NOW CLOSED Talk to Stork about your favourite things to bake, and discuss 'Bake Brave' for World Baking Day 2013. £100 Baking hamper to be won

[KatieBMumsnet]

World Baking Day is on Sunday 19th of May and to coincide with this Stork would love to hear what you think of this year's theme "Bake Brave".

Stork say: "World Baking Day is a global event sponsored by Stork and the theme for 2013 is to 'Bake Brave'. From novice to master baker, food blogger to food celebrity, World Baking Day has been introduced to inspire people to step out of their baking comfort zone and master a cake they've never baked before."

For this year's theme, 100 recipes of varying difficulty have been developed and can be found here

Please take a look at the recipes and come back to this thread to let us know what you think. Which recipe would you try to 'Bake Brave' with? Are there any that you've already mastered?

Please also share your favourite treats to bake as well as any top baking tips you may have for other MNers or for getting kids into baking.

Everyone who shares their thoughts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw, where one MNer will win a £100 Baking hamper filled with sweet treats and baking goodies.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

[GetKnitted]

I do like the 'book' and the concept of levels, I found myself near a capuccinno cake that looked yummy.

I have to say though, I was under the impression that stork still had trans-fats in, I've googled the ingredients and it looks like they don't have any, but it might be worth making a bit of a big deal about that, so that people are not afraid of baking with it.

[Bert2e]

I'm a reasonable baker but I've never plucked up the courage to do Danish pastries - so please Mr Hollywood come and help me out

I love what I call everyday baking: basic stuff with things already in the cupboard that don't cost a fortune like Anzac biscuits, Diggers and Flapjacks.

Block Stork is fab when I need to be dairy free!

[violetwellies]

I use block Stork as it's dairy free (was disappointed that the tub stuff isnt) and think the site looks good. More recpies without the dairy would be even better, as one I thought looked very exciting had cream in it - yet more disappointment. Baking with my not yet two year old is probably a step to far as he eats most things, but soon he will be big enough to reach and not want to put his face in the flour.

[MegBusset]

I like baking but can't use eggs as DS1 is allergic to them. It would have been nice to be able to filter the cakes on the website to find the ones that didn't have egg in.

[Ginga66]

I did not bake before I had kids! My dh cooks and when ds1 started nursery and he had to bring something in I thought I'll do it for him. Also my dh is wheat and dairy intolerant. I am amazed that even though I can't cook I can bake! Probably as its creative and scientific. There's something about putting it in the oven and then viola! I substitute ingredients to make low gi dairy and wheat free brownies and cake. I have tried my hand at decorating too. I wold love to do more but two kiddies and work means I try when I can. My son loves to help and has his own tools and apron and stands on a chair.My top tip is substitute caster sugar with agave nectar to save you waistline and create moist wheat and dairy free cakes. I will try all choc recipes as this is all my family want!

[VerySmallSqueak]

I like baking savouries the most,and mainly if they involve cheese. Cheese scones and cheese straws are two of my favourites.
Utterly irresistible when warm.

[Leafmould]

Although I am a fairly regular baker, I love really straightforward recipes which involve fairly few ingredients. So I scrolled up from number one, bypassed all the muffins and cupcakes which I am not keen on, and decided to try the bake well biscuits. I like that they are simplified erosion of bake well tart, so I can see it being a recipe which I repeat.

I was a bit disappointed in the 5cup health crunchies recipe, as the photograph definately looks like it has almonds in it and I am fond of almonds.... But no nuts in recipe. Plus I would definately use real butter in that recipe, even though I do use stork for most cakes and pastry... Flapjack has to be with butter!

What do I bake? I have started doing fairy cakes whenever I do a full English. Mmmmm it's great to have a lazy Sunday with a big brunch, afternoon tea sorted, and someone else can do dinner!

[Lent1l]

I love baking and always finds it calms me. In the last year I've started to teach myself how to properly ice cakes as well. Dd is 14 months so I give her a spare metal mixing bowl and a wooden spoon and she mixes her pretend cake whilst I make the real one. I live the 4442 recipe as it is always in my head and easily adaptable to vary the flavour. I ALWAYS have a large tub of stork in the fridge as I find it works well and even in buttercream few people notice the difference.

I shall challenge myself to try a recipe from the site for the next family occasion.

[flamingtoaster]

I'd like to try Cinnamon and Chocolate Biscuits - cinnamon and chocolate go so well together and the combination makes me think of Christmas. I adapt recipes all the time as I bake everything gluten, milk and egg free due to family allergies so that everyone can eat the same thing. I've started baking with my children when they were very small - I have many happy memories of my son standing on a kick step wearing ear defenders because he didn't like the noise of the mixer!

[Babycarmen]

The kids love baking cupcakes, scones or biscuits. It is such fun baking with children and I am glad DD loves it as much as I do. I bake usually once a week myself, usually cakes, honey cake, coffee cake, chocolate cake, gateaus, I LOVE the smell of the house after baking!!

