Are you an avid baker?

[Babs709]

I like to bake, can whip up a good cake and generally follow recipes very well. My disaster to success ratio is acceptable if not encouraging.

But I don’t have many signature bakes or go-to no-fail recipes. I don’t think I’ve nailed brownies or cookies yet, albeit I can make satisfactory ones.

Please could you share your baking recipes with me? Bonus points for photos (who doesn’t like looking at those?!)

Thanks!

Victoria sponge
Welsh cakes
Bara brith
School tray bake
Jam and coconut sponge
Lemon drizzle cake

Those are my go-to bakes. Simple yet effective and lovely with a cup of tea. I make one of the above every 4-5 days

@Gilead those scones sound perfect for when you want to be a bit fancy, definitely keeping those in my brain

This cake is most requested by an bc absolute mile in our house. Every time I make it (without the biscuit decorations if I'm feeling lazy) it disappears extremely quickly!

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/gingerbread-cake-caramel-biscuit-icing

I don't do loads of baking, but seem to be pretty proficient.

My brownies go to recipe is Nigella's from Domestic Goddess. I halve the recipe, and have never had a bad batch. My crappy fine motor skills 12 YO son made them the other day largely unsupervised (I wasn't around, DH who can't cook kept an eye on him), and they were perfect.

I also make a mean banana bread (again, Nigella), which is legendary in my office.

I get nervous about making 'proper' cakes though, as I'm a bit slapdash, terrible at decorating, could never attempt anything slightly creative. But following a recipe, no problem.

Love Mary Berry's banana bread. I've got one in the freezer at the moment. We're seeing PIL next weekend so I'll save it for then.
The other cakes that I bake are Victoria Sandwich Cake, Coffee and Walnut Cake, Lemon Drizzle Cake and Moist Chocolate Cake. In winter I like to make Steamed Jam Sponge Pudding.

I added more chocolate topping (100g more than recipe) to the millionaire's shortbread I mentioned earlier. Ds proclaimed them better than shop bought so I'm thrilled. He nearly always prefers shop bought

Adding more chocolate = success
Makes sense to me!

Thanks Lisette, I’m just doing an Asda order now so will add the ingredients so I can make this week. DH loves a millionaire shortbread! (And I like anything with a shit tonne of sugar in it.)

It's super easy. You need to keep stirring the condensed milk/butter/golden syrup mixture so that it doesn't 'catch' and it will be hot so be careful with it. I made the caramel first and let it cool while Ds made the shortbread. It's the first time we made it.

And I just melted the chocolate in the microwave instead of using the bowl over water method.

Thank you Greebois, they sound delicious 😋, love the suggestion of using them for Eggs Benedict.

Obsessed by Viennese whirls at the moment. Very easy and everyone loves them.
Jane's Patisserie chocolate traybake is a fudgy slice of heaven.

Need to work a bit on decoration 🙂

The only thing I can make is sponge cake / cupcakes which I'm awful at decorating.

Cake mix:
Weigh 3 eggs and match all other ingredients to that weight. Bingo!

I'd love to make chocolate chip shortbread with ds and maybe some flap Jack. I need some new bakeware really as I've only got a round cake tin and some cupcake trays

I do have a fancy mixer that looks very pretty on the bench!

I absolutely need to work on decoration - this is DS's birthday cake from last week:

And I've just got rather off my low-carb track by helping the family demolish one of the loaves I made yesterday for breakfast.

Lovely birthday cake greebol. You do know if you've baked something yourself then it's perfectly acceptable to eat it for breakfast? Doesn't hold for shop bought cakes 😉

@Hardbackwriter

My signature/biggest hit is I make Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's cocoa brownies (www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jun/04/brownie-recipes-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall) and then scatter frozen raspberries over the top before cooking them - this always gets masses of compliments

HFW's cocoa brownies are also my signature bake.

I make them gluten free by replacing the flour with ground almonds. It's only 50g and doesn't change the recipe in any discernable way.

I have been doing more yeast baking over the last few months. Cinnamon buns looked good but could be improved, Chelsea buns were excellent, if I say so myself!

@BeeFarseer and @Hardbackwriter I make HFW brownies too, will definitely try adding frozen raspberries!

The only thing I've found they don't work with is chocolate orange. I chopped a bar of Terry's chocolate orange and put it in my last batch and something about it made them taste too salty. Still good, just not as amazingly good.

Jane's Patisserie chocolate traybake is a fudgy slice of heaven you’ve sold that one!

Greenbo I thought that was a showcase of your amazing decorating skills and couldn’t with out how to politely reply! To be honest though I do love a “clearly homemade” cake. I hate that my friends would love to make their kids cakes but won’t through fear of it being crap. Fear shouldn’t stop anyone, it doesn’t have to be Instagram worthy!

Bloodybridget I love cinnamon buns, are they hard?

MuseumOfYou sorry this is getting technical but what nozzle did you use for your swirls? I have some serious nozzle confusion, never know what pattern they’re going to give me!!

@Babs709, not really hard, but I used Nigella's recipe which was a bit weird. Next time I will follow advice from half-Swedish family member!

Gingerbread Jurassic Park today.

Made a baked chocolate cheesecake last night. My first ever cheesecake. Came out really well but not my favourite cake - it was a birthday request. It was touch and go getting it out of the tin (didn't have a springform pan).

The River Cottage Family Cookbook’s flapjack are foolproof, take on every day out pieces of deliciousness!