Help - baking without scales!

[Yorky]

Moved house recently(ish) - but anyway, haven't unpacked kitchen scales yet

DD is 3 on Saturday so idiot features here asked at nursery if there were any dietary rules I needed to follow if I wanted to make fairy cakes for DD to take to nursery on Friday morning to share with her friends at snack time. Was admittedly when they said it was fine.

NOW, with approximately 12hrs to go before I leave the house to take her to nursery I have no scales. Please does some kind MNer have a recipe with quantities in cups instead of g/oz, Please!

Would you make biscuits instead? We use the 321 recipe for biscuits. 1 measure sugar, 2 measures butter and 3 measures flour. We use yogurt pots but any cup will do.

Can't you just do chocolate cornflake/rice crispie things instead?

This is how i would do it.
Measure the butter geometrically (i.e. butter whole weighs 250g, so if recipe says you need 125g then that's half a piece).
for sugar, 1 rounded tablespoon is the same as an ounce
For flour, 1 heaped tablespoon is the same as an ounce.

Dairy diary says
Level tablespoon gives 1oz
Flour - 3
Sugar- 2
No measure for butter but grated cheese -5 !!

Oh and 28g is one oz
So measure butter off the packet!

If you already have a recipe:

100 ml flour weighs 60g
100 ml sugar weighs 90g.

Otherwise here is mine:

150g butter (cut by eye from 250g block)
150ml caster sugar
2 medium eggs
300ml self-raising flour

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix in the flour.

Makes 12 cakes. Bake at 200 degrees C for 15 mins.

You can flavour the cakes with vanilla or lemon if you like.

Here is a recipe from a my Mum's South African cook book - she always made them for us from this recipe and we never complained! Cake flour is plain flour.

3 cups cake flour sifted
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Cream sugar and butter together until light. Add eggs and vanilla to creamed mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Continue beating one minute. Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on rack; remove and cool completely before decorating.

banana loaf or muffins, needs no scales, just a cup measure:

mash 3 or 4 bananas

stir in 1/3 cup melted butter, then 1 cup sugar, 1 beaten egg, 1 tsp vanilla. fold in 1.5 cups plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt.

bake in loaf tin - 1 hour 350 F, or same temp 20 mins as muffins

You are fantastic!!

Thank you (from all the nursery staff who are really looking forward to extra sugar on children-in-need-so-start-off-over-excited day

I think that is the fastest I have ever had a response - 4 recipes in half an hour, amazing!

Buy some cakes from a shop...