One thing I have never been is a baker. My mum couldn't bake so I guess I'm carrying on the family tradition. Day 2 on "lock-down" I made the mistake of promising the younger children that we would make cakes. Now I wasn't going for anything fancy just your standard fairy cake type thing. Simple...you would think. I'm a little OCD which is one of the reasons I dislike baking. Far too much mess created. The best thing about baking is licking the spoon. 39 and I still love to lick the mixture off the spoon. Does anyone not enjoy licking a mixture laden spoon??
It all started so well. I let go of control (which killed me) and allowed the children to weigh out the ingredients. They even had a spoon each to mix the large bowl at the same time. Yes I was feeling brave. I let them break an egg each and managed a smile while I was fishing out broken shell out the bowl. I was even able to turn a blind eye (for now) to the flour, egg and sugar splattered table. The kids loved every minute of it and even learned something about measurements. Taking it in turns to change the metric display on the scales. They left the kitchen so excited about icing the cakes. Cakes were left in the oven for the amount of time that the recipe suggested and were in for the correct amount of time. The children repeatedly asking me "are the yummy cakes were ready yet".
The timer of the oven went off and I excitedly opened the oven. Relishing in my new role of baker. Lorretta Berry had a certain ring to it don't you agree?? Just like that my vision was shattered. I lifted the cakes out the oven and was faced with what could only be described as Yorkshire puddings that had been trampled on by a heard of elephants. My daughter came in took one look at the cakes and simply said "Mum what have you done?" Like it was my fault. I simply had no words all I could say is I think we need a muffin tray. As if that would have helped. Even Amazon Prime subscription couldn't save this sorry mess. Nothing could save this disaster. To top it off some were burnt others still soggy in the middle. My 4 year old was unfazed and still wanted to ice the top. Yep we still had to ice the tops of the cakes. Even icing sugar couldn't help to save this sorry state. 2 days said cakes sat on the side waiting to be eaten. Surprisingly no-one helped themselves to one. So day 3 they were binned. That was a waste of sugar, flour and eggs and my sanity. Lets see what baking I can mess up next week. I'm thinking rock hard chocolate chip cookies might be on the menu. At least lock-down is giving me lots of time to practice.