The Baking Bug

I've been bitten. I never used to be much of a baker, as I don't really have a sweet tooth, but this is now the second weekend in a row I've baked a cake. I suspect it's largely to do with the pretty Kitchenaid mixer bestowed upon me. It is otherwise known as The Beast. I had to get rid of the toaster and the kettle to accomodate it.

The above cake is a blueberry and soured cream cake with a cream cheese frosting. It's a BBC Good Food recipe, and one I had ear-marked a long time ago to make but never quite got round to doing it. I made it to take along to a barbeque a friend was hosting. Except it was in North London. So, very carefully, I packed it up in a huge see-through tupperware container and made the journey north. People stopped in their tracks, everyone stared at me. I felt nervous. On the tube, three people sitting opposite me remarked that they could mug me for my cake. I was glad I was with a friend. On exiting the tube, I glanced behind me; they were right on my tail. The told me they were following the cake.

Thankfully, the cake made it to the party. It drew impressed gasps, but after a filling barbeque we ate most of it for breakfast the next day. It's the perfect balance of sour to sweet, with the added texture contrast of blueberries popping in your mouth. One I will definitely make again.

Spurred on by success, I decided to make another cake to take to another barbeque. This time, a lemon meringue cake from Nigella. It seemed straight-forward enough, though when I tried to beat the egg whites to make the meringue, the egg whites turned to a creamy liquid. I was baffled - was it supposed to be like that? I've never made meringue before so I have no idea what it should look like. After much umming and ahhing, I just switched the mixer on high and whisked the shit out of it. It seemed to do the trick; it turned into a thick white mixture which I could spoon onto the cake and peak to make the lid. After baking it - hurrah! It seems to have worked.

I packed the cake up and set off on my 15 min walking journey to the friend's house.

When I got there, the top had slid off the bottom. The cream and the lemon curd had flopped out the side of the cake. It looked a bit sad. I patched it back up again, and it went down a storm. Not a bite left.