[LemonBreeland]

I love baking. And DS2 (5) really enjoys it too. His favourite is gingerbread men as the dough is really easy to work with and rollls out very well.

Most of what we bake comes from my two old Be-ro books. I recently made jam tarts and the children thought they were fab.

There are many things on the website that I would like to make. I find baking such an enjoyable pasttime. I usually make quick and simple things, but am trying to branch out into the more difficult bakes.

[Smellslikecatspee]

I love baking and will try my hand at most stuff, but that website is annoying!!

Constant clicking. .

[Velve]

I have a weaning age son so I don't get any time to bake lovely complicated things anymore, but I do make lots of berry muffins or savoury muffins for him to nibble on and get better at using his hands to eat.
If I get time on World Baking Day I would bake the very, very lovely looking, and sounding, Almond-Lemon Cake with Gingerbread Heart.
I like the website but I must say the recipes aren't hugely challenging. Some trickier than others in that you need more time to make them and a bit of bravery, but nothing really difficult.

[MothershipG]

I'm a competent baker and can turn out decent cakes, cookies and bread so I'm always on the look out for interesting or different recipes.

Having looked at the website I think I'll try No.37 Colour Frenzy as that sort of thing always amuses my DC and No.97 Tsoureki as I am particularly into baking bread at the moment.

[chilli1980]

I love to bake i least bake a cake once a week and do all the cakes for my families birthday, engagement, christenings etc i recently did a Kitkat Smartie cake for my nephews birthday went down like a treat everyone loved it.......

[Cantdothisagain]

There are some lovely-looking bakes on that page and it's a great idea. I'd prefer a list, either with thumbnail images or even just a list, to navigate it more easily, but nitpicking aside, the recipes look good - there's quite a range. And the chocolate peanut butter cake looks fab.

I use Stork to bake sometimes (love the convenience of not having to soften it for ages) but not the liquid stuff - it makes the mixture too runny for me.

I love love love baking, but have fussy children who always ask for the same thing- vanilla/chocolate cupcakes; banana cake; brownies. Boring! We do bake every week though and we all love it.

[Cantdothisagain]

Oh and I tend to agree that the recipes aren't that challenging for people who already bake a lot, but they will/would be for newbie bakers, which is presumably what the challenge is aimed at - getting more people into baking (and buying Stork...!)...

[Goldrill]

I recently bought Mary Berry's fast cakes book and discovered you can make really good sponges by just putting all the ingredients in a bowl and sticking the electric mixer in for three minutes. No creaming or folding required - what a revelation!

No 34 - Carlotta's cake looks rather interesting and I may give it a go if the DCs remain asleep long enough one afternoon.

[Goldrill]

Hang on a minute - I have no issues with using marg in cakes, but surely orange curd (95) demands butter?!

[PuddingsAndPies]

I really like this idea, & the website is well designed too :)

I think I underestimated my baking level a bit at first - I'm terrible at decorating cakes, but quite good at baking them, I suppose. I bake quite a lot, although often quite middle-of-the-road things. I didn't feel that I'd be challenged by the cakes around my original level, so had a nose from the top down.

I didn't fancy making (eating!) the top few things (& they do look really hard!) but I am considering having a go at the Brownies With Orange Meringue (95). To be honest, I think that looks far easier than the decorated Strawberry Cake (94), or the Chocolate Dragon (93), but I do lack artistic skill.

DS & I often bake together - his favourite things to bake are fairy / cupcakes, or cookies / gingerbread men. Partly because I think he believes that the more items he bakes, the better!

[Bakingnovice]

We are making the dream cake tomorrow. Looks just delicious!

Baking has been therapy for me. It brings me nothing but joy. Oh, except when it all goes wrong!

[saintmerryweather]

some of those recipes look really good, i think id give the snow cake a go.

i always use stork for baking, gives just as good results as butter.

my top tips though are that the all in one bowl method doesnt mean youre a bad baker, it does just as well as beating everything seperately.
also if youre spreading buttercream on cakes, have a jug of hot water standing by and dunk.the knife in it between spreading. no crumbs and the cream will spread very easily. also goes for cutting sticky cakes

[gazzalw]

There is indeed lots of inspiration on the website and I love the different levels of difficulty. The DCs and I think we might start with the banana muffins not least because they are masters at rejecting 'over squishy' ones and would welcome the opportunity to make them into something delicious to eat. Watch this space!

I don't bake very much at all, but love cooking with the children and it's nice to cook outside one's comfort zone! I am more of a chocolate mousse-maker than a cake cook but that can change ....

[majjsu]

Dream cake sounds delicious. I love baking with my little girl, though her top 3 requests are cheese scones, pancakes and yorkshire puddings.

We make cheese scones with veg oil rather than butter, so ate quick and easy to make with her.