Last summer I was successful at baking a few batches of cakes after years of making silly mistakes due to not following recipes properly or paying much attention generally. Anyway, so after lots of compliments (especially from the Boyfriend's family- thanks for that!), my confidence was up and I began baking more often and mistakes started to appear again.
There was the time at uni I made a banana bread under the grill instead of the oven, the countless sloppy attempts at making the perfect buttercream and the recurring problem of things sticking to the greaseproof paper!
A few weeks ago I decided to challenge myself by trying to make almond macaroons until I realised it was meringue based, something I'd never attempted before, and it failed pretty badly. The texture of the egg whites was soo wrong and when I piped them onto the baking sheets they just formed a huge puddle and didn't bake very well either. I took these photos at the time but then wimped out of being honest on this blog about what happened.
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| Not quite right! |
Then when I was babysitting last week, my 10 year old neighbour and I attempted to make swiss roll from his mum's cookbook, again I failed to realise the meringue like recipe and it came out flat and very very stuck to the paper. The boys ate it anyway but I was disappointed. To remedy it we made cupcakes but as it was a different recipe than I was used to I ended up making 8 muffin sized cakes from a recipe to make 18! Ultimate fail.
Today, putting last week behind me, I decided to fulfill my craving for chocolate flapjacks by baking some. All looked well when they came out of the oven until I realised they were massively stuck to the foil lining and I ended up with flapjack tops and what can only be described as cereal...
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| Not what it looks like in the book! |
I'm not very good at baking, sometimes it works out, sometimes I work hard to make it work but sometimes I'm just rubbish and i'm going to be honest from now on and not just post the exceptions!
That feels better. :)
If anyone would like to suggest why I have a sticking problem please let me know. I've tried greaseproof paper with butter and oil separately and today tried foil and butter.
Is there a solution?
The thing I hate most about baking is sticking to a recipe. Even though I love baking, I tend to throw stuff in without properly measuring it! I've had some disasters (like stirring in a tablespoon of baking powder instead of a teaspoon - resulted in some seriously soapy tasting cookies!), but generally, I use my instincts and will add a bit more oil or butter (sometimes even water or milk) if my mixture isn't binding together properly. With regards to the sticking problem... I have no idea!! Sorry! I usually find that baking paper + a spray of olive oil works fine. Baking's all about fun for me. Even if it doesn't end up looking perfect, I usually end up eating it ALL anyway!! xx
ReplyDeleteIt's true I do love baking and those flapjacks ARE delicious!
ReplyDeleteCould be the recipe you're using, particularly the balance of syrup, or even the baking tray. I almost want to say I don't use anything except greasing the tray a little with butter but I'm probably making that up... Although you can get special pans for doing just that, I have one for brownies and I'm sure flapjacks would work too. Usually baking parchment (specifically that, because I find greaseproof paper can't really stand the heat and crumbles when I touch it. Maybe we just have bad greaseproof paper). Also make sure you put the right side of the paper facing up! One side is 'greaseproof', the other is not. I think.
ReplyDeleteThis has ended up being a really long comment! I have personally tried several recipes and I think the one I use most is one of Nigella Lawson's.