Baking Cakes
The best way to learn how to do something? Do it! And eat the yummy end result. You’re hooked before you know it!
We’ve selected some recipes here to get kids hooked beginning with the very simplest crispy cakes.
Chocolate Crispies
What you need:- A large bar of milk chocolate
- A box of crisped rice breakfast cereal
Melt the chocolate on low power in the microwave or in a bowl over a pan of boiling water – be careful not to knock the pan over when removing the bowl!
Add crisped rice. Keep adding and mixing until all the rice is coated and there’s not too much spare chocolate. It should be an even mix. Put spoonfuls into paper cases and leave to set.For variety, add hundreds and thousands to the mixture, or top with a Smartie or piece of flake.
Chocolate Raisin Slice
What you need:- 1 lb digestive biscuits
- 8 oz margarine
- 8 oz raisins
- 8 oz chocolate (or chocolate cake covering)
- 1 tin condensed milk
- Plus 8 oz chocolate for the topping
Melt the chocolate either at low power in the microwave or over a pan of boiling water. When it’s beginning to melt, add the margarine and allow them both to melt completely.
Put some of the biscuits in a plastic bag and crush by banging with a rolling pin. Mind your fingers! Tip the crumbs into the melted chocolate and margarine. Continue crushing biscuits until they’re all done and added.
Add the condensed milk and stir thoroughly. Tip the mixture into a large baking or roasting tray. Flatten it out a bit.
Melt another 8 oz chocolate and spread it over the top. Leave in the fridge or a cool place to set.
This is very rich – and very moreish – so cut into quite small pieces to serve.
Scones
What you need:- 8 oz self-raising flour
- 1½ oz margarine
- ¼ pint milk
- 1½ tablespoons caster sugar
- A pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 220oC, gas mark 7. Grease a baking tray.
Sieve the flour and salt together into a bowl. Rub in the margarine using your finger-tips until you have a fine breadcrumb-like mixture. Stir in the sugar.
Make a well in the centre and add half the milk. Use a flat-bladed knife to mix. Add more milk until you have a dough. Don’t add too much; you don’t want a sticky mixture.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it gently with your hands until it’s smooth. Try not to handle the dough too much as this will make the scones heavy.
Roll the dough out with a floured rolling pin to a thickness of 2 cm. Cut out the scones using a 4 or 5 cm cutter. You can keep gathering the trimmings and rolling them again until you’ve used all the dough.
Place the scones on the greased baking tray and brush the tops with milk. Cook near the top of the oven for 12 – 15 minutes until they’re golden brown.
Leave them on a cooling rack for a short while and then slice open and spread with butter.
Scones are best eaten when they’re still slightly warm. If they don’t all get eaten on the day they’re made – which is unlikely! – try toasting them as they do go stale very quickly.
For the traditional West Country cream tea, spread freshly cooked scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream.
Fairy cakes
What you need:- 4 oz margarine, softened
- 4 oz caster sugar
- 4 oz self-raising flour
- 2 large eggs
Preheat the oven to 190oC, gas mark 5. Sieve the flour onto a plate.
Cut the margarine into small pieces in a bowl and add the sugar. Beat them together until the mixture is pale and fluffy-looking. An electric whisk is best for this but you can use a wooden spoon and lots of arm power! Keep scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is properly mixed together.
Beat the eggs and add to the mixture bit by bit, beating well between each addition. If it starts to look as if it’s curdling – separating and looking blobby – add a spoonful of the sieved flour with the egg.
After all the egg has been beaten in, add the flour half at a time and fold it in to the mixture. To fold it in, you need a metal spoon to ‘cut’, lift and fold the mixture over.
When all the flour is incorporated, divide the mixture between 12 paper cases in a bun tray.
Cook in the centre of the oven for 12 – 15 minutes until well-risen and golden-brown.
Allow to cool on a cooling rack.
Top with icing made by beating together 3 oz sifted icing sugar, 2 oz butter and 1 oz sifted cocoa powder. Decorate with white chocolate buttons.
