Please share the baking recipes people BEG you to make

[Koili]

I’m trying my hand at baking for the first time. Have made a few amazing things but quite a lot of meh.

Please can I ask you to share any recipes you know work and are crowd favourites. I would love to be able to take something to a friend’s house which is actually good.

Thanks in advance.

I made the bbc good food’s banana bread quite successfully for anyone who is looking for a good banana bread recipe. It was a little greasy so maybe slightly reduce the butter (I later saw a few people made that suggestion in the comments)

Foolproof lemon drizzle cake. Always a winner in my circle & where I work.

4oz softened butter
6oz self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
6oz caster sugar (I use golden caster sugar)
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons milk

For the lemon drizzle:

Juice of 1 large lemon
4oz caster sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4
2. Grease and line baking tin. I use a 2lb loaf tin, but you could easily use a round sponge tin.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and milk, and beat until well mixed.
4. Add the flour and baking powder. Beat for 2 - 3 minutes, or until well mixed and mixture drops easily from the beaters.
5. Spoon mixture into tin and bake for 30 - 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
6. While cake is baking, mix the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. You may find it helpful to heat the mixture a little on the hob to help this.
7. When cake is cooked, remove from oven and score lines into the top of the cake. Pour sugar and lemon mix over the top. You must do this immediately when the cake is removed from the oven. Do not let it cool.
8. Cool in tin and cut into slices.

Mary Berry's Gingerbread Cake. Drizzle with lemon icing (just lemon juice and icing sugar) and scatter chopped stem or crystallised ginger on top before the icing dries.

Anything Mary Berry.

Her banana loaf and crunchy top lemon cake are devoured in no time at work.

I do have a delicious chocolate cake receipt I will post after. It’s the tastiest chocolate cake ever.

Rhubarb and custard traybake; peach Melba traybake, courgette and lime drizzle cake; Dorset apple cake as a traybake. Just google them they were all online recipes.

I always swop out oil for melted butter in recipes as I think it tastes much nicer, and don’t forget a decent pinch of salt.

Nigella's sticky toffee pudding.

This is my son's favourite cake and has been for many years -
https://www.nigella.com/recipes/chocolate-guinness-cake

Have made it for their birthdays, their friends birthdays too! It's always a winner ☺️

These! Bring them out whilst they are still pretty wobbly in the middle, cool and then fridge overnight. Have faith, they will set. Don't overcook, they will be a hard, dry cake when cold, otherwise. You want about an inch around the border where they are firmish.

Triple Chocolate Brownie Recipe - Jane's Patisserie

Got to say, Jane's recipes have never let me down! And I bake a lot. The Millionaire caramel shortbreads are also fantastic,

Here. It’s 160 degrees for a fan oven, it’s just that the recipes so old it’s from before everyone had fan ovens!
It’s tasty with buttercream if you don’t want fresh cream. It’s been my go to for nearly 30 years.

A good old fashioned Dundee Cake with not a hint of emulsifiers, stabilisers and acidity regulators is always a winner I find.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/ultimate-chocolate-cake - never fails! I don’t often do the ganache though and stick with chocolate buttercream (made with melted chocolate rather than cocoa) for the kids.

Mary berry’s Bakewell tart. If it’s for a special occasion I’ll make the pastry but generally I buy ready rolled shortcrust. Anytime I make it it’s inhaled and very easy to make

https://maryberryrecipes.co.uk/mary-berry-bakewell-tart/

Second this, it's so yummy.

I also love Nigella's chocolate gingerbread, especially for Christmas.

Everybody loves the Nigel Slater double ginger cake I make.

Love this brownie recipe - and have successfully made it gluten-free simply by swapping the flour and people in work still loved it

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chocolate/chocolate-brownie/

Can confirm this is amazing.

Janes Patisserie gingerbread men at this time of year,

and taming twins white chocolate cheesecake (which isn't really baking I guess) but has become our xmas day dessert every year

Avoid Jane’s Patisserie recipes unless your oven is dodgy. The timings and temperatures are always wrong. Mind you, I should know that anyone who thinks chopping up a Mars Bar or opening a bag of mini eggs is “decorating” doesn’t know anything about baking. Her recipes are full of manufactured junk and I think they are written for children. I once questioned the timings and temperatures on her Facebook page and I was blocked! It was a perfectly reasonable question. When people ask questions on her recipes such as “can I freeze this” or “can I use this instead of that” she genuinely hasn’t got a clue. The answers are always vague “I think so” or “probably”.

I only use Mary Berry, Sally McKenney and John Kanell recipes.

Nigellas brownie recipe is an absolute winner, just don’t over bake.

BBC good food guide.
Rock cakes really simple ,I cut the sugar down to 35G from 75 and they're still sweet enough.

I am always begged for this desertislanddishes.co/moelleux-au-chocolat/

I made this last Christmas with a vanilla and cinnamon buttercream, ginger jam and gingerbread pieces and I had to hide a slice so I could have some, it went fast.

Jane's Patisserie Sticky Toffee Cake is brilliant https://www.janespatisserie.com/2020/06/06/sticky-toffee-cake/

I was going to post this too. I made it for a good friends birthday years ago and she still compares any others she's eaten to that one

Nigella's chocolate and peanut butter cake.

Jane's Patisserie peaches and cream cake.

Apple dessert

113g melted butter
150g cup sugar
1 egg
2 apples sliced into chunks
120g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 . Spray a 9 x 9 pan.
Mix, butter, sugar, and egg . Blend well. Stir in apples.
Mix all the dry ingredients together and blend into the apple mix.
Place mixture into your prepared pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until done.