Bake & Bitch

Good Morning guys,

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, relaxed, ate some good food and enjoyed great company. I thought I would write something a little bit different today. A 'Bake & Bitch'. 

I have always loved to bake since my teen years and lately it has been my 'go-to' when needing to unwind or simply bake something for an occasion. I love it, my family and friends love it and so do my co-workers. Having discovered Buddy and Carlo's Bakery on TLC has only given me more ideas to try out. I am quite fortunate that my Portuguese heritage is rich in desert recipes from puddings, to cakes to sweets.

Below are a few images of my previous adventures...

Above is a perfect example of a plain sponge cake decorated with pink icing flowers. I then sprinkled on white millions :)

Taking the simple plain sponge and spicing it up a bit by covering it in chocolate icing and then sprinkling coconut shreds on top.

And for the more indulgent of you readers I have a special treat...

Devil's Chocolate Cake topped with chocolate icing and Maltesers. I bought Betty Crocker's cake mix and once the cake was made simply had fun decorating it. I initially thought to cover the top of the cake in my little chocolate tufts but soon realised after covering the cake that I didn't have enough icing left. So in came the Maltesers.

Not too sure? Well here is a simple recipe to help you get started.

• 100g of flour
• 100g of sugar
• 100g of butter
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 tbsp baking soda (if using plain flour)
• 1 tbso vanilla or any other flavouring of your choice, can also use orange zest*
• pinch of salt

* The flavouring is optional as you can use whatever you fancy. This is a recipe from a childhood baking book and I usually change it to suit my needs. To make a decent sized cake you may need to double the ingredients. As I usually add something sweet to the cake such as icing or even eat it with fruits I cut down the amount of sugar I use.

You will need the following tools;

• Mixer, unless you want to get rid of your bingo wings and go old school
• Spatula or wooden spoon
• Measuring scales
• Separate bowls x 2
• Baking mould
• Baking parchment paper
• Skewer
• Oven gloves
• Serving platter or flat plate

Separate the yolk from the white keeping them both in separate bowls and whisk the white till they form strong peaks. You can usually tell when the whites are ready when the colour goes from translucent to glossy white. Eventually if you keep whisking and tip the bowl upside down they won't budge. That's when you know they are ready. You can set these aside and work on the other ingredients.

Mix the butter and sugar till no bumps are left. Then you can add the yolks, and slowly start to add in the dry ingredients. If you wish to make a chocolate cake you can always add in cocoa powder at this stage. The mix may start to get tough to work with and at this stage you want to add in your whites. I would recommend adding them in two stages. 

We have all heard chefs on TV caution us not to beat the whites into the mix or else risk loosing all the air bubbles. Bullshit! Just fold them in until the whites are fully incorporated and you will be fine. Once your mix is ready prep your mould. You may want to turn on your oven usually to 180 degrees Celsius.

You can use any mould you want and a simple technique I use to prevent the cake from sticking to the mould is to butter the mould liberally and then coat it with flour. If the base of your mould is flat you can butter it and then cut out a cartouche (round disk) of baking parchment paper and placing that on the base. 

Once you pour in your mix bang the base on the table or floor thrice to remove so that the mix settles. You can then let it rest for a few minutes before bunging it in the oven.

When it finally does go into the oven place it on the middle shelf and ensure the heat is initially coming from both sides. After the thirty minute mark you may want to check on the progress of your cake. Take a skewer and prick the centre of the cake if the skewer comes out wet then your cake is not ready.  

TIP: The reason you prick the centre of the cake as this is the region which rises the most. If this region is cooked thumb rule is that the rest of your cake is also cooked.

TIP: Place your cake in the middle of the shelf to ensure that it bakes evenly.

TIP: The more times you open your oven the more heat you will lose. Try to limit the times you open your oven by checking on your cake at the thirty minute interval and possibly the forty-forty five minute interval. 

After your cake is cooked you can turn the heat down a touch, change the setting to grill or heat from above and move the cake to the higher shelf so that your cake will become golden on top. This should only take a few minutes. 

When your cake is cooked you can take it out, turn off your oven and leave it somewhere to cool down. I usually place a towel on top to keep in some of the heat and also to prevent any pesky insects from getting to my cake.

TIP: You want your cake to cool down slowly. If it cools to fast then it will most probably sink.

Once it is ready use a butter knife or even your skewer to loosen the cake from the edges and then use a serving platter or flat plate and placing it on top of the mould use a quick flipping action to transfer the cake from the mould to your serving platter/flat plate.

You can then decorate it as you wish!

And now to bitch. Grab your best mate, friend, aunty or local town gossip. Bung on the kettle and cut a slice of cake!