Those who bake, what's your motivation for doing it?

[JoshandJamie]

Am having a bit of a philosophical debate with a friend about why mums bake. So can you tell me why you do home baking?

Here are some suggestions but want to know which is your main reason - or perhaps it's something else altogether:

• it's a fun thing to do with the kids
• it tastes better than store bought stuff
• you know what's in it
• because of the memories it conjures up - like when you were a kid and got to lick the spoon
• because it makes you feel just a bit like a domestic goddess
• because your mum taught you how to bake and now you want to pass that onto your kids

Other reasons??

I think I am less likely to eat loads of it because I know full well that a whole pack of butter went into it. IMO one of the most evil things about the food industry is the way they take out a bit less of one unhealthy thing out of a product and then try to claim that it's 'healthy'.

I feel being able to prepare meals from scratch is an essential life skill.

I like knowing that I can make bread, ice cream, pasta etc. etc. from the raw ingredients.

I want my children to have these skills and enoy and appreciate food and good quality ingredients.

I love eating cakes and showing my family I love them by feeding them well.

I also love the chemistry of it all watching how ingredients react with each other and become something new (and tasty!).

because i like the mixture raw!

More or less what everyone else has said, especially meridian.

My girls can both bake from scratch (without recipe books) as well and I feel they have a skill which many of their peers don't possess.

I love the look on the faces of the children and DP when they walk through the door and do impressions of the 'Bisto Kid'

I can't buy the sorts of cakes I want - uniced, healthy cakes with veg in them - I do a mean lemon courgette cake, banana bread, pumpkin and orange loaf, and carrot cake.

I don't reduce sugar much, but I do stick to brown sugar and brown flour.

I bake alot

Partly cos I make wedding cakes on the side for extra cash and partly cos i like to feel like a good mum.

I love the smell, i like to see my kids faces really enjoying my efforts, and dhs come to think of it.

I like to know whats in it, I find baking really cathartic.

I enjoy it and yes it reminds me so much of my childhood as my mum baked and still does all the time.

Greed.

Because I do not buy shop cakes/biscuits etc. So if I want to eat them I have to make them.

I much prefer the taste of homemade.

Also DS loves baking so it gives us a fun activity to do together (in fact I've promised we'll make some muffins or cookies today so hes currently hassling me to do them NOW!)

The dds love to help.
It's likely to have better ingredients than shop versions.
I like licking the bowl.
Sometimes it's quicker or easier than going to the shops with 3 children in tow.

All of those reasons. But the 'knowing what's in it' reason isn't enough to stop me buying shop-made stuff from time to time.

For all the reasons everyone else has mentioned but also because I demonstrate my love for my family by cooking/baking delicious, healthy food for them. I felt loved by my mum when we did this when I was a child and I want my dd to feel the same.

Cos I am a pig, and homemade cakes taste better than shop bought!

For all the reasons above but also I'd rather know what was in cakes etc - I'd rather know that there is a packet of butter and half a sack of sugar in my cake and eat it accordingly, than buy a cake with mystery ingredients.

Also love the smell in the kitchen

I like being able to offer home made things to family and friends as this can sometimes be a rarity for them.

Can decorate cakes and vary ingredients for ever. Must be an outlet for my frustrated artist!

I bake because it has to be better than the shop bought stuff.

I can do a variety of things.

I love doing it as I do it well and I can't say that about a lot of my parenting.

I have just made some apple and blueberry muffins. In the oven now. Kids will love them.

NAB - could you please let me have the recipe for the muffins. Thanks.

I think its all to do with hormones. A nest building thing. I haven't been anything like as interested in baking since I had the menopause! Sad really. (I still love cake. I buy it from the WI market or from fetes and suchlike now).

I used a basic muffin recipe

9oz plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (I didn't put this in)
3oz white granulated sugar (I put just slightly over half of this)
1 egg
8floz milk
3 fl oz corn oil or 3 oz butter, melted

Prepare muffin tins with liners or grease. Preheat oven to 375-400F?90-200C/Gas 5-6.

In a large bowl, sift together (or stir with fork) flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in sugar and set aside.

In another bowl, beat the egg with a fork. Stir in milk followed by oil/butter.

Pour all of the liquid ingredients into dry mixture. Stir until just combined, scraping sides and bottom of the bowl as you stir. This mixing should only take about 30 seconds. The batter will be lumpy but no dry flour should be visable. (I added 2 grated apples and a punnet of blueberries at this point)

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full, or to the top for larger muffins. Bake for 20-25 minutes until tops are lightly browned and spring back when pressed gently. Allow muffins to cool for several minutes to make removal easier. Best served warm.

i think nigella lawson descibes the reasons perfectly in th eintro to domestic goddess

it's either baking or drugs

CD - surely drugs then baking

I enjoy it.
I like getting compliments about it, it's really nice when someone enjoys a meal I've cooked.
I control what goes into each meal.
It's healthier than living off processed stuff.

beacuase it uses up the ripe bananas.
and the output is not disgustingly sweet & sugary
also, like Warthog, I like the raw mix!

I like the transformation from gloopy to springy. It's a tiny bit like alchemy. I get especially excited with meringues.