For my first bake I thought I’d start with the basics with a tried and tested recipe (passed down to me from my mum). I did attempt to mix it up a bit with some lemon flavour icing sugar that I spotted on my last trip to the supermarket and by having a go at piping.
Recipe
Plain Sponge
(Makes 12 buns)
4oz Self raising flour
4oz Caster sugar
4oz Butter
2 Eggs
1tsp Baking Powder
1tsp Vanilla essence
Lemon Icing
125g Lemon icing sugar
100g Butter
3tbsp Water
Results
The buns did not turn out as I had expected. My new ‘Great
British Bake Off’ mixing bowl did not work its magic in this case. The sponge
was quite dense and stodgy and very bland. The blandness is easy to explain – I
simply forgot the vanilla essence. The consistency, I think, owes itself to the
fact I used medium eggs not large so the batter was quite thick. The buns also
ended up cooking with this strange bobble in the middle. But at least I know
the oven in my new house seems to work well and I have been reminded that I
need to buy cooling rack.
I followed the instructions on the back of the icing sugar
packet to make the butter icing. There wasn’t enough by far to cover all 12
buns and it was quite thick and very buttery. However, I enjoyed piping the
icing (but not cleaning out the bag after) and think I will continue to have a
go with that.
Overall score: 4/10
Soundtrack: Ed Sheeran +, Ed Sheeran
