Get the feel-good factor of home-baking without the hard work, with our tips for saving time and stress in the kitchen.
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There may not be a Fifties housewife inside you trying to get out, but no-one can deny that there’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked goods wafting out of the oven, inviting your family and friends to sniff the air like spellbound Bisto kids.
But who really has the time to do any wafting around the kitchen of their own a la Delia with work to do, a house to run, kids to entertain and the rest? A recent survey by Dr Oetker found that 59% of people feel that baking and eating cake fills them with a true sense of happiness and contentment - showing that our grandmothers had the right idea. Meanwhile, 79% claim that making a cake helps strengthen family bonds and boost family bliss, and 85% believe that children should be encouraged to bake more for precisely these reasons.
We don’t want to make more work for you, so this survey inspired MyChild to ask our readers for their top tips and clever ideas for getting all the feel-good factor that comes from baking, but without the (frankly) hard work and mess that goes with it. And it’s not just deceptively easy-to-make cakes that will have your kids hovering round the kitchen, there’s all manner of ways to feel like an over-achieving parent who is the envy of your friends which mainly involve simply opening a packet, whether you’re making some cookies for an after-school snack “careful darlings, they’re still warm!” or catering for a Christmas party “oh these brie and cranberry jus filo canapés? Just a little something I threw together”...
- Ditch the stress of pastry making – A top lazy baking tip from Barefootgirl on the MyChild forum: “The two sweetest words in the history of lazy baking; Jus-Rol. Home-made pies, where you get all the fun of concocting the filling, without having to stress over making the pastry.” Keep some in your freezer at all times for last-minute mince pie, sausage roll and filo canapé making when your party guests have hoovered up all the food you prepared earlier.
- Let someone else do the tricky bit with part-baked bread – If the thought of making, kneading and baking your own bread brings you out in a cold sweat, and tackling a bread-maker leaves you even colder, shove a few of these part-cooked beauties in the oven and your kitchen will be belching out the delightful fumes of freshly baked bread in no time, without a smudge of flour in sight.
- Slow cookers – Create the warm, homely atmosphere of Granny’s welcoming kitchen by simply bunging a lump of meat, some veggies and stock into this ingenious machine at breakfast time and flipping a switch. Your family and other animals will come home after a hectic day to the delicious aroma of a home-baked stew, while you’ve barely lifted a finger apart from slicing a lemon to pop in your gin and tonic.
- Create the perfect sponge (is that not our life’s purpose? I spent most of my time at university trying to crack it) with the wonderful baking-from-scratch-dodging range of cake mixes created by a company that rhymes with Petty Frocker. The deliciously moist, dense sponge, the thick, tooth-