Cake, surprisingly

 It seems like ages since I have posted, mainly because we are back at work and school, both of which are busy, and I've reverted to rotating the same kind of meals to try and eke out some brain space. Child 1 has an activity on Mondays that means we eat late, so that's easy tea night (oven chips, fish fingers, chicken pieces, baked beans, all the condiments). Tuesday has become pasta night, Wednesday is veggie night, usually jackets or quesadillas, Thursday is fish and something, often stir fry. Saturday is usually curry night. Friday and Sunday are the wildcard nights, anything can happen, we know how to live...

So, nothing much of interest to share with you all on the savoury side. The new aspect of my culinary world is all cake-based. Those of you who have been here from the beginning will know that I have always been a bit too slapdash for baking, which requires concentration and precision (neither of these are why I cook, which is for relaxation). I inevitably forget to get the butter out, making creaming very challenging, and then usually over or under mix, and very often forget the cake and wander off to do something else, leaving most of my efforts a bit crispy. Plus sweet things are not my favourite (though obviously I will eat them if they're in the house).

Child 2, however, loves making (and eating) cakes and this is has been one of our main activities during lockdown. It is nice to spend some time with her, she is much better at baking than me (I am usually delegated to lining the tin - I am *excellent* at this part of the process - and tidying up) and it's a little bit of indulgence in these trying times. Plus it feels somehow healthier when I've put the sugar and butter in myself.

So, the secret ingredient is, of course, Mary Berry. We bought 100 Cakes and Bakes which is absolutely infallible, and a traybake tin, and it turns out that I can make cakes as long as they're not round. In addition, she basically advises you to melt the butter and dump all the ingredients in and whisk before sticking in the tin and baking. Absolutely no fuss and really good results.

Chocolate cake: butter, sugar, self-raising flour, baking powder, eggs, milk and cocoa mixed with hot water. Chuck it all together and lob in a tin and bake at 160/180 for 35 minutes. Cool in the tin, then top with an icing made of melted chocolate, icing sugar and sunflower oil. (I don't have a picture of this one with the right icing, but here is one my daughter turned into a river cake for geography (don't ask, turns out lockdown has also resulted in me learning about fondant icing..)

Treacle and ginger cake: butter, muscavado sugar, black treacle, self-raising flour, baking powder, mixed spice, allspice, eggs, milk and chopped stem ginger. Do the mixing thing, then bake for 35 minutes. Top with an icing made of icing sugar and the juice from the stem ginger jar and decorate with finely chopped stem ginger. This was amazing, and I do have a photograph of it, but somehow can't get it to load. Will tweet it later.

Lemon drizzle traybake: butter, sugar, self-raising flour, baking powder, eggs, milk, zest of 2 lemons. More mixing and baking, then while still warm top with a mix of granulated sugar and the juice of 2 lemons.

Chocolate chip and vanilla marble cake: mix butter, sugaraa, self-raising flour, baking powder, eggs, milk and vanilla extract. Spoon half of the mix into the tim, dotting around the spoonfuls. Add cocoa powder and chocolate chips into the remaining mix and fill in the gaps. Bake for 35 minutes. When cool, melt plain and white chocolate and drizzle it all over artistically.

Finally, my absolute favourite cake, which I have avoided making for years as it seemed too complicated, Bakewell Tart. You do have to make pastry, which scared me until I did it. It's just plain flour and diced butter, rubbed together until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs, with 2-3 tablespoons of water to bring it together into a dough. Roll out onto a floured surface and use to line the tin (note, this can be very *ahem* rustic). Spread with raspberry jam. Make a sponge in the same way as above - butter, sugar, self-raising flour, baking powder, eggs, milk and almond extract. Top the pastry and jam with the cake mix, sprinkle with flaked almonds and bake for 25 minutes. I've made this a couple of times now, and it's massively forgiving. I have changed the jam, added more almond extract and varied the toppings. Still delicious.

It's been a bit of a parade of cakes, but I've enjoyed losing my fear of baking. I still prefer savoury, though, never fear - have just made an amazing courgette bake which I'll write about another time!