Have people just got a lot better at baking?

[Sunflowering]

Or is it just me?

When I was little (born late 70s) home baking was a popular pastime but generally the things people made weren't that brilliant- homemade bread was always like a brick, homemade cake was generally an overcooked sponge that had gone a bit wrong or rock cakes. Or chocolate cake made by swapping a spoonful of flour for cocoa. All gratefully eaten by me obviously but pretty hit and miss.

Now everyone I know who bakes (including myself) makes things which are pretty much as good as you'd get from a professional baker. Homemade bread is a treat. Cakes are almost always perfect and far more elaborate than anyone would have attempted at home in the 70s-80s.

Just wondered if other people had found this? I can think of various reasons- the popularity of baking shows as inspiration, the internet as a source of knowledge, people maybe spending more on ingredients, more reliable ovens etc. But I wondered whether other people had noticed the phenomenon. Maybe my mum and her friends were just shit cooks, but even my mum has upped her game now.

My mum made rock cakes. We had them still warm from the oven. They're not something to keep in a tin for a week. This looks like a reasonable recipe. As they point out, they're not unlike scones. https://scottishscran.com/rock-cakes-recipe/

I second the pp- please share!

I'm a foreigner and reading so many people remembering rock cakes make me wonder if I should bake them to try them out or is that a recipe to best leave in the past?

Rock cakes are nice enough if fresh, warm and you're REALLY hungry.

Can we have the recipe

Hobnob things. You can't really mess them up! 2007 it was I started making them

Ingredients

8oz sr flour
8oz sugar
8oz porridge oats
8oz margarine
1tbsp golden syrup
1tbsp hot water
1/2 tsp bic soda

Instructions

Mix the flour, oats and sugar
melt marg, syrup and water in a pan
Stir in bic soda
and add to dry mix

Then mix well and make into smallish balls which you then put on a greased tray and flatten slightly with a fork. Put in the oven at 180 degrees C for 15 mins... and cool on the tray. The aim is to get them golden in the oven not brown.

I think this is also what makes houses seem too small. People generally have more stuff.
Back in the day stuff was made in the UK and generally cost more to make. Now everything is made in countries with low cost labour, robots and shipped in humongous ships with a handful of crew.

@tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz I'd be totally lying if I say I haven't put chocolate, cornflakes and bun cases on my shopping list for this week. That's my "baking" for this weekend!

Oooh I love a lemon drizzle. Nigella does a version with polenta and ground almonds instead of flour which is really nice too

Delia on cakes. 1979, I think. I've made most of the ones she demonstrates here, from her recipes. Lovely taste and texture. I can particularly recommend the parkin.

DM never made cakes and I grew up in the 80s/90s thinking that baking was really complicated and technical. I first baked a cake at university.

Good ovens make the biggest difference.
I make fairly simple cakes but use decent ingredients. I don't waste much effort or money on trying to make them look pretty (particularly for cake sales), but when commercially made cakes often taste of palm oil, a fresh cake made with butter will always be a winner. I've had PTA members get enthusiastic over my donations.

Neither of my DCs is keen on icing, and they just want basic home made cakes for their birthdays.

I hate it when you think you're getting a homemade cake, and it turns out it's just a buttercream fest disguising a gunky palm oil and soya flour monstrosity.

I remember Victoria sponges with whipped cream and strawberries; they're pretty decorative.

I think it’s had a huge resurgence because of GBBO and Covid lockdowns, and the internet helps, but many people have always baked, and baked well.

My DM made the odd cake growing up, but it was rare. I bake a lot and enjoy it, and you do get better with practice.

My darling late DGM was born in 1925, and found it hilarious when GBBO was getting really popular; as though our generation had just discovered this new thing- when to her, it was something everyone well, women always used to do.

Better equipment and guidance from online I guess. However I don’t agree the standard is that high, certainly not around here. Most bakes are pretty basic at school bake sales and local fundraisers. There’s usually a couple of stand out bakes that I would pay cafe prices for - everything else just basic cupcakes, flapjacks, cornflake cakes etc. Cheap ingredients often. most are £1 and I only buy them because it’s charity - they are certainly not worth it!

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g
This is my DMs rock cake recipe from her Kenwood Chef recipe book, probably from the 1970s. This is the recipe I use, it's got more butter and 3 times the sugar (!) than your Scottish recipe, so may be more appealing to today's sweet tooth.

I agree you can't go wrong with Delias recipes, delicious and work every time.

bonfirebash

Can you use butter instead of margarine? (I've never bought margarine in my life )

Yep, I did and it worked fine
It's basically one of those recipes you can't really mess up
If you bake them too long they're crispy, if you under bake them you know

I did O level cookery in the 70s, and the difference in the availability (and cost) of ingredients, equipment, and efficient ovens betweem then and now is amazing and I'm sure is a huge contribution to the improvement in baking skills. Plus the Internet, magazines, TV programmes etc, all makes a huge difference to the availability of skills and knowledge.

BUT I think we received a far greater in depth knowledge of the theory and principles of baking and we still made amazing cakes, pastries, bread etc it just took longer. I'm always shocked at the rookie errors on Gbbo, and don't get me started on 'ruff puff' pastry😂

Yes but it’s access to information and better equipment. DH is a really good baker and he uses YouTube a lot for how to do certain things. He’s got all sorts of little tools that make things that look great fairly easy (apparently, can’t bake to save my life). He also says there’s a lot of “distraction techniques” in the style of baking now - for example of your cupcake piping isn’t amazing put something on top and it hides it or when you see a big cake with lots of fancy stuff on top it hides imperfections.

I really want to make a batch if Rock cakes now.
My mum uses the Kenwood recipe posted above, but without the mixed peel.

Yes good old ruff puff😀

It does work well though

Better tools and reliable, accessible equipment.

Cynically I would have to say that a lot of my mums cookbooks appeared to be sponsored by the dairy industry (anyone else remember "The Dairy Book of Cooking"?)

Now books are churned out by chefs.

I may still have dairy book

I think the dairy cookbook (you bought them off the milkman) and the woman's own cookbook feature in a lot of collections!

Twinks hobnobs?
Easy and lush - great combo.