So it’s my day off today and I really wanted to do nothing but chill and just allow myself to unwind after a hectic few shifts at work. I tried to just relax by sitting in front of the T.V for a while with a peppermint tea but my attention span is minute and so I quickly got bored of that, next I went and had a look on the news on my computer but that also got boring after a while. On a day like this where my friend’s are busy and the weather isn’t that great, there really is only one activity that springs to mind. Baking! I tried to not make this my ‘go to’ activity for today because I was low on ingredients…and pennies, but a basket full of flour, sugar and eggs didn’t amount to that much and so the feeling of guilt soon passed.
I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on any fancy ingredients so I started with a simple cake which I could then later on add some yummy things to make it more unique. I really can’t help myself when it comes to cakes, I find it very hard just to follow a particular recipe and stick to it, I always adapt it somehow…
For my simple cake recipe I needed to look no further than my chopping board! I love this chopping board, it’s so handy because it has the basic Victoria sponge, vanilla cupcakes, scones and strawberry jam recipe on it. Very convenient for when I just need to bake something and something now but have no idea what! I might have to slip this one into my suitcase for when I go to uni…mum will never notice…
I started by…making a mess! Hmm, it really is classic Anna to take up the whole work surface and turn it into a bomb site! I was enjoying myself though…I get into this zone when I’m baking where I think i’m Mary Berry and need to do everything with exact precision and treat my baking like its entering the final stages of the national baking championships.
My baking shining stars. These two ingredients are something I nearly always include in my baking as they pack such a full flavour which really shines through in the end product without overpowering any other flavours you may add to your bake.
I love this part because it means I’m getting closer to being able to lick the bowl! I have a very efficient purple spatula which is my favorite baking friend and would be perfect for scraping out every ounce of cake mixture from the bowl, but that would be silly…I needed to leave some for me to try! And so I used my second best friend, the trusty wooden spoon, leaving a nice amount of mixture at the botttom to give myself a fair taste test.
This is where my spatula comes in handy…I leveled out both cake dishes and then in the oven they went.
Golden brown! I might as well be Mary Berry hey..? The annoying part is that at this stage I can’t just dive in and try the warm freshly baked cake like I would do if it was a muffin or cookie as I still have some constructing and decorating to do…not good for my barely there patience.
I cheated with the frosting, it tastes so good though and can be used sparingly so that you can keep it a while and use for another baking day. I did try making up my own frosting but it really didn’t even warrant a photograph…it went pretty badly…but i’m all about the experimenting!
Here it is, the end result. A nutmeg, vanilla and raisin cake with cream cheese icing…not one your likely to find a recipe for in your cake cook book but anyway it should be tasty enough for a little afternoon treat! Please try doing what I did and use a basic Victoria sponge recipe and just add other ingredients to it to see what works, you can really create some killer bakes. Once I replaced fifty grams of regular butter for peanut butter and added some chocolate chip chunks into the mix with vanilla flavouring and this was a stunner! You never know unless you experiment.
Head in a Glass 