What is the point of baking?

[waitingforautumn]

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?

@sirfredfredgeorge

Half a cake last a family (at least 2 people, probably more given the "we all" rather than "we"?) more than 4 days, is this another competitive under eating thread?

Definitely not!! Trust me, I judge those threads. It's just not a very nice cake is my point, and I'm disheartened by the effort that went into it. And now the fact I can't go and buy a cake from M&S because this one is sitting here looking at us.

I agree with you unless it's a bday cake.

There are six of us so a big cake is only two slices each - lasts no time! My two eldest love baking too so it’s not always me forcing cake on people :)

This week I've made fruit scones, profiteroles, coffee and walnut cake and coconut slice.
My dh loves lots of cake.
I'm not fussed, I like scones and coffee cake.

It doesn't have to go dry op. Put it in the freezer until you fancy it. When its thawed again it will be really soft.

My favourite thing to make is millionaire shortbread, its faffy and quite expensive but it's so good. I've never had a shop bought or cafe one that tastes as nice (only blowing my own trumpet for that, I've made all manner of disastrous cakes as well!) They freeze well but I discovered you can eat them from frozen

A home made sponge (made by someone else , not me - for some reason I cant make a nice vanilla or plain sponge but chocolate is ok) is nearly always nicer than shop bought IMO.

There is a bakery near us that does very expensive gorgeous brownies, blondies, and custard doughnuts. They are epic but we dont have them very often. I'm not a fan of supermarket cake though.

@Meredithgrey1

I bake because I enjoy it and I do think it’s tastes nicer than shop bought. But also we have a couple of allergies in our house, most seriously DH’s couple of anaphylactic allergies, so home baking is easier as he more often than not cannot eat store bought due to the “may contain” listings on them.

Totally respect this. I'm sure that you have become very good at baking over the years!

@CrystalE

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.

OP is suggesting buying shop bought - thats likely to result in a lot more waste and lot more unhealthy food overall. Sugar butter flour eggs - nothing bad there as long as in moderation! And yes what's wrong with needlework? I don't darn socks I'll admit but I do sew occasionally as it makes a lot of sense. What not? I'm not a 1950s housewife. Indeed DH cooks 90percent of the time. I bake though because I like it, it's easy and quick actually in most cases and quite relaxing. Love some home made scones or muffins. Upside down pineapple cake is dead easy and the best way to ensure the full pineapple gets eaten/used. I never make cakes with icing as nobody in my house likes icing. I also tend to put a lot less sugar than the recipes, against preference and healthy of course.

I'm the world's worst baker and even I prefer my own homemade cakes to shop bought. Supermarket cakes taste like aspartame and capitalism

I made a BBC recipe for chocolate cake a few days ago and it was weird but amazing! It was called easiest chocolate cake or something and involved vegetable oil and boiling water but no butter. The mixture was like water but so moist and delicious, like a cross between a cake and a brownie.

I always preferred proper cooking to baking, because I've never really followed recipes and like to be inventive, whereas in my head baking involves really precise measurements and so on. One day it occurred to me that I didn't have to follow baking recipes and could make my own things up, and that I didn't need to weigh our flour etc as long as I had a general idea of the amounts and consistency I required. I enjoy it much more now I have removed the preciseness element. Have had a couple of mishaps but mostly things turn out well. I enjoy the process of baking more than the eating, but home baked things usually taste better than shop versions.

@TheLovleyChebbyMcGee

But if supermarket cake tastes better than your homemade cake,maybe you need new recipes?!

Without blowing my own horn, I'm a very good baker (shame about my decorating skills though eh?!) I love baking and could happily much on my baked goods every day. However, thats not healthy so I can't

The only cake I am CRAZY about is my special vanilla/almond sponge, which is amazing, the best cake crumb I have ever come across if I may so so . I only really whip it out for a special occasion, because it has such a gorgeous celebratory feel to it... It wouldn't be so spesh if I did it every other week. Quite proud as it is one I 'invented'.

Sometimes I wish I could taste a cake before committing to the recipe - no matter how glowing the reviews are...! Agreed that it can be very easy to find a bad recipe that disheartens you totally.

I feel the same (haven’t read the full thread - as baking doesn’t interest me - just responding to your OP!)

I understand some people find it therapeutic but I just find it stressful as I’m crap at it, and cooking in general.

Can you give an example of a cake that turned out to be nasty OP? I've never had a really bad cake. Or even a bad cake. Occasionally more cooked than I wanted (for a chocolate brownie) or a little under (for a banana cake/bread). Or a bit too much sugar. So I take note for next time. But if I like the ingredients and taste as I go along to check quantities, not much can actually go that much wrong.

DH likes to make bread and that really doesn't compare to shop bought!

@senua

I'm a very good baker (shame about my decorating skills though eh?!) Cake decoration is one of my bugbears. Cake is made to be eaten, not looked at. Who cares about decoration? And who needs a cupcake that is more icing than cake.

Hahaha, I much prefer giant, rustic looking cakes bulging with cream / messy frosting! Far more inviting

Our local farm shop does the job ...amazing sponges and the best chocolate brownies I have ever had !! Expensive in comparison but worth it !

@Roussette

Shop bought cakes are horrible! Texture ghastly, so so sweet, just awful. I have never found any shop bought Victoria sandwich that is a patch on mine! (It is the only cake I do really well)

My only other option is to buy a cake at the Farm shop. They are homemade, just not in my home.
BUT... a coffee and walnut sponge is £6.50 and a victoria sandwich which is OK but not as nice as mine is £5.50.

Ridiculous prices.

