Me again - How do I bake? well anything!!!!

[Ratbagcatbag]

Hi again

I'm still lurking and getting excited for Christmas, I keep looking at your amazing suggestions and realised I actually can't bake, not even fairy cakes
So I want to be an amazing baker by Christmas, so how do I do it?
I have zero cake making ingredients or tins so start gentle and cheap with step by step instructions.

I may not equal your lots lovely planned larders or the poncetastic thread, but hey, I need to start somewhere.

Buy Delia's Christmas. Everything you need to know is in there.

That sounds a great plan Capital, thank you :)

Christmas cake is unbelievably easy, it's a good thing to start with.

Initially you can buy tins, spatulas etc for a couple of pounds in Wilkinsons or similar. Straying into the "proper" cook shops will scare you to death when you see the prices so start cheap and if you find you like it you can slowly upgrade to decent stuff.
Also look out your local whole food/ health food shop. Ours sells loose spices by weight so it's much cheaper to buy a small measure of the things you need rather than bigger jars which you may never use again :)

Pop into poundland Jane Asher baking range in there is a good start.

Delias Christmas cake is the best out there. Definitely raid pound land for bakeware. What other things are you thinking of? Victoria sponge and fairy cakes are simple enough for a beginner, once you've mastered the basics you can become more adventurous

The easiest thing to make is tiffin (no baking required, just melting chocolate, which you can do, very gently, in the microwave). Look up a recipe online. The next easiest things, I would say, are brownies and loaf cakes, like banana, orange and lemon or ginger. These are often of the "mix all the dry with all the wet ingredients" together type recipe, which is dead simple.

I like this orange cake recipe from ruby tandoh. It was delicious!

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jun/14/how-to-bake-with-olive-oil-ruby-tandoh-recipe

Ok. So loaf cakes sound awesome. And fairy cakes. I will raid wilkos at the weekend for loaf tins and fairy cake cases. :)

I'm a (fairly) keen baker , my best find WRT tins etc is the Sainsburys one. They are black , heavy ones.
Quite often have on special offer too.
With lighter ones, make sure you line them adequately.

You need greaseproof paper (or if you want really non stick, silicone paper)
If you do a large cake, take the time to line it , double layer and put some brown paper round the outside, tie with string and place a sheet on top with a hole cut out (10p sized hole)

You can weigh everything out first (like they do on cookery programmes) make sure you have everything.
Have butter , margarine and eggs at room temperature. Don't soften in the microwave , it will melt if your not careful.

Sieve flour and caster sugar to remove lumps.

Have you got a mixer? Makes life easier

I use the all-in-one method for small cakes (like fairy cakes) but the traditional creaming method for bigger cakes.
If you do the fat+sugar then eggs, add a spoonful of flour to stop it curdling.

I use Stork for cakes or unsalted butter for rich cakes.

Good Luck, get cooking

Carrot cake is a doddle too.
It's a dry ingrediants + wet ingredients one.

Most faffy bit is the cloves (I use whole cloves that I grind with a spoonful of the flour then sieve out the bits)
Make sure you add some salt, plenty of cloves, (I use cinnamon too) and let it mature a couple of days.

Same with Brownies, leave 24 hours to mature

If you get a loaf tin, buy some ready made paper cases as well (you can get them in most big supermarkets). Saves faffing around with grease-proof paper!