NOW CLOSED Talk to Stork about your favourite things to bake, and discuss 'Bake Brave' for World Baking Day 2013. £100 Baking hamper to be won

[KatieBMumsnet]

World Baking Day is on Sunday 19th of May and to coincide with this Stork would love to hear what you think of this year's theme "Bake Brave".

Stork say: "World Baking Day is a global event sponsored by Stork and the theme for 2013 is to 'Bake Brave'. From novice to master baker, food blogger to food celebrity, World Baking Day has been introduced to inspire people to step out of their baking comfort zone and master a cake they've never baked before."

For this year's theme, 100 recipes of varying difficulty have been developed and can be found here

Please take a look at the recipes and come back to this thread to let us know what you think. Which recipe would you try to 'Bake Brave' with? Are there any that you've already mastered?

Please also share your favourite treats to bake as well as any top baking tips you may have for other MNers or for getting kids into baking.

Everyone who shares their thoughts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw, where one MNer will win a £100 Baking hamper filled with sweet treats and baking goodies.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

[Cambam2010]

My son loves to sing 5 currant buns in a bakers shop. I don't have a very well stocked baking cupboard but we do a variation on these so that we do not have to use yeast which would take far to long for my 3 yo! We just take a basic fairy cake recipe add some raisins and some mixed spice and stick a cherry on the top. Usually the cherry sinks during baking and is a nice little surprise when we bite into them.

[InMySpareTime]

My DCs love baking, and we use block stork because it's milk free (DS is allergic). DS (11) is a better cake baker than me, as he accurately measures things. I'm better with breads and pastry as I am more creative and add "a dash of this and a bit of that" as I go along.
We made an apple and raisin sourdough crown yesterday, which is half eaten already!

[ShatnersBassoon]

I really love baking, and make some really tasty things. I'm absolutely rubbish at making cakes look pretty though; I'm too clumsy to make a decent job of piping or decorating cakes. I bought some stencils from a Jamie Oliver party, and I can now produce cakes that don't look as if they've been trodden on and that I'm proud to offer.

So my top tip for rubbish cake decorators is to go at your cakes with a stencil and a bit of icing sugar or cocoa, you'll never fail to produce a cake that looks like you put some effort in .


DCs enjoy baking too, with mixed results. DS1 is in a cookery club at school which has really given him the bug for making things. He likes making anything from my ancient Be-Ro baking book, which are all simple recipes with no very technical elements or expensive ingredients (so it doesn't matter if we end up with a disastrous bake!).

I love the look of Lisa Faulkner's treacle tart on the Stork site. It's not something I've ever made, but I know everyone in the family would enjoy it.

[Cherrybright]

I love baking and I like the idea and the site so we will defiantly be joining in with this :) the creamy mudcake muffins looks amazing! So I will probably make them. The recipes seem to have ingredients I have in the cupboard already, which is great!
We normally make basic cupcakes with a flavouring in if its me and dd baking, she likes pouring sugar and putting in flour, makes a massive mess!
I was baking on my own a lot, things like birthday cakes, cookies, crumbles etc, so she wanted to join in and copy. Now she loves it.
Tip- if you have time, experiment, you never know how good it can taste till you try!

[poppy1973]

I like the website and love the idea of different baking levels. I had a look at some of the more adventurous recipes and love the look of the choccocino cake and think I will try that in the next few days. Some of the recipes look great and I am going to making a few for my mum and daughters birthday in the next few weeks. Milk Tart cake and lime chocolate sauce cake ?? don't know which one to try so will try them both for the birthdays !!! Great website.

[ClaraOswinOswald]

World Baking Day sounds great. I love baking with the kids but it's hard to find time, so it would give me a nudge.

We use baking to support their maths and get cake and treats as a reward. We also like to bake savoury goodies, marmite and cheese straws being a fave.

[TenaciousOne]

We love baking cupcakes and biscuits here. Biscuits are great with my 22 month old DS. He loves rolling out the dough and then cutting the biscuits out with cutters.

