture into raw egg wasn't the best idea! It wasn't the easiest mixture to mix well; I thought I had, but there were a few floury bits in the loaves once they'd been baked. Not that it affected the taste/texture though; they were quite pleasant really, and did what it said on the tin.

Baker's verdict: turned out well, but didn't bowl me over. If I'm going to give myself extra butter, I'd rather do it by eating something tastier than these.

Husband rating: 7/10. Nice - especially with some 'vegetable spread' on them.

14. English Muffins

I'd been wondering when to bake these muffins for weeks; they're not really the sort of thing you take into work to share around and the idea of Joe and I wading through a mountain of muffins didn't appeal. Then I remembered the wonderful invention which is the freezer, and thought that it couldn't hurt to deposit half of them therein.

In true baker fashion, I got up early on a Saturday to make these. There I was, bustling about the kitchen in my jim-jams, preparing our daily bread. Grandad would be proud, but would note my poor time-management. As if they would ever be ready for eating at a civilised hour for breakfast!

They were very easy to make - I didn't even break a sweat about the 'tepid' milk, just put the jug in the microwave for 30 seconds and decided that would do. Maybe I was wrong, and bad things happened to the dough as a result, but it didn't cause me any anxiety. What did, was the temperature of my 'warm place' for the proving. I'd heated the oven a bit, then switched it off, but worried about the clingfilm melting into the muffins. It didn't.

After an hour, they'd puffed up nicely. First hurdle over. The next process was more worrying: cooking them on a griddle rather than in the oven. Here, I have to have a grumble about the Baking Bible. It doesn't decree with enough precision. 'Heating' the oil and then 'turning down the heat' are not helpful suggestions for the beginner baker. Thus, I found myself in trial and error territory, which isn't a bad thing, but without reassuring 'don't worry if it's a bit doughy' or pictures, I don't really know whether I've done something wrong or that's how it's supposed to be. One thing I will say is that they looked bloody good. They puffed up even more, and I liked the griddle effect. The big worry was the doughy middles. Were they cooked enough?

We experimented a bit and put some in the toaster, to try and crisp up the soggy middle: still decidedly doughy. The only point of comparison either of us had were the Big M muffins, which we know as quite light and fluffy (but maybe that's what chemicals do to your muffins). They were certainly less stodgy when they'd cooled a bit; actually I quite liked them this way. I like a bit of chew to my bread. They were quite bland tasting, but satisfying when smothered in butter.
After having one with a fried egg in for breakfast, we saved a few for eating with soup for lunch. It was very satisfying to have homemade soup and bread and they really came into their own when dunked into a bowl of hot soup.
I had one for breakfast the following day, with apricot jam on, and as a sort of scone with cheese later: both yummy. The remaining six have been frozen, ready for breakfast next weekend. We'll see how well they cope with this.
Baker's verdict: fun to make; doughy inside and not sure if they were meant to be. What did I do wrong?
Husband rating: 4.5 - didn't really like them. Too doughy and lacking in seasoning.

13. Very Best Shortbread

This is the last batch of biscuits I intend to bake for a while; at least until I reach the end of my first 'section'. I now have a few more cakes, some pies and bread, meringues and a cheesecake to go. I think I could quite happily stick to biscuits, which have seemed the most practical bake so far, being good for storing and sharing. Anyway, shortbread is always a winner, so I was looking forward to having a go at this. I've made it before, but only to form the base of Millionaire's Shortbread, so this would test my mettle in the good quality biscuit arena.

My first challenge was locating the semolina in the supermarket. What a mission! I was eventually led to the packet desserts aisle - does anybody have semolina as a dessert anymore? I suppose they must do, for there it was. I was almost tempted to stock up in case it goes out of fashion forever.

Making the shortbread was a bit fiddly, and the dough took a fair bit of manipulating to get it to hold together without cracking. I wasn't very happy with how it went into the tin; it didn't have a lot of 'give' and was hard to work with.
I hoped the rough and ready appearance would diminish upon baking and cutting into fingers, and it did. After chilling, the almonds and sugar were scattered over it, and it was baked for about 35 minutes. It came out quite soft - perhaps it needed a bit longer, but I didn't want to brown it. I was a bit disappointed by the amount of almonds that fell off when I cut it; I'd expected the sugar to sort of glue them in place. Next time, I'd miss both ingredients out. The sugar made it too sweet, and I didn't really like the texture of the crystals against the soft, buttery biscuit. The almonds added another flavour, but actually I quite like shortbread just as it is.
Baker's verdict: pretty easy to make and very tasty. No need for the stuff on top.
Husband rating: 7.5. Tasty, but didn't need the sugar on top.

12. Chocolate Fork Biscuits

Not much to say about these biscuits really. They're not actually on my list because they're just a variation on the ones I've already made. They were made spontaneously; I decided at the last minute that it would be nice to take some biscuits to a family get together to tide us over before going out for a meal. I had the ingredients to make these and knew they were really easy as well. It's really satisfying being able to knock something out quickly, and even more satisfying baking something which makes the kitchen smell delightfully chocolatey when the husband didn't even realise I was planning to bake! It wasn't easy to tell when they were done, because 'browning' isn't really visible when cocoa's involved, but they came out a lovely crumbly texture, so I think I got it right. An in-between 18 minutes sufficed.

Baker's verdict: nice to feel I've mastered something - I'll soon be making these little beauties blindfolded!

Husband rating: 8.25 - nice and chocolately, melt-in-the-mouth and moreish.