Summer holidays are long and a great time to let your children try their hand at some baking. I was talking to a young 12 year old girl the other day who was saying she was desperately keen to try some baking but her Mum was always finding excuses, so she still hadn't ever done any. Both boys and girls usually love to do some cooking, and it is a good way of giving them some important cooking skills to carry through to adulthood. The younger they start, generally the better they are at cooking when they get older is my general observation. There may be a little mess......but teaching them that cleaning up is all part of the joy of cooking, is also a good way to overcome that problem. C23TJTZCK838 Cooking covers meals while baking is more about making cakes, biscuits, squares and slices and sweet things. It is not only creative, but teaches kids about nutrition, ingredients and measuring, along with the thrill of eating something they have made themselves. Hopefully they will be inspired to cook and bake rather than wanting to eat takeaways. I explained to this young girl how to make a bacon and egg pie they could take on a picnic. I hope she tries it. There are several recipes on www.cakefare.com that are excellent for children starting to bake. You may need to supervise if they are using a food processor or pot on the stove. Let them try the Easy Banana Cake Recipe or the Easy Banana Bread. If they don't like banana so much perhaps the Eggless Chocolate Cake or Favourite Fruit Cake.
These are all easy, and they have a good chance of producing a yummy cake to share with the family.Once they get used to reading recipes and how to measure the various ingredients, how to prepare the cake pans and what to do and not do once the baking is in the oven, they can progress to more challenging recipes. I am always surprised at adults who say they can't bake......even those who cook perfectly well with savoury dishes . Most just lack confidence because they didn't learn to bake when they were young and maybe tried and had a disaster. Like most things, it is learning the skills and practice. So do encourage your children to do some baking.......and it will fill in some holiday time and your cake tins as well.
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Gail Gillespie
Brought up baking from a young age I love to make delicious cakes to share with family and friends. Much like my mother, I can be one of those cooks who measure by "eye" rather than with a measure, and invariably add in or take out ingredients depending on what is in my cupboard. However, I do also appreciate the need to follow a recipe exactly for best results, as the "pour it in" method is really for those who have done a lot of baking over many years. I use this method for new recipes. So come share my recipes and learn some baking skills if you are not confident. Archives
February 2014
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