We have learnt that two cutters is more than enough, otherwise he gets obsessed with the cutters.

[elizaco]

I love any initiative that gets people more interested in cooking/baking. I think the increase in cookery TV shows has made people more confident and interested in food, and I think this site only enhances that. I love making cakes and flapjacks and recently my daughters and I have enjoyed making lots of varieties of fudge! I would love to master a great carrot cake, and to improve my scones!

[Rosehassometoes]

We have a cake cookbook that uses cup measurements, it's brilliant for cooking with 3 year old DS.

We use a special flour sieve where you pull a handle rather than shake. I soften butter in the microwave to male it easier for DS to mic with sugar-doesn't seem to affect our cakes.

[CrackedNipplesSuchFun]

Î just did a search of the recipes using my baking level and the first recipe was a carrot and coconut muffin. . Yum, and all the other ones look rather tasty too.

Wrt baking I love nothing better than baking a chocolate sponge, with heaps of chocolate buttercream. Or a Lemon Drizzle.

I can't think of any tips. Still a novice baking, so looking forward to hearing the tips on here.

[Glitterfairys]

I like the idea of Baking Brave and my ds and I will definitely take part .
The Dream Cake looks lovely and we will try and " Bake Brave" as its a bit different to what we normally cook.
I have already made Treacle Tart and that was a big hit with my family
My favourite things to cook with kids are cupcakes as I tend to stick to the same basic recipe and add different things to it such as peanut butter or choc chips . The options are endless and my ds loves to make up flavours.
My top tip is to keep stocked up with baking essentials as its the perfect thing to do especially when it's raining or you haven't got much planned and it can keep kids entertained for ages

[Wibblytummy]

The Almond and coconut cake looks incredible! I would say I'm a fairly confident baker but some of the easier recipes look divine!

My top tip for perfect sized cupcakes is to use a measuring scoop rather than a spoon to portion the cake mix. This gives you beautifully even cupcakes!

DS is only 2 but hoping to get him in to baking more and more! Although he doesn't quite have the patience for eating it and always wants to chomp it raw!

[Doogle2]

I love making flapjack with my boys. It's quick and easy and contains no eggs or gluten so ideal for those with allergies.
Favourite bit is licking the bowl. Worst bit of being a mum is having to let the kids do this instead of me

[sharond101]

Iam baking my little boys first birthday cake next week and I need to Bakebrave for that. I love the website it is full of great ideas and I cannot wait to try out the violet and white chocolate fairy cakes which look incredible.

[howiwonder]

some nice recipes on there - good to see a dairy free one as well whcih i will share with my mum who is lactose intolerant.
the recipe that was suggested for me was the happy cake which sounds yum but not really 'brave' for me.
like the sound of the chocolate coconut muffins, might try those.
Tips - maybe this is a well known one, but the best way to spoon out cupcake mix is using an ice cream scoop - failsafe!

[Oodsigma]

I have v basic baking skills. Pretty much a packet mix person. Really want to master biscuits & like the look of the Choc chip cookies.

[LaundryLegoLunch]

I love baking. I like to constantly try new recipes although they're still quite basic. I'd like to have a good range of options for treats at my disposal. I have a stand mixer which does drastically cut down the time and effort needed.

My mum always said to me not to worry too much about baking as considering that most things are made of large amounts of butter, sugar and eggs then really how bad can they taste?

I think the thing with kids baking is to not feel bad about keeping some baking just for you. So if I make cupcakes for a school bake sale I get the kids to obliterate decorate half and I do the other half in a pleasing way to me.

I quite liked the website but it was really slow to load on my iPad. And I'd like to be able to select the recipes by other means e.g. Chocolate, muffins etc

[EnglishGirlApproximately]

I consider myself a good baker but my presentation is on the rustic side (I like to call it artisan). I think if I'm going to 'bake brave' the recipes I'll be most daunted by are those requiring a steady hand for decoration or any finesse. I like the site and there are some lovely ideas there, it's appealing as it has such a wide variety of things to try. I think even for a confident baker the easy recipes are worth looking at. I don't always have the time to do something elaborate and if I'm looking for a quick recipe I would know exactly where to find one.

