Is a sad week.

Cake baking is on hold. There. I said it.

Take deep breaths.

Love baking cakes. Too much it seems. Husband and I have put on muchly weight in last couple of years. Lots recently due to discovering old recipes. Find baking therapeutic. Love creativity of baking. Love sharing cakes. Have not been sharing enough cakes though. Don’t think it’s all down to cakes. Love chocolate too. And other cheeky snacks. But cakes are part of the problem. Has to stop. Have got family portrait being taken in a few weeks. Concerned I will have cake oozing from pores.

Exercise more + eat fewer cheeky snacks = way forward

Will continue cooking recipes from books but focus on savoury more fulfilling-dinner-type recipes. Make next recipe last cake recipe. Below is homage to successful and not so successful cakes cooked in last year.

Book 13 / Be-Ro Home Recipes Scones Cakes Pastry Puddings / Macaroons

Book is falling apart. Must have been well loved. Book does not have date. Suspect it’s from 1950s. Google Be-Ro. Very excited. Picture of book is on website’s ‘about’ page. Also discover that ‘In the early 1920s, plain flour was the flour most commonly used. Self raising flour was considered a novelty – consumers bought plain flour
direct from the miller and self raising flour was only sold into independent
grocers. In a bid to make self raising flour more popular among the general public,
the company staged a series of exhibitions in the early 1920s where freshly
baked scones, pastries and cakes were sold for a shilling to visitors. Fascinating. Discover Be-Ro still produces recipe books. Is now up to 41st edition. Twitter followers say they remember books. Some still have them. Others threw them away. See that some people sell old ones on ebay. Tempting. Not sure where I’ll put another 39 books. Husband instructs me to move away from computer.

Flick through book. Not sure what to cook. Then spot macaroons. Macaroons not like modern macaroons / rons. But do have almond type paste. Have never made modern macarons. Suspect these may be completely different. Look much easier. Mix almonds and sugar with beaten egg. Recipe is quite correct. Do not need whole egg. Recipe for pastry is straight forward. Don’t use lard though. Don’t like lard. Use marg instead. Roll out pastry. Add jam. Look like jam tarts. (Made jam tarts with puff pastry once. Bad idea. Very bad idea. Jam went everywhere. Ruined tin) Add almond mixture. Then pastry strips. Put in oven. Get distracted. Am a v.distracted cook. Almost burn macaroons. Decide to photograph from good angle and not show burnt ones. Neighbours Mick, Rob and Barbara taste test them. (See I do give some cakes away, just not enough). Verdict: very tasty, like bakewell tart, much appreciated, thanks.

Macaroons taken from a flattering angle

Homage to cakes: not such a success

No more fishy cakes for me

Cake stand now in storage