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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

What is the point of baking?

425 replies

waitingforautumn · 26/02/2021 15:40

OK to cover myself - I'm actually not a bad baker (promise! :)) my issue is that baking - while highly therapeutic, is not necessarily cheap, and it leaves you with a commitment to eating the baked good all week!! (doesn't sound like a bad thing does it...). Cakes in particular are quite hard to scale down.

AIBU to just prefer a supermarket / cafe slice of cake etc to spare myself the faff and expense of baking, and the smaller/individual portion sizes?! I know they are rarely as good as the home baked kind but some of them can be very decent. I get FOMO for not baking when a lot of friends and family do it - they make it look so fun and rewarding! Yet when I bake I totally lose interest in the final product after I've had one portion.

I spent a large chunk of last weekend baking a half size chocolate cake (it could still feed 10 tbh!), and by the end I just wish I'd gone to M&S lol. Especially now, 4 days later, when the fam are all bored of it and the remainder of this cake is just sitting there uneaten, getting drier and drier every day... yet we all feel too guilty to throw it away. It wasn't a very nice recipe actually. Not chocolatey enough and was on the dry side to begin with. But thats just part of the risk of trying a new recipe I suppose.

Or am I just missing the point of baking???? Is it supposed to be something people only do when feeding a crowd? How often do you bake and why do you do it? Does it all get eaten?? If you crave something in particular are you more likely to bake it or go out and buy it?

OP posts:

georgarina · 26/02/2021 19:21

I remember loving baking with my mum and sisters as a child - but I can't be bothered to do it now as it's just so much mess to clean up. And then yeah you've got a bunch of baked goods to tempt you lol.

minipie · 26/02/2021 19:28

This is why I make biscuits much more than cakes

They last better (well they do if we don’t eat them first) and are less likely to be disappointing

A really good home made cake however will disappear before it’s a few hours old.

greenlynx · 26/02/2021 19:29

I’m not surprised this thread is filling fast!
Another vote for baking because it’s cheaper, it’s therapeutic and homemade cakes/biscuits/ etc are much nicer than shop bought ones and actually healthier as shop bought contain lots of sugar and additives.
We are small family of 3 so often freeze portions of sponges/ scones/cupcakes. It comes very handy some weeks. I also often do half portion of the recipe.

mimi0708 · 26/02/2021 19:36

I always thought I would never bake in my life. But then because of my DD who has got dairy and soy allergy I started to. To my surprise I actually like it, you can make whatever flavour you like and style it the way you want it, it's very useful for making biscuits and cookies as well, instead of going to the shop with limited choices you can literally do what you want and also usually the ingredients we use are already the ones we have so we have found out that we are saving money. Especially for my DDs bday cake, we make our own, again because of her allergies, and this has saved us so much money. A bday cake with a design is easily 60pounds and more.

Stompergirl · 26/02/2021 19:38

To all of you amazing bakers... do you have a Kenwood chef? DD is getting into it and I don’t know if I should splash out. We have been enjoying it but I’m using a handheld single whisk or just beating with a spoon at the moment. It’s hard work and messy!

Stompergirl · 26/02/2021 19:39

Ps prefer home made usually. But I’ve not got the costs down yet as we have been making a decent store cupboard.

Whatamesssss · 26/02/2021 19:40

@Stompergirl

No I use the handheld whisk and wooden spoon. If you are baking a lot it is probably worth buying one. It doesn't have to be Kenwood you can get the same thing much cheaper.

Petitmum · 26/02/2021 19:45

I have a vintage 1970s kenwood chef, it's a fab machine!!! I would recommend buying one on ebay rather than spending £££on anew one as they are no where near as well made.

Shnuffles · 26/02/2021 19:46

The only reasons to bake are because you enjoy it, it (sometimes) tastes better than shop-bought, and/or it saves you money (depending on the baked good and whether or not it will all be eaten).

If you enjoy it, that's reason enough. It's not that expensive, compared to many hobbies, and most people can find someone who'll happily eat the surplus, if they try.

