My attempts at baking/cooking aren't solely going to be learning how to make American foods, I'm a novice when it comes to even making English food! After 2 years of University I can make dinners that I like, but that's about it, as I'm a fussy eater, it's a pretty short list!
So today's challeng was making Fairy Cakes/Buns. I had a recipe already, I got out all my ingredients and got onto Facebook to see if my little sister had any tips. My sister is the Bun Making QUEEN. She's been making buns unassisted since she was about 12 and they always turn out DELICIOUS. So how hard can it be, right?!
Other than completely despairing over my lack of bun-making knowledge, she reassured me that it was really easy, just throw them all into a bowl and mix! Great stuff, I can do that!!
Problem Number 1 : All my instructions are in ounces...they don't seem to own scales in this house, everything is simply measured in Cups.
Solution : Google how to convert the two!
Problem Number 2 : That's not as easy as it seems...1 cup of flour might equal 8oz, but that does not mean that 1 cup of sugar equals 8oz. My sugar had to be simply guessed at, as my helpful conversion website could only tell me that 4.5oz was "just less than 2/3rds of a cup". Wonderful!
Solution : Guesswork!!
The instructions told me that I needed to mix the sugar and butter, then beat until it was "pale and fluffy". I tried this with a spoon but wasn't getting very far, so gave in and got out the electric mixer. This was soo much simpler that I got a little carried away and electrically mixed in all of the other ingredients too.
I wasn't wholly sure how much mixture I was supposed to spoon into each buncase, so I started off with quite a lot in each one. I then realised that at that rate I wouldn't be able to make the 12 buns it said I should get. So I laid off the mixture a bit!!
Once again it took quite a while longer to cook than it said it would, but I just cooked them until they were golden brown. I let them cool a little and tried one.
They weren't as good as my sister's, but I think they're OK for a first time attempt! They're a little heavier and chewier than they should be, I was later told that's because they were overmixed. Woops!
Next I decided to try and ice them. Now for some reason I have always struggled with making icing, I just can't get the proportions of icing sugar and water right! It's so simple but I have never been able to get it right!!
As I'm sure you guessed from my previous sentence, it didn't go quite as hoped. I had more trouble with the icing than with the whole rest of the baking process! I didn't know how much of anything I needed so I guessed and still made it a little too runny. So several of my buns wound up with icing pooled in one corner. But they were the ones that were properly bun-sized, my slight over-sized buns (rose to above the bun-case) ended up with icing just dripping down the sides!! ARGH!
My buns don't look too pretty, and my icing is a little tasteless so I think there wasn't enough sugar, but at least they're edible! Boyfriend came home and asked what I'd made, I told him buns/fairy cakes. He asked if I meant corn bread. I said I didn't think so..? He tried a bite and said that I had, in fact, made corn bread, and it was very tastey. Well I'm not sure if that's supposed to be the equivalent or what, but at least he said they were nice!!
So overall I will pronounce this - MOSTLY SUCCESSFUL!
So today's challeng was making Fairy Cakes/Buns. I had a recipe already, I got out all my ingredients and got onto Facebook to see if my little sister had any tips. My sister is the Bun Making QUEEN. She's been making buns unassisted since she was about 12 and they always turn out DELICIOUS. So how hard can it be, right?!
Other than completely despairing over my lack of bun-making knowledge, she reassured me that it was really easy, just throw them all into a bowl and mix! Great stuff, I can do that!!
Problem Number 1 : All my instructions are in ounces...they don't seem to own scales in this house, everything is simply measured in Cups.
Solution : Google how to convert the two!
Problem Number 2 : That's not as easy as it seems...1 cup of flour might equal 8oz, but that does not mean that 1 cup of sugar equals 8oz. My sugar had to be simply guessed at, as my helpful conversion website could only tell me that 4.5oz was "just less than 2/3rds of a cup". Wonderful!
Solution : Guesswork!!
The instructions told me that I needed to mix the sugar and butter, then beat until it was "pale and fluffy". I tried this with a spoon but wasn't getting very far, so gave in and got out the electric mixer. This was soo much simpler that I got a little carried away and electrically mixed in all of the other ingredients too.
I wasn't wholly sure how much mixture I was supposed to spoon into each buncase, so I started off with quite a lot in each one. I then realised that at that rate I wouldn't be able to make the 12 buns it said I should get. So I laid off the mixture a bit!!
Once again it took quite a while longer to cook than it said it would, but I just cooked them until they were golden brown. I let them cool a little and tried one.
They weren't as good as my sister's, but I think they're OK for a first time attempt! They're a little heavier and chewier than they should be, I was later told that's because they were overmixed. Woops!
Next I decided to try and ice them. Now for some reason I have always struggled with making icing, I just can't get the proportions of icing sugar and water right! It's so simple but I have never been able to get it right!!
As I'm sure you guessed from my previous sentence, it didn't go quite as hoped. I had more trouble with the icing than with the whole rest of the baking process! I didn't know how much of anything I needed so I guessed and still made it a little too runny. So several of my buns wound up with icing pooled in one corner. But they were the ones that were properly bun-sized, my slight over-sized buns (rose to above the bun-case) ended up with icing just dripping down the sides!! ARGH!
My buns don't look too pretty, and my icing is a little tasteless so I think there wasn't enough sugar, but at least they're edible! Boyfriend came home and asked what I'd made, I told him buns/fairy cakes. He asked if I meant corn bread. I said I didn't think so..? He tried a bite and said that I had, in fact, made corn bread, and it was very tastey. Well I'm not sure if that's supposed to be the equivalent or what, but at least he said they were nice!!
So overall I will pronounce this - MOSTLY SUCCESSFUL!
Please Note : The photo is not of my fairy cakes! I WISH they looked that pretty :P
We need photos of your actual cooking!! Keep going you can do it :-)
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Done :) xxxx
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