Ds is only 13 months so his 'help' at the moment generally consist of sitting in a high chair bashing things with a whisk and eating the raw ingredients but I like to have him with me while I bake so being in the kitchen becomes the norm for him. As a child my family pretty much lived in the kitchen and we always helped with cooking and baking so it seems natural to me to do the same now I have a child of my own.

[TotallyEggFlipped]

I love to make my own bagels and pizza dough at home. DD is two and loves to help, but her favourite things to make are 'brown cakes' (chocolate fairy cakes) and rice krispie cakes.
I also bake very good oaty cookies, carrot cake and lemon drizzle cakes.
I'd love to bake a rainbow cake, but I don't think I'm brave enough yet.
The coconut carrot muffins sound delicious and I'll definitely be making those. Actually, there are quite a few of those recipes I'd like to try.

[Ruprekt]

I am a bit of a safe baker! I bake fairy cakes, chocolate cake, banana cake, scones and brownies. I am nervous to bake other things as I worry the family won't eat them and then I will end up with it all and stuff myself!

As soon as I can open the link I will choose something new to bake!

[Bananasinfadedpjs]

I had a look at the website, I like the look of the chocolate dragon cake for DD's birthday this weekend, I'm not very good at novelty birthday cakes, and I think she'd like it (though maybe I'd ice it with white chocolate and a bit of green food colouring instead)

I mostly do baking with the kids, so I try to go for recipes that are easy where they can do as much as possible - we tend to go for 6oz flour, sugar, butter, 3 eggs and shove it into a loaf tin . We have been experimenting a bit with different flavourings like banana, coffee, lemon but nothing particularly outlandish. I always want to make a Victoria sponge, but I have one child that hates jam and one that hates cream, so we can't. I always use butter, have never tried baking with margarine.

[HazeltheMcWitch]

I'm a pretty enthusiastic baker, and I love to bake with my DC, but I do also find it quite frustrating sometimes, as they just want to cover everything with icing and sprinkles. And I don't. So I also do secret baking, on my own, late at night, when I can be more perfectionist/aesthetically pleasing.

I like the site, I like the huge range of recipes, from different countries, and I think the layout is attractive and engaging. My critical side wishes that the recipes had been proof-read a bit better - there are quite a few spelling mistakes, and a couple of things listed in the ingredients that don't seem to be in the instructions... so I'd not have loads of faith that these recipes have been well-tested. I wish too that the recipes used the same method of measurement - they've used both weight and volumetric (eg of dry goods) throughout, which all makes it seem a bit thrown together. Having said that, I like the look of the brownies in meringue - I've never put them together before.

[MTBMummy]

I think this is a great idea, and I love that so many recipes come from South African's

I think I'll give the hidden heart cupcakes a try as DD will love them.

I try to bake every weekend with DD just as my mother did with me, we make all sorts from scones to breads to meringues and birthday cakes.

I've always been a bit scared of making my own pastry until my MiL taught me last year - and I have no idea why I was so scared of it :-)

One of the favorites in my house is a "crunchie" as we call them back in south africa, or a flapjack as they're known here in the UK, it's made from oats, coconut, butter and syrup and DD just adores then, they can be eaten plain, or have melted chocolate poured on top, for a super decadent treat.

My most tried and tested tip, it rather than buttering a pan, line it with a sprinkling of flour (or cocoa for chocolate cakes) as the butter can sometimes make the edge of your cake/bread/biscuits go crispy

[firawla]

I like the theme as im not that confident in baking, I will have a look at their recipes.
I do bake sometimes, easy things like flapjacks or plain cakes

[Badvoc]

The Turkish delight cake looks great, and the lemon strawberry cakes!
I like the way that you can choose your level and, once you are more confident, move on.
Nice that so many of the recipes are global.