Making the best of a bad bake

These were supposed to be lavender macaroons with a lemon buttercream filling. As you can probably tell - they aren't.

That's the thing about baking, it can be an awful lot like life sometimes. You can follow the instructions to the letter, do everything in the right order, keep a watchful eye on things; and yet sometimes, just sometimes, it all goes wrong. A new recipe can go just as wrong as one you've made hundreds of times before; and no matter how often or not you've attempted this creation, the sense of disappointment when the cake hasn't risen or the flavours just taste off is always the same.

And here lies your choice. You can choose to throw it in the bin and vow to never try making this thing again - or you can say to yourself, "oh well, I'll try doing it a slightly different way next time" and make the best of a bad bake.

They weren't lavender macaroons - but they were quite suitable as Eton Mess - particularly with homegrown blackberries and a drizzle of crème de mûre.

This holiday, I have been mostly baking...

 

After a wonderful few weeks at home, I'm back in France, full of home comforts and having satisfied my baking cravings - for now anyway!

To say I made the most of our oven would be a massive understatement. Dozens of cupcakes, Jamie Oliver’s tried, tested and utterly failsafe chicken and leek pie, my traditional Christmas sticky toffee pudding, macaroons, cake pops (more on those later!) and apple pie with homemade pastry (my first attempt at pastry in many many years) – I think it’s safe to say that I certainly took advantage of having an oven for the two weeks I was home. Even if it did break twenty minutes after we’d finished Christmas dinner. Uh oh.

Now, onto these cake pops. They're being tipped as "the new cupcake" when it comes to trends in the baking world. Well, no disrespect to cake pops, but personally I don't think they'll steal the place I have in my heart for cupcakes, but they are certainly satisfying in a way that cupcakes aren't. Provided you have the ingredients necessary - even better if you already have the batter made - little cakes can be yours in four minutes, thanks this wonderful little gadget, which my parents kindly bought for me this Christmas. 

source

I can highly recommend a plain vanilla sponge, dipped in white chocolate and then dessicated coconut. I currently have about 13 cakes' worth of chocolate chip sponge batter - Ellen and I made some to take to snack on during the film we went to see earlier this evening, Les Intouchables, which, if you get a chance to watch, you really must watch. It's fantastic.

While it may not be a proper oven, and I won't be able to make cupcakes or pies or macaroons in it, it'll certainly tide me over until the next time I'm home!

Baking days

As you may remember, my kitchen in halls is pretty limited, which hampers my ability to bake lovely things somewhat. As I am a massive fan of all things cupcake-y, this was obviously something I struggled with. So one of the first tasks when I got back home, after giving the cat a much-needed cuddle and saying hello to the family, was to nab the oven and settle in for a fortnight's worth of baking. And bake I have.

First on the list were ginger cupcakes with toffee frosting. They've been on my list since about November and struck me as the perfect Christmas treat. They were lovely, but I'd definitely add more ginger as it was a bit lost under the sponge and the toffee frosting. My mum and my friend both suggested using a combination of ground ginger (as called for in the recipe) and stem ginger in the batter to give the flavour a bit of 'oomph' and to add another texture. I decorated them with some edible gold glitter but I think some artfully-scattered ginger on the top would finish them nicely, too.

Yesterday, whilst in the middle of making Jamie Oliver's tried and tested chicken and leek pie, I had a sudden yen for delicate, pastel-coloured macaroons. I'd tried making them earlier in the summer, but a failure to read the instructions properly meant that they weren't so much macaroons as they were sugary, almond-flavoured flat cookies. This time, I decided to actually pay attention to what I was supposed to be doing and read the recipe before I got stuck in, and they turned out wonderfully. Coloured a beautiful, delicate pink (it's amazing how much food colouring you need to make them change colour!) and sandwiched together with whipped cream, they make a perfect "and a" for with a coffee. And, if you read the instructions properly, they're really not difficult to make at all.

Next on the list is an apple pie, the traditional sticky toffee pudding for Christmas day, and chances are some more Christmassy cupcakes. My mum bought me some lovely festive cupcake cases and I am determined to use them!