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, 31 January 2012

4. Fairy Cakes

These didn't really present much of a challenge; I've made loads of fairy cakes over the years. I felt a bit frustrated making these, partly for that reason, but also because I'm being so rigid about baking everything in the book, I had to leave these plain. It's only on my second foray into fairy cakes that the wonders of icing will be discovered! That said, it was nice to be able to turn these out so quickly and it's immensely satisfying to produce something lovely with minimal effort.
I decided to make the chocolate version, as they were intended for some of my A Level students and thought they'd be a bit more appealing. I used Stork instead of butter (still got some to use up) and Green & Black's cocoa (had to get some luxury in there somewhere). It's such a basic recipe, but I took Mary's advice and mixed it for several minutes. A lovely, light mixture was dolloped into the cases as a result. Because the tray was (weirdly) too small for the cases, the buns baked in a slightly wonky fashion, and I again had the 'are they ready?' dilemma. 15-20 minutes was needed, and I gave them 20 in the end, as they looked a bit too squishy at 15.
Baker's verdict: satisfying to make because they were so easy; taste and texture very good.
Husband rating: 8 - really good taste, lovely to eat, but small and a bit plain.
Students' opinion: nice, but needed some icing.
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