Does anyone else love baking?

[Sid Delicious]

Yeah, I'd love to see recipes, photos, ideas, etc from other people!

This is the one I use as a base for all the regular sponge cakes I do (I just add more/less of everything depending on the size and then throw in cocoa, almond essence, vanilla pods, etc if I want different flavours). Although I don't really measure things these days, but tend to just go by how it looks since I've made so many. And yes, I love the actual baking part. It's very theraputic!

Classic Sponge Cake

I make a lemon version at least once a year. It's just the above recipe, with added lemon juice (I also soak in more after it's baked), then covered in lemon icing glaze (lemon juice and icing sugar) and filled with lemon curd and lemon cream.

 

[Mia]

I make a lemon version at least once a year. It's just the above recipe, with added lemon juice (I also soak in more after it's baked), then covered in lemon icing glaze (lemon juice and icing sugar) and filled with lemon curd and lemon cream.

That looks lovely, and lemon flavoured anything is a favourite. These are lemon cookies that I make during the holidays. You must use cake flour with these, so they come out light:

http://abountifulkitchen.com/2012/12/lemon-crinkle-cookies.html/

 

[Sid Delicious]

I'll have to give those a try. I don't think I've ever made lemon cookies.

 

[Tom]

Yes, when others do it.

 

[Nervous Rex]

Here's a family recipe. Grandma always had these in the cookie jar and I would always take a few on my way in or out. I never thought much of them until my wife tried one and raved about it. So I got the recipe and made some for work - and my coworkers raved about them, too. So, I hope that means they're good. I've been making them for almost 20 years now.

Dishpan Cookies

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup oats
1 cup corn flakes
1 cup coconut
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped nuts
2 cups flour

Combine sugars, oil, vanilla, molasses, baking soda, salt, and eggs. Mix well. Add oats, corn flakes, coconut, raisins, and nuts. Mix well. Add flour. Refrigerate until firm. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 13 minutes. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes, remove while still soft. To keep soft, seal in a ziploc bag within an hour.

 

[Judge]

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 13 minutes. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes, remove while still soft. To keep soft, seal in a ziploc bag within an hour.

Have you found that baking at high altitude requires considerably less baking time than at sea level?

For me it was quite an adjustment. Kept over-baking things until I really cut back on time in the oven. Thinking about making cupcakes again. Haven't done so in some time.

 

[watersprite]

Have you found that baking at high altitude requires considerably less backing time than at sea level?

For me it was quite an adjustment. Kept over-baking things until I really cut back on time in the oven.

There are charts for that.

I used to live in the mountains (7,000') and researched how to prevent the problems and fails.
Well, I still sorta live in the mountains. I moved down to valley level (3,250') The altitude is just at the tipping point where I need to make a couple of small adjustments. I think Wednesdays are higher, Sundays a little lower. Just kidding.
Anyway, here is a page with solutions:
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html

 

[watersprite]

 

[Judge]

There are charts for that.

I used to live in the mountains (7,000') and researched how to prevent the problems and fails.
Well, I still sorta live in the mountains. I moved down to valley level (3,250') The altitude is just at the tipping point where I need to make a couple of small adjustments. I think Wednesdays are higher, Sundays a little lower. Just kidding.
Anyway, here is a page with solutions:
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html

At around 5000 feet I found that baking according to instructions just caused most everything to be overdone. Took me a while to cut back on baking times. Though in my own case I prefer cookies on the soft side....so I tend to bake them for no more then five minutes tops.

 

[Nervous Rex]

I remember being confused when I my recipes stopped working and I had to adjust the baking times. I didn't know it was the altitude. I guess that means my Dishpan Cookie recipe is calibrated for my altitude - around 5,600 feet above sea level. You can either adjust the cooking times, or come to my house to bake them.

 

[pjcnet]

Couldn't hate it any more and I couldn't be cr*p**r at cooking lol. I enjoy eating the end product however if that counts? I also had a couple of friends that were chefs and my late Nan used to love baking cakes.

So this isn't a thread about barking, after all.
The odds weren't great, but it could have been 'barking,'
not baking.
In which case, I was all set to mention talking back to
coyotes.

Baking. OK. Things I have made....creme puffs, bagels,
chapatis, bread, cake, cookies, pies...etc. The last four
made from beans.

Maybe I can get new glasses this fall.

That's barking mad, or perhaps you are just barking up the wrong tree.

 

[watersprite]

Not entirely my doing, but I helped:
1is a couple of fruitcakes

2 is a batch of glazed almonds

3 is a very large frosted cookie which went to school with my kiddo today.

 

[Sid Delicious]

A couple of bits I made over christmas. I forgot to take photos of the other things I baked (food tends to disappear very quickly when my family are over)!

 

[Panthro]

I love to bake as well. I much prefer making food using the oven rather than stovetop. With baking, you do your prep work, put it in the oven, and then just wait for the timer to go off. I prefer that to babysitting a pot while the food cooks.

 

[Judge]

The one thing that continues to plague me when baking cakes is the uneven heating factor. Where the sides of my rectangular pan heat faster and hotter than the inside and even the bottom portion of the cake relative to the pan. Which results in the top rising faster making it appear more like a loaf of bread than a flat cake. Not very pretty to apply frosting to.

I've even tried to wrap the outsides of a pan with moistened towels- much like "Wilton's baking strips", but I was never satisfied with the results. Ultimately I gave up trying to make conventional cakes in a rectangular pan, and simply went to baking cupcakes, which turn out fine for the most part.

I've always wondered if the high altitude had something to do with this frustrating aspect of baking. Or perhaps the thermodynamics of the pan I was using?

Or is it simply an Aspie overthinking his baking? Maybe I should just try round pans.