I like listening to the Saturday live programme on BBC Radio 4. The edition on 2 January 2021 featured an interview with Lynsey Bleakley, owner of the Bumble and Goose baking company in Bangor, Northern Ireland. During the interview, chef and fellow guest Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall said: 'Baking is spreading love around the world'.
This simple yet powerful statement really resonated with me because the only reason I ever bake is to share with others. Before the coronavirus pandemic changed everyone's lives, I used to take my baked products into the office and to dance, drumming and music classes and workshops. It always makes me happy when my friends and colleagues enjoy my home bakes.
So what's the psychology behind this? During the pandemic there has been a huge trend towards home baking and cooking. While some might say this is simply because people were cooped up at home and looking for new things to do, I actually prescribe to the expertise of culinary art therapist Julie Ohana. Back in March 2020, Julie told CNBC Make It that 'cooking and baking bring comfort.....the process helps aid the baker and the finished product helps comfort the person or people receiving the delicious outcome.'
Listening in to the Radio 4 programme inspired me to write this new article about my personal take on baking, and share some of my favourite baked goodies over the past 10 years.
Scones
I have to start with scones because of all the things I bake, these babies get the biggest response from my friends! I must have baked thousands of them by now and my favourite recipe (BBC scones) is firmly in my head, My super-talented Senegalese drum teacher, Mohamed Gueye, absolutely loves that recipe and likes to take the scones home to have with a 'nice cup of tea'. I did see another BBC fruit scones recipe recently that looked very interesting. I'll be experimenting with it soon and doing some comparison tests.
If I'm baking for a big group of friends, I use a smaller scone cutter to produce dinky versions so that there are plenty to go round. I use sultanas or cranberries, depending on my mood. If I'm feeling indulgent I make a cream tea and for that special touch, I use the vintage bone china cup and saucer (pictured) that I inherited from my beloved Aunty Pat.
Cakes
These are my next favourite thing to bake, although they can be tricky to transport if they have a topping. I've had a few hard lessons in this after arriving at my destinations with every cake turned upside down in the container and buttercream all over the place. Definitely a grrrrrr moment!
My favourite cupcake recipe is one from Fearne Cotton. I tend to adapt the decoration though, by pouring melted Galaxy chocolate over the top and letting it set. I then add buttercream icing, crumbled Cadbury's Flake and a light dusting of icing sugar. My adaptation is pictured, with a Christmas cake flag theme (more on flags below).
From watching The Great British Bake Off, I've also learned that cakes should 'sing' when you take them out of the oven. I tried this the other day and realised I had been leaving the cupcakes in the oven for just a few minutes too long. Taking them out while they're 'singing' stops them drying out and creates a perfect texture. Pictured below are some of my most successful efforts to date.
I particularly like making cakes to celebrate events. A couple of years ago, I made one for my lovely friend, mixed media artist Naj, when she passed her first year exams at university.
My Senegalese dancer teacher and great friend Diene Sagna organises an annual dance and drumming festival called 'Jump for Joy!' For the event in 2016 I baked a chocolate cake, but in 2017 I really went for it with a tray-bake covered in flags that I sketched of djembe and dundun drums, and different types of sabar drum. For Diene's first extensive tour of the USA, I made some mini-cakes to wish him luck.
Here's a 'thank you' cake I baked at the end of the phenomenal UK tour in 2017 by Malian musician Habib Koité and his band Bamada. The tour was organised by Ebou Touray of African Night Fever.
Also pictured below, is the very gifted Senegalese drummer Dembis Thioung, with a cake I made on his birthday. The teachers and students shared it outside City of Westminster College at Edgware Road, where we used to have our weekly dance classes.
My next project (which I've been thinking about for ages but keep putting off) is to attempt a beehive cake using a silicone mould. I think 2021 will finally be the year when I give it a try. It might take a few attempts to perfect it but, given my passion for honeybees, I'm sure it will be worth the effort!
The icing on the cake
I know that decorating cakes is a skill that takes lots of practice. Over the years I've tried all sorts of icing tools. By far the most common problem I experience is the icing nozzle popping off the end of the icing bag, or the bag splitting. Back in 2012, I went on an evening course with Rock Bakehouse in West Hampstead and was rather proud of the cakes (pictured) that I baked and decorated. Since then though, I haven't put in the practice and hence I remain a fairly clumsy icer of cakes. Must do better!
Sometimes I make my own bumblebee decorations from icing. They're a big commitment though - this cheeky little bunch took me two hours.
I also once found these lovely little pre-made decorations in a Hobbycraft shop and couldn't resist them - they look kind of astonished!
Cake flags
In my opinion, no celebratory cake is complete without flags. As I love sketching as much as I love baking, I like to make my own flags. I stick them onto paper straws using tiny glue dots. I find this works really well because the straws are strong and stable enough to stand up in the cakes.
Biscuits
These make such a great treat to share and are very transportable. The key to making good ones, of course, is knowing when to take them out of the oven. A former work colleague who was very skilled at baking biscuits told me not to be afraid of removing them when they still look a bit too soft. And, sure enough, with a bit of practice I learned to judge this pretty well and saw how they firm up once on the cooling rack, without ending up too hard and crunchy.
Pastries
My lovely mum made the most amazing shortcrust pastry. She used to bake a strawberry pie with pastry so short it would literally melt in the mouth. Sublime! My mum said the key was to use as little water as possible, but I think she was just really talented and too modest to say so! All of my own attempts end up in messy pastry that's as tough as old boots (see my lattice pie, pictured). So for now, until such time as I can actually make a decent bit of pastry by hand, I am using fresh shop-bought pastry. My favourites are flaky pastry and filo pastry. Fortunately, I'm pretty good at cooking up nice fresh fruit compote fillings, so they're at least partly home made! Below are some of my best efforts so far.
Vegan and gluten free
I really don't like leaving people out when I bake. I'm not a particularly confident baker of vegan and gluten-free products, but I'm slowly trying out different recipes. I did make a really good vegan cake (pictured) several years ago. I also made some gluten-free cakes where I worked previously. I didn't think they tasted that great but the colleague I made them for said they were pretty good, so I was quite relieved to know that the recipe had come out well.
Currently I'm working on being able to produce the 'perfec' vegan scone. At a fabulous Senegalese dance workshop in London recently (when we were allowed under the tier system) with our wonderful teacher Aida Diop, I shared a big batch of vegetarian and vegan scones. My friend Elijah tested out the vegan ones and gave me some great tips on how to 'fine-tune' them. I'm determined to get to that perfect version!
So there we have it - my baking journey so far. If I ever manage to make that beehive cake I will devote an entire blog article to how I did it!
Blog copyright Barbara Grehs Published on 2 January 2021
If you enjoyed this article, you might also be interested in my food photography and my blog article entitled 'The sweet and the savoury: London cafes'.
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