Baking Day

I am adopting a bit of an old fashioned approach and having a baking day once a week. I figured that if I am cooking something and it takes me half an hour a day, I may as well spend longer in one hit and bake loads to last. I also thought that this was a sound eco choice as it takes a good deal of energy to heat the oven up to temperature. Why do this every day when you could just do it the once.

On my baking day this week I made a mushroom lasagne which will do us two meals, three pizzas which will do several meals / lunches, rolls and a big 'ol cakey. I was plum tuckered after but it feels so satisfying when you look at the mounds of food that I have made. I am really starting to enjoy cooking and am seeing it as a pleasure activity whereas in the past I always saw it as a chore. I think having a small kitchen makes it seem more chore like as I am always tripping over myself. I need to be more organised which I am not!

I am slowly getting the hang of the domestic Goddess thing. I still don't look cute in my little dress and pinny. I am still filthy, covered in flour, kitchen a mess but I am getting there and improving all the time. Except my cake sunk in the middle but then as a friend said to me on Facebook "more room for cream".

The recipe that I use for my cake is Jon's Grandma's that was handed down to my Mother in Law who has since handed it down to me. I hope to be able to do that with my children someday, there is something so lovely about hand me downs. I like modern recipes but sometimes I think the oldies are the best. The good old tried and tested ones really do stand the test of time. I like modern cook books but I do find that they try and zazz the recipes up with extra ingredients that aren't really needed just for the sake of it.

If you would like to have a go at Grandma Freda's cake here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

100g Margerine
150g Caster Sugar
150g Plain Flour with 3tsps of Baking Powder, although if you prefer you can use 150g of Self Raising Flour instead
3 Eggs
Flavouring: Either a few drops of vanilla essence or for a lemon cake add the zest of one lemon.

Method:

Cream the margerine and sugar together in a bowl. Add your eggs and flavouring and mix. Slowly add your flour. Once everything is all mixed together, transfer to your tin then bake in the oven at 180 degrees C for approx 30-40 minutes.

Finishing:

I made a victoria sponge so filled my middle with strawberry jam and butter icing (butter and icing sugar creamed together), however if you wanted to make it into a lemon drizzle cake just add the juice on one lemonwith 3 tablespoons of caster sugar and drizzle it over the warm cake as it comes out of the oven.

Yummy scrummy!