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 bake for most of the reasons you listed, except for the ones about childhood and reminding me of my mother. She is quite a good cook but was never into baking really, and never did it with us. Maybe part of me wants to create those types of memories for my children.

Find it quite satisfying, as I'm not the most natural of cooks otherwise but ok at baking (well, following the recipes - haven't created my own recipes yet!).

I am fairly fussy about what the children eat but don't want to deny them sweet things totally. See home baked things as a compromise.

Sometimes when I am feeling in a cake eating mood I use baking with the children as an excuse to eat lots of it!

Also think that DH likes it when I make a cake or something as he feels he has married some sort of domestic goddess - which is v far from the truth as he does the bulk of the ordinary cooking!

You have to be wary of trying to create childhood memories for your children. My mother only fed us home baked cakes, but perhaps my strongest cake memory is of the shop-bought Battenburg on a cake trolley on holiday when I was 7. I can see it now. All those home made cakes have faded over time but the Battenburg novelty on holiday stands out.

Though I do also remember a home made zoo birthday cake.

We bought an enormous K&C cake for my mum's 70th because I couldn't face baking one. It wowed everyone. Even better, I tell you, than home baking. The Curly Whirly one.

I don't really bake 'as a mum'. I bake as a cake eater.

K&C lemon cake is paradise on a plate...much better than my home baking!

But not really the point of this thread!

My cakes are not particularly good, as it happens, but I like to know they contain butter, not margarine.

My motivation is...it's the only thing I do for the PTA, it allows me to role play being a motherly mother instead of the imposter who applied for the job without any of the Essential Personal Spec criteria that I sometimes feel like, it's a very easy task with a magimix.

Ditto for the above.
Can I ask Afew Q's?
If you use banana in muffins etc how long do they last?

How much in pounds and ounces is a cup full?

Ah now you see there is a good point. My mums cakes were pretty crap really, and although she baked bread every morning for a long period of my childhood, she used a bread mix most of the time. The point of the exercise wasn't necessarily to make delicious stuff, it was that by actually baking, she was demonstrating her love for us. The effort that went into the baking made us, as children feel secure, loved and special.