To think this kind of baking, isn't really baking?

[user8558]

I'm a member of a baking group on FB. Where people take photos of what they've baked that day. That's all. It's nice.

But over half of these creations are based on some other kind of baked good/biscuit/chocolate/confectionery.

Mars bar and Malteser slice, Biscoff and Rolo cheesecake, chocolate orange and Toblerone brownies.

Maybe I'm just hangry.

But it's a bit annoying. Why is everyones baking using branded goods that already exist?!

Tbf I don't think theres anything wrong with baking using branded confectionery (anything with toblerone in definitely gets my vote)...but is this more the thing you have in mind...

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/marjolaine_71611/amp

(Not gonna lie it's a not-so-stealth-boast...bloody thing took me hours but it was gorgeous)

I find it odd when people bake cakes then decorate them with bought things like an oreo cookie or a custard cream.

What heresy! Educate yourself #DoBetter

Check out the Protestant traybakes thread.

I love my bundy tin, but trying to find recipes for it drives me made trawling through take a cake mix. When went to a book shop in US every cake book i looked at was take a cake mix and a pudding mic no scratch cooking. They even film themselves on YouTube using cake mix as if they are making a proper cake

@fink what on earth is Speculoos??

Great british bake off it is not.

I sort of see where OP is coming from and it’s annoying if those sort of ‘bakes’ have taken over the group.

Also as an aside I have never had one of those kind of creations that wasn’t totally over sickly and over sweet, but someone feel free to correct me!

Well it doesn’t sound like traditional baking but I think it is baking nevertheless. As a WI member I somehow would imagine a baking group to be doing lemon drizzle, fruitcake, sponges, apple cake, chocolate cake, gluten free cakes, scones, muffins, tarts, pies, traditional baked goods from around the world etc rather than what sounds to be mainly confectionery based bakes. But then again there are no rules here and people should feel free to do whatever they like as long as it doesn’t involve poison.

As long as they taste good and you share them with me you can call it whatever you want.

I don’t think it’s real baking either — nothing to do with brand names, but it’s largely reliant on big corporations’ tried and tested flavour and texture combinations and recipes. It’s like a record that consists solely of samples of two big crowd-pleasing hits stuck together.

YANBU. I don't bake often, but if I do, I expect to do it from 'raw' ingredients, not chuck in a load of pre-made sugar stuff.

Yes i agree. Using brand names is particularly irritating.

I agree OP. As soon as something has a chocolate bar shoved on top, it really turns me off. For example, brownie is a wonderful and calorific thing in itself...why does it need an entire Oreo/mars/jammy dodger stuck on top? It's excessive and unnecessary.

I've never seen the excitement over pouring Skittles over a cake #thats already covered in sugary icing.

I agree OP I love sweet stuff so much but those thing seem weird and over indulgent and a bit like knock offs for some reason. Like I'd rather just eat a pack of maltesers :/

It's kind of like those "Recipes" on Pinterest for a Triple Chocolate Fudge Snickerdoodle Brownies that are like, "1. Get box of premade brownie mix - 2. Add Snickers".

Pointless and never as nice as it sounds!

@Smidge001 Speculoos is what the OP called Biscoff. AKA cookie butter (in spread form) and other variant spellings on speculoos/speculaas.

incrediblysadtoo Oi, I spend hours making biscuits and it takes time, skill and a hot oven plus cooling racks. I can very much guarantee that it isn’t close to baking as much as it is actual bona fide baking

My favourite chef (Nigel Slater) said that no one needs to make their own pastry nowadays and I tend to agree with Puff Pastry. However, using packet cake mixes or even worse ready purchased cakes cut up and sandwiched together with Betty Crocker ready icing is NOT baking.

I often go to what looks like a fab recipe on Pinterest only to find it’s basically a Betty C mix with a bit of a twist, such as adding orange juice.

Have you seen the list of ingredients in these things? I like to know that my cakes are just eggs, flour, sugar, butter.

Mind you, this did take me two days! And I haven’t been able to think about making another one with such detail since, and this was three years ago!

I thought you were going to say packet mixes. They irritate me as simple baking is quite straightforward. A basic sponge cake is just butter/marg, flour, sugar and eggs. A packet mix saves what a minute of weighing?
Admittedly different if you don’t have scales but most people do.

Fink isnt it the name of just the biscuit not the spread?

YANBU. I wanted to make toffee apples and when looking on Youtube for a quick recipe, I saw that ALL of the American ones were just melting caramel creams and calling it toffee!

Wtf??

AND they say "Carmel" instead of "CarAmel"

fuckers.

Oh and then there's the way they pronounce vanilla...vanElla.

WHY!?

Does that matter then? 🤷‍♀️

@FortunesFave

YANBU. I wanted to make toffee apples and when looking on Youtube for a quick recipe, I saw that ALL of the American ones were just melting caramel creams and calling it toffee!

Wtf??

AND they say "Carmel" instead of "CarAmel"

fuckers.

Oh and then there's the way they pronounce vanilla...vanElla.

WHY!?

The way Americans say Caramel is DCs pet hate. And weve been watching a lot of Hells Kitchen US and Just Add Magic so weve been hearing it a lot!

@kateandme

Fink isnt it the name of just the biscuit not the spread?

Yes, Biscoff is a brand of Speculoos biscuit I think? Speculoos themselves are the little, flat spiced biscuits they serve with coffee in Belgium. They taste a bit like ginger nuts. I guess they might make a good cheesecake base.

Eg a dessert involving baking slices of ready made pastry and layering with cream and fruit. If they made the pastry themselves, ok. But its jus-rol!

People must be on drugs if they think I'm wasting my time making pastry when I can buy it already done!

Rolo and Biscoff Cheesecake sounds just divine!!!! Where can I get the recipe for that???