That's it. I just cannot bake.

[SundayGirlB]

Another recipe followed another cake disaster. Out of god knows how many attempted cakes I can remember maybe 2 that were edible. I follow the recipes. What is happening here.

The latest effort is a courgette and lemon cake. The first one was one of the 2 edible cakes and lovely. I was winning at life. This 3rd attempt has been in the fan oven on 160 as per the recipe for 1hour and the knife is still coming out wet. I've done it all the same.

Why why why why. Baking is either high physics or sorcery. I CANNOT DO IT BUT CAN'T STOP TRYING. That is all.

@Lordfrontpaw

How come you’ve got so many courgettes?
I couldn’t get any at the weekend. Wondered if Spanish supplies were drying up.

I agree with @BeansOnToast4T. I also avoid American recipes that give measurements in cups. They can never be as accurate as ingredients that have been weighed.

Yes, the best recipes are very precise with measurements. Although baking is science, with experience your judgement improves and you can tweak a recipe that includes something imprecise (juice of half a lemon, or ‘whisk egg whites to slightly stiff peaks’. Starting with Victoria sponge is good advice. As well as an oven thermometer, you need good accurate scales, a tape measure (for tins, and recipes that say ‘roll out to 1/2 inch thick’ etc, and some cocktail sticks and wooden skewers for testing. Loaf tin liners are also a great invention.

Interesting. I disagree completely with the need for being absolutely exact and following a recipe to the letter. I'm a perfectly competent baker and find "half a lemon" instructions or recipes in cups absolutely fine.

lordfrontpaw

This is nice - I don't make it as large as this usually!

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbcgoodfoodme.com/recipes/courgette-lemon-thyme-cake/%3famp

@SoupDragon but without being rude to the OP, it sounds like she isn’t a perfectly competent baker. She’s also trying recipes, like courgette cake, that contain too many variables. As soon as she has mastered a few simple recipes with exact measurements, she’ll easily be able to master some slightly more complex ones. A lot of baking is ‘instinct’, which imo comes with experience.

but without being rude to the OP, it sounds like she isn’t a perfectly competent baker.

My point was that I'm perfectly competent without precise ingredients. I've never baked with precision (and nor will cooks of yesteryear!)

The issue is more likely to be tricky recipes or an oven that isn't as hot as it says. It won't be a lemon that was slightly larger than that used by the writer.

I think what NiteFlights was trying to say is that once you have mastered the art of baking then you can wing it. The OP hasn't mastered it which is why she posted on here asking for advice. I still maintain that you need to get the ingredients in the correct proportion for the best results for things like basic sponge cakes.

Thanks @Ginfordinner yes, that’s what I was trying to say!

I think you are both right! My Mum never weighed anything - she just had an old table spoon that was used as her measure and everything was done like that. If I ever asked her "how much" the answer was always "til it looks right". And she was an incredible baker, and cook in general.
However, she knew what things were supposed to look like as she had been doing it since she was knewe high to a grasshopper, and I do think some people have more of a natural flair for cookery than others, just like anything else. When I started, I used precise measures. Now I use an old tablespoon. The OP has a better chance of success now if she sticks carefully to a proven recipe.
On the subject of cups, it was ages before I realised that an Americal cup is actually an official measure, not just any old cup. Lots of allergy coookbooks are American and I used to spend ages converting recipes into metric measures. Then I bought a set of plastic measures off EBay and my American recipes all got a lot more succesful

I have no instinct for baking so yep, have to follow the recipe to the letter. I measured out the courgette etc and followed recipe to the letter! I'll try a range of basic cakes before trying something so exotic again. As I'm not a regular or a successful baker I've been reluctant to invest in proper baking equipment, so it's very possible that not only is my oven totally crap my weighing scales are too.

I was trying to recreate the cake I have from my favourite cafe for a lockdown treat.

Thanks for all the tips and recipes! I was so close to throwing the thing in the floor last night in a massive strop and vowing to never bake again....but maybe that was a tad dramatic.

I haven't read all the replies so apologies if this has been said.

After grating the courgette squeeze most of the water out.

Oven themometer ordered.

I don't really like sweet cakes...sounds odd but that's why i opted for a veg lemon mix. But carrot cake can be ok for a novice? And scones? Will try a Victoria sponge too as practice and give it to DH to eat.

I was hoping to make a (healthyish) cake for DS's 1st birthday in May as have some wholemeal flour left from my soda bread attempt (one went ok and one failed) hence all the baking.

Psssst.

Wright's cake mixes are a revelation. The Madeira is our favourite, then the toffee, then the orange cake.

I can bake but my small critics like the cake mixes just as much, so unless I'm doing sone baking as an activity, I use the cake mixes.

Carrot cake is excellent for a novice. I would say it is even easier than a sponge cake.

Make brownies. It’s pretty much impossible to bugger up a brownie recipe.

This blog (sallysbakingaddiction.com/) has lots of easy recipes, that often have step by step photos and/or videos to help you through.

My oven is fairly rubbish so I started off making tray bakes. Even if they dont rise no-one gives much of a damn.

Also what are you putting your cakes I? I've got both metal and silicone cake tins and I find a difference between the 2. Cakes need an extra 5 mins in the silicone.

Nigella chocolate gingerbread is pretty foolproof

www.nigella.com/recipes/chocolate-gingerbread

We’ve done it with gluten free flour too with no problems.

Dd made this recently (leaving out ground almonds) and it was amazing

www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/family/upside-down-berry-cake/

Muffins are good too if you don't like too sweet cakes. Super fast and easy to make, no need for a mixer. Just don't over mix the flour or they'll come out dry.

I find Delia recipes good, so are the ones in Domestic Goddess, in terms of timing I go a lot by sense if smell - I won’t open the oven door until I can smell the cake baking smell in the next room to the kitchen. In terms of wetness, you need to develop a sense of how the texture of the raw mix should be. I usually aim for a dropping consistency (ie if I take a decent spoonful of the mix and hold above the bowl it will drop off the spoon with a light tap), any looser and the end cake is too wet and burns before it dries out.

The best way is just lots of practice, seeing what works and what doesn’t. I’d also leave baking with whole meal flour until you’ve mastered/got more of an instinct for white. Whole meal has a very different level of absorbency which affects the cake texture.

Someone up thread mentioned shortbread - now that's foolproof and very nice!.

Now this is easy peasy - I wouldn't make the icing as it makes the whole thing tooth-achingly sweet. I usually put fresh raspberries on the top. Oh yum.

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/easy_chocolate_cake_31070 (and yes it is supposed to be very very sloppy when you mix the ingredients)

That bbc easy chocolate cake recipe is totally foolproof. It even works with GF flour.

And it’s lovely. I do the ganache on top, which isn’t at all sweet if you use really dark chocolate.

Yum yum yum - I can’t tolerate very sweet so the icing was just too much for me but the cake - oh my goodness I’d lovely and keeps really well for a few days. I used to make it for the office (and a banana and apple cake and meringues and macaroons - I think that was the only reason they kept me around!)

www.bbcgoodfood.com/user/343919/recipe/ginger-cake

This ginger cake recipe is as close to no-fail as I have found and can be in the oven within 15 minutes. I usually make two at a time. It's a very robust recipe and I have switched the caster sugar for a mix of white granulated and medium or dark brown sugar and swapped golden syrup for treacle depending on what I had to hand and it's always turned out well. I would add about 4 to 5 times as much ground ginger as it suggests though.
Warning - the batter is VERY runny before you bake it. It's fine, really!