Seroster's Baking Thread

[Seroster]

Well heck, why not start one of these.

I went on a trip to England in September and came back with a mild obsession with scones and clotted cream. I did make some scones about a week ago, which I thought were a disaster because when I put the batter on the baking sheet it was a sticky gooey mess, but to my delight they turned out fine.

I think this is how my mother makes them but I can't remember for sure (should ask): make one great big mass of scones, then cut it up. However I think the recipe says to actually separate into scones, like cut into the dough ahead of time? I'll have to check.

Pics of scones in next post.

 

[Seroster]

 

[Seroster]

This weekend I'm looking ahead to Christmas and making one (1) Christmas cake. My mother used to make a full batch, which is three cakes, and it's a lot, especially now that my dad can't have much sugar. So today I went to the bulk food store and got the fruit I needed, and it's all now in a bowl soaking in some apple brandy.

It's not hard to make this recipe, which has passed down in my family through three generations - and I like it, it's much more cake than some recipes which are an excuse for booze-soaked fruit. Will try taking some pics tomorrow as I make it.

 

[Tsushi]

Excited to see! Thanks for sharing your yummy photos!

 

[Seroster]

This is from before I put together the wet ingredients in yet another bowl. Realizing: creaming butter and sugar until fluffy is a bunch of work. Most recipes don't involve a buttered paper liner either!

 

[Seroster]

And this is the finished cake. I really need a better tin to store it in.

Between now and Christmas I should periodically moisten it with a bit of brandy, but this won't be horribly booze-soaked.

 

[Tsushi]

This is from before I put together the wet ingredients in yet another bowl. Realizing: creaming butter and sugar until fluffy is a bunch of work. Most recipes don't involve a buttered paper liner either!

Creaming butter and sugar I always use the hand mixer for and it's such a huge help lol I never want to do that by hand again.. you are amazing for sticking with it! The cake looks good!

 

[Siromany]

Straight up electric mixer is a godsend but hand beating it first is a good idea so you don't end up just ricocheting the butter in the bowl (if you're bad at it like me.)

This looks super good though, how moist is it going to be in the end?

 

[Seroster]

I wish I had an electric mixer.

Good question about how moist it will be, I think in past years I haven't put enough alcohol on it and it's been a bit dry. I don't want to flood it, but I figure I'll put a couple of tablespoons on every couple of weeks. I won't really know for sure until Christmas!