Monday 14 September 2009

Say Yay For Tray.....

Bakes! How have I not, as a mummy, as someone who always wants to feed folk cake, as a busy but scatty, very modern mim, NOT discovered tray bakes before?
They are fabulous, make loads of yummy cake, take no time and can be turned into absolutely anything that takes your fancy (satisfying the creative side too....with minimal fuss!)Sooooooooooooooo here it is!

Take one throw away roasting tray!
Take a basic recipe for sponge cake (this makes enough mix for a 23x30x3cm roasting tray....half/ double for your size of tray).

225g/8oz soft margarine
225g/8oz caster sugar
275g/10oz self-raising flour
2tsp baking powder
4 eggs
2 tbsp milk

And then the fun can begin! What do you want your tray bake to be? Choc chip? Throw some in. Lemon? Add some zest! When cooked, stab lots of little holes in and squeeze lemon juice over, followed by a generous scattering of caster sugar. Chocolate? Add cocoa! When serving drizzle with warm chocolate fudge sauce! Fruit? Scatter apple slices, blackberries or blueberries, or plums, or strawberries......or yum, raspberries and chunks of white chocolate! Boozy or not! The options are endless! This is very freeing cooking!

FUN TIP

When you want to test if your cake is ready and like me you have no cocktail sticks or skewers, you can take a piece of humble spaghetti and insert this into the centre of the cake. Leave for five seconds, if when you pull the spaghetti out it is clean, with no sticky cake on it, your cake is ready!

And this is what I did with mine!

I sliced my tray bake up,
slathered on some August Bramble Jam and Vanilla Buttercream and dredged (I love that word!) with icing sugar! I think I broke every village WI rule regarding 'proper' Victoria Sandwich! But my, it was tasty with a good mug of hot tea and some knitting!

12 comments:

LissyLou said...

good idea!!

i love that bowl at the top - where can i get one??!!!

LPFish said...

i want legwarmers please....

Mrs B said...

oh the bowl lissy was from my M-i-L! Isn't it gorgeous! I will have a look on the bottom later and see if I can find a useable label, then you could have a squizz on the joyous t'internet!

MsFish.....all my house guests get a pair on arrival!!! x

meplusmolly said...

Oooo slice for me please, promise not to smear the loveliness too much round my face!
bootiful legwarmers too x ;0

Lesley (Notesfrommydays) said...

fab :-) love it..... will be making one very soon :-)
Lesley x

KL said...

The bowl looks like a pink mason cash one. If it is, they are for sale in John Lewis, and I rather think can also be ordered from JL online.

Pomona said...

Tea, cake and knitting - absolute heaven! And please may we all have legwarmers?

Pomona x

menopausalmusing said...

How can you be that little, dainty and gorgeous and bake and eat as much cake as you do??? Sigh..................... :O)

Mrs B said...

I make it and feed it to everyone REALLY REALLY quickly! Then I run 10 miles and if there is any left, then.....I eat the lot!!! xxx

Ticking stripes said...

Wow - gorgeous recipes - I'm no cook but I'm going to have to use some of your recipes. I think a trip to Lakeland might be in order!

Annie said...

Your tray bake looks great, just found your blog and love it !
Ann x

Mrs B said...

ann, it is lovely you found us, as we found you right back!! come and visit again soon x