Solitary chicken - need advice

[ajm200]

Hi,

 

Recently there was a topic regarding eggs size and baking cakes. someone suggested weighing the eggs in their shells then using equal quantities of butter, sugar and flour.

 

I can' t remember who suggested it but I want to thank whoever it was.

 

I tried it and the cake was wonderful. So good in fact that my hubbie bought two extra pats of butter when he went shopping in case i fancied doing more baking! Normally I avoid baking cakes as they never turn out right.

 

Thank you so much

[Mutrix Farmers]

Stick to that principle and you will never have another failure ever again (that is unless you forget it's in the oven or drop it like my OH did!!)

 

Happy baking

[Snowy]

It's a great recipe isn't it? My cakes have been brilliant since then, and it's lovely to not have to look up the reipe every time! (I think a couple of us have posted it at various times, not just me!)

[surferdog]

I'll second that! Baked two at the weekend using this method - jam sponge and a lemon drizzle cake - both absolutely perfect and a lovely deep yellow from our own eggs.

 

Feeling all virtuous and domestic goddess like.....

[Egluntyne]

I keep meaning to give this a try!

[TAJ]

I did post this a couple of weeks ago, but I am sure others have mentioned it beforehand.

 

Tracy

[Laura007]

i fear i amy have missed this little gem of a tip, i love baking, can someone fill me in???

[surferdog]

It was basically to get over the problem of baking with different size eggs. So you weigh your eggs first in the shell. If they come to, for example, 210g you then use the same amounts of sugar, SR flour and butter.

[Cinnamon]

That souhnd like a really good idea.

Do you need to adjust the cooking time & temp too?

And how do you make it all lemon drizzly?

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Never tried that but I'm going to now

 

I've used Claret's lemon drizzle recipe which says add zest of one (or two) lemons to the cake mix. When the cake's done, juice the lemons & heat the juice up with a tbsp of icing sugar. Skewer lots of holes in cake and drizzle juice into the holes. Yummmm .

[surferdog]

I do mine slightly differently. Add the zest to the sponge and bake as normal. While it's in the oven mix the juice of half a lemon with about 3 tablespoons granulated sugar. Pour/spread over the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven while it is still hot. The lemon juice soaks in to the sponge and the sugar goes all crispy on the top. My kids call it pancake cake as that's what it tastes like.

[Abbey Road Girl]

I was going to ask if you used self-rising flour (a bit obvious but you wouldn't want to waste any of the lovely eggs by making an assumption) but surferdog gave the answer before I asked!

 

The only other thing I'm concerned about is using my fan oven to bake it. The conventional oven uses more energy but is perhaps a safer bet.

 

Has anyone used a fan oven for their cake baking?

 

Both sorts of lemon drizzle cake sound mouthwatering!

[Jules.]

I have a fan oven. I lower the temp by about 10 degrees to avoid burning.

[Lesley]

I don't use the fan oven for cakes - I switch back to traditional.

[Snowy]

I use a fan oven and also adjust temp down by about 10 degrees.

[Abbey Road Girl]

Thanks everybody. Will use the fan oven but softly, softly...

[Lesley]

Don't you all find that the fan oven dries cakes out? - even with a lower temp.?

[chickencam]

I use the fan oven for sponge cakes but lower the temperature on mine to about 140-150 degrees which seems to keep them moist.

 

I only switch to conventional cooking for Christmas cake and very low temperature cooking like meringues and Delia's mincemeat.

[FruitandNutCake]

I just made a chocolate cake with wholemeal flour. It usually comes out terrible, but this time I weighed the eggs so the weight was the same as the butter, flour and sugar, and it came out perfect

 

I'm not sure if my oven is fan or not I suppose it doesn't matter, as the cake was just right!

[Snowy]

Don't you all find that the fan oven dries cakes out? - even with a lower temp.?

 

I haven't noticed to be honest, but I do know that casseroles or anything that needs a long slow cook tend to dry out if I don't add extra fluid and seal it really well.

[LesleyH]

I have made a cake this afternoon to this recipe with some mixed spice and currents in it. I used 3 eggs so it took 50 minutes - in fan oven at 180!!!! It looks really lovely - will have some as soon as it cools! I have made it before - my mothers old recipe.

[LesleyH]

yummy - lovely

[poachedegg]

Thanks for the tip - have made OH and eldest son a cake this afternoon - they are on their way back from Derby v Reading and their beloved Reading have been relegated

 

*Silly woman - you expect men to get over their footie team being relegated, by a CAKE??!!*

 

...small gestures and all that! I did decorate it with a sad face though

[chickencam]

Cake goes a long way to cheering most people up

[poachedegg]

It cheered them up for about 2 minutes whilst they ate it