I had been dying to bake a carrot cake for a while. I'd been told it was reasonably easy to make but i hadn't actually tried my hands at it. Dragging my fellow bakers kicking and screaming, we set out to bake this recipe:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/12/carrot-cake-with-maple-cream-cheese-frosting/
We chose to bake the double-decked version rather than the cup cakes and it was absolutely devine!
The choice of canola oil also gave the batter a uniquely orange look that the other bakers thought was quite unusual. We also used half the sugar the recipe recommended - we would have been fast tracking to diabetes otherwise!
As it turns out, it was possibly the easier of the recipes to get together, so we rustled it together and stuck it in the oven to bake. The finished product looked devine and it was delicious! It was a huge piece of cake so we shared it amongst ourselves and i ended up giving most of mine to friends and family who were very complimentary! Score!
The second recipe was the Salmon and water cress tart for which we used:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/salmon_and_watercress_05414
The crust was probably the hardest part but it worked very well and i think i will be using that recipe for my pie bases going forward. The end product did not only look good but it tasted fantastic and went very very fast!!
The final recipe, but by no means the least was [my favourite] hot cross buns, which again, i was totally aiming at baking at some point. It was also a bbc recipe used:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/hotcrossbuns_70059
It's a great recipe and we definitely enjoyed making the buns!
Haryo took on the brave kneading task given his strong, masculine wrists!
We then left it to rise...
And rise...
Then we added the trimmings and set it to bake. Doesn't it just look great?
Is your appetite whet yet?
Yusuf had a crack at eating all of it but don't worry we stopped him. Can't have that!
We devoured these creations with relish!
Increasingly we're finding the combination of sweet and savoury baking tasks to work well and broadening our repertoire. Our stomachs are certainly broadening their experience, much to the detriment of our waistlines!
Stay tuned for the next destructive episode :)