FudgeSundae · 26/02/2021 19:50

I’m another one who doesn’t like shop bought cakes. I am a huge cake fan and will eat any cakes brought into the office (back when I had an office sob) but I will leave shop bought cakes because they really don’t taste nice.
Also some things like chewy chocolate chip cookies you just can’t get in supermarkets. Because they don’t keep no matter how many preservatives they have.

CrystalE · 26/02/2021 19:50

I hate cakes. We have been subjected to my MIL zoom baking throughout lockdown. It's expensive, results In a load of unhealthy food that goes to waste. I am totally with you OP.

morninglive · 26/02/2021 19:51

Lifes too short to bake

Original poster

waitingforautumn · 26/02/2021 19:55

@Pangur2

You need to get into mug cakes, haha.

This is a very good point!

OP posts:

CrystalE · 26/02/2021 19:57

Plus it's a throwback to 1950. In the same box as darning your socks and needlecraft

Original poster

waitingforautumn · 26/02/2021 19:58

@Thehawki

This is why I like to bake things that you can make really rich like brownies (the ones I make have only ever been replicated in very fancy coffee shops, not the same as Tesco at all!!) or cookies and muffins. Anything easy to half. I’ve found that freezing your cakes make them more moist, I like to cut the whole cake up and freeze half for later and it’s always nicer after freezing. There’s only two of us so I don’t like to make more than I need.

Hello :) very intrigued by your fudgy brownie recipe! I've tried a bunch of recipes before that promised to be rich but I've always been disappointed. Any chance of sharing the one you use pls?

OP posts:

speakout · 26/02/2021 19:59

Plus it's a throwback to 1950. In the same box as darning your socks and needlecraft

I agree.

Who needs cakes?

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 26/02/2021 19:59

I bake lots. I like being in control of what goes into it, some supermarket and cafe things have a terrific proportion of sugar not to mention weird additives that dont belong in cake.

Over the years I've accumulated a few family recipes that I can do in smaller sizes. I have a 5inch round tin, and a 1lb loaf tin that get used a lot.

I bake things exactly how I like them and have good recipes that are very cost effective.

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 26/02/2021 20:00

Also the fact that you then have a whole cake to eat up through the week is considered a positive in my house.

Original poster

waitingforautumn · 26/02/2021 20:00

@Itsokthanks

Because homemade cakes are always much nicer than shop bought. House of 5 people here so it's cheaper than buying them and we have the opposite problem of having to eat it for a week, usually lasts 2-3 days max.

2-3 days max - that is an excellent turnover rate! Are these everyday sorts of bakes? (I'm envisioning loaf cakes and biscuity things that aren't too sickly...) - surely a whole frosted cake wouldn't disappear that fast?!

OP posts:

GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal · 26/02/2021 20:01

@CrystalE

Plus it's a throwback to 1950. In the same box as darning your socks and needlecraft

What's wrong with darning your socks?

Original poster

waitingforautumn · 26/02/2021 20:01

@nokidshere

I bake lots. With teenagers in the house they don't usually last the afternoon let alone a week. However, cake can be frozen, defrosts really quickly and retains its freshness really well. So maybe bake once and freeze into individual portions for later?

Lots of people saying they freeze cakes. I knew this was a thing but didn't realise it was so widely done. It is a very good shout and I'm intrigued about those saying the cakes come out slightly moister if anything.

OP posts:

SoupDragon · 26/02/2021 20:01

@CrystalE

Plus it's a throwback to 1950. In the same box as darning your socks and needlecraft

It really isn't.

whatisforteamum · 26/02/2021 20:01

I can see your point OP and I am a chef.Homemade is often more expensive and at least with shop bought you can buy less.However in lockdown I've baked focaccia,marmite and cheese type hot cross bun,swiss iced buns crumpets you name it I've made it and it gave me a purpose each day. Dh has been loosing weight so I portion some up and froze the rest each time.
You can't beat home made or the smell of baking tbh.

79andnotout · 26/02/2021 20:02

Homemade cakes barely make it 24 hrs in my house and there's only two of us 🐷

Original poster

waitingforautumn · 26/02/2021 20:02

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

Also the fact that you then have a whole cake to eat up through the week is considered a positive in my house.

But sometimes the recipe isn't that good and it's all that effort for little return?!

OP posts:

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