I really want to try your V sponge! It's one of the cakes I'm very unfussy about, love it in just about any form. Tbh I don't think that cake would last an hour in our house - you can't go wrong.

Currently wondering why I bother branching out with recipes instead of just baking myself a nice Victoria sponge every now and then!!

@Ihopeyourcakeisshit

I think shop bought cakes are often have too much sugar, so all you can taste is sweetness. I often reduce the sugar in mine so that you can actually taste stuff. Chocolate, lemon drizzle etc.

Yeah I do understand this. I feel like you've just got to go with the ones you know are semi-decent. So interesting reading all your responses - thanks to everyone who has taken the time to leave one!

@CarnationCat

I've never really enjoyed it but I think that's because I don't have a sweet tooth. I could very happily never eat cake again. I think for people with a sweet tooth, the whole baking process would be more enjoyable because I love cooking dinners (love the carbs )

Such a massive disappointment when you spend £££ on all the ingredients (often as much as a bought cake) and loads of time baking, preparing, washing up and it all goes wrong or isn't very nice.

Yep, baking is not for me either. I will stick to cooking pasta.

amen!!!!

@Laufeythejust

I love baking, I find it so relaxing and there’s a delicious cake at the end of it. I prefer homemade cake to shop bought too, you know it’s good quality ingredients and none of the fake stuff in it. Shop bought birthday cake I find overly sweet. My problem is there’s always too much, DP is certain I’m trying to fatten him... yet always sulks when I take them into work!

Yes the quantity home baking produces... yes it is economical technically... but I want to gorge on something new after a couple of days!

Lots of people suggesting my issue is what I've baked. Maybe I should stop trying new things and bake the one or two things I really care for.

@MessAllOver

It's not always a straight comparison...

Homemade scones that come out hot and fresh are the food of the gods (especially with jam and clotted cream). Your shop- bought scones just can't compare. Same with pancakes, although I suppose that's not really baking.

However... I think its weird to make toasties with anything other than shop-bought sliced bread. Certainly wouldn't use homemade bread for my cheese and ham toastie, it wouldn't fit in the machine.

Choc chip cookies are nicer when homemade... hot and soft and gooey.

But there is definitely a place for the artificial crap like penguin bars and Oreos in my life . Never understood how anyone cba to make home-made jaffa cakes.

Love this haha. Agree 100%.

In my case, so I can say 'Woo! Look what I made!'

And so my husband can re-live his childhood by scraping out the mixing bowl.

I'm not very good at baking, though, so my efforts are no better than what you'd get in Sainsburys.

YANBU. I love it and do it regularly (only cakes now sadly since being diagnosed as coeliac) and used to do it more often before I had DS and had more free time, but you’re right: it’s great if you have a large family who will eat buns and cake every day after school etc, but otherwise it’s quite large portions/leftovers for a normal sized family.

I used to do it weekly, now it’s more like high days and holidays/birthdays etc; too much cake etc gets offered to the neighbours and friends. A good tip with cake is to make half the recipe, so 12 fairy cakes, not 24, and half a Victoria sandwich recipe for one tin, which you then split and fill with jam when cool. Obviously that method is dependent on your cake tins!

I still like to do it as a hobby, and like the idea that I’m someone who has a house where there’s always cake in the tin, but the reality is with a toddler to look after and no visitors to feed there’s just not the time or need most days.

@therocinante

I prefer my own bread, brownies and shortbread so I bake those at home. I can't bake good cake so I don't bother!

For special occasions I do a banging treacle tart and I like making croissants because making the pastry is so fiddly that the end result feels very satisfying.

I do come from a family of professional bakers though, so a) I've had practice and b) shop bought was basically banned 😂

I feel like because of your family, deep down you know those croissants are achievable = why you enjoy the challenge.

Me? I am never touching croissant dough LOL. I've had too many bad experiences with failed pizzas / breads to know that dough is not my friend. Disheartened is the word.

I know what you mean OP. Baking is expensive and a lots of effort, I used to bake a lot and go to a huge effort to produce really nice stuff for school bakes sales. I gave up when I saw them selling for a pittance! I also used to always make my own pastry, puff included, but have decided life’s too short. Decent shop bought works just as well.

I make a big effort for birthdays and Christmas/Easter, but I don’t bake every weekend anymore. If someone really wants cake then there are loads of really nice bakeries to go to.

Nothing I make is as good as my local patisserie

Very happily go there every other day

@anniemouse

The very best thing about home baking is that you can't beat eating warm cakes that have just come out of the oven. Like you OP, I do rapidly lose interest when I've eaten one slice (or two). I get more enjoyment from trying out new recipes and decorating them and then giving them away than actually eating it.

Pre Covid I would take leftover baked stuff to the office. It would be eaten within half a day. Now I will tend to donate cakes to a couple of friends who work for the local hospitals and they take them in. Failing that - freezing is a great way to store leftover bakes.

Personally, I don't find shop-bought cakes taste as good - and you will never get that warm-straight-out-of the oven taste either. However, baking is time-consuming and this is more of an issue than the cost, It takes time to buy ingredients, weigh them, prepare it, bake it and clear up afterwards. Ingredients wise it is far cheaper to buy it compared to shop bought.

This is such a wholesome response :) thank you for relating. I love your approach, and I'm sure your colleagues miss being in the office! You sound like a great baker.

We do differ in that I hate stuff straight out of the oven!! The texture always feels funny and I can't enjoy the taste cos I've been immersed in the smell of it cooking for so long (also why I hate cooking). I need for it to cool! I know that sounds weird - my brother has the same issue but I know a lot of people who cannot relate at all.