Please help a sad baking novice!!

[VickyandAlistair]

I am a complete baking virgin. I am almost 30 and I have never made a cake. I don't know how to make a cake. I don't even know when to use a whisk and when to knead.

There! Now that I have got the confessions out of the way, let me get to the point. I have recently become more interested in cooking. I have a 23mo ds who deserves a mummy who can bake him treats and make him nutritious meals. I have enrolled on a cookery course to take care of the nutritious meals, but I would love to have a go at some baking seen a Jamie recipe I want to try

Now.. the problem is, I don't have as much as a mixing bowl to my name. Could one of you lovely baking experts please give me a list of every utensil I will need to become a domestic goddess? I would be so grateful and I have also just received a £50 Debenhams voucher and think I could put it to some use in the baking department!!

Thanks so much :)

I think the minimum, in order to both function and get the job done quickly, would be :

Spatula (a good one, at least x 1)
Wooden spoon
8" cake tin (round or square)
Muffin tin
Muffin paper cases
Hand held mixer (I'm a bit of a cake goddess and I get by just fine with the £8 cheapo tesco one)
Mixing bowl x 3 (there's always a recipe somewhere that needs things whisked into other things)
Measuring jug
Measuring spoons
Electronic scale (again available cheap and cheery, that way you can lob on your mixing bowl and zero the scale then chuck in the next ingredient.

A cooling rack helps,but is by no means essential.

HTH, That's the absolute minimum I would need to acheive some form of goddesshood - the rest you can do with glittery icing, sprinkles and whipped double cream

Ok, don't start very ambitious. Start with some easy things. Start with things you really want to cook / eat / actually like. Maybe choose a few out of this list:

Muffins
Fairy cakes
Banana loaf
Flapjack (I have a foolproof recipe)
Victoria sponge
Biscuits (just ones where you mix together stuff then plop spoonfuls on a baking tray)

You will need: a mixing bowl, a spatula, a wooden spoon, some scales. A measuring jug is useful. None of these need to be expensive. I don't even think you need a whisk to start with - you can usually just use a fork.

And then a few extras depending on which out of the list above you fancy trying. A silicon muffin mould is quite useful, but then again, just paper cases are absolutely fine too (which you put in a metal tray with little indents in it).

With bakeware (eg cake tin), I do think it's worth not getting the cheapest kind, as the metal just warps and goes all rubbishy, and then you just need to get another.

You don't need to know when to knead and when to whisk because any decent recipe will talk you through each step. Or ask on here!

I have lots of lovely recipes I use all the time for the things above. So what's the Jamie Oliver cake you fancy trying?

Oooooh, exciting! I may not be the best at advising but am on a tiny budget in a tiny flat so only just have the basics. Here's what I'd suggest:

Mixing bowl
Scales ( my bowl & scales came together
Sieve
Wooden spoon
Hand mixer (mine was about a tenner, either tesco or Argos. I dream of a K-mix.
Tins - I started with a bun tray, baking tray, 2 sandwich tins and a loaf tin
Wire rack (I dont have one)
Bun cases
Baking parchment
Measuring spoons
Cake tester (I just use a skewer)

The above is perfect to start with buns and sandwich cakes. Then I'd add:

Measuring jug
Rolling pin for scones etc
Pastry brush for pastry (obvs)
More tins

What cake are you going to make first?

Thankyou SO much ladies!!

One very happy camper now on her way to Debenhams!
I love Mumsnet :)

This is my standard banana loaf. Omit the raisins and /or walnuts and rum if you like.

And this is my standard flapjack recipe, from a mumsnetter. You can omit the demerera completely, as it's very sweet with it (as posted by the mumsnetter whose recipe it is on other threads).

And this is a really good, easy / quick choc chip biscuits recipe I use.

Get lots of wooden spoons and spatulas. And a good palate knife is handy. Books - Dan Lepard's short and sweet is ace, but Mary berry's baking bible prob more straightforward.

Baking is lovely and addictive...

If you want to lord it over the non-bakers this Nigella recipe is both simple and practically bombproof - transfer the mix to a jug and pour into paper cases in a muffin tin and it makes excellent chocolate muffins, just reduce the cooking time till the very centre of the tops of the cakes look sticky but the rest looks set. Or stick a cocktail stick in the middle and see if it comes out gooey.

www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chocolate-guinness-cake-3086

Jo wheatleys 'a passion for baking' is very good. Nice children's section in it too

Piping bag and nozzles required

Wilkinson's is good for cheap baking equipment - mixing bowls etc. And their 'expensive' range of heavyweight tins are actually very good and much cheaper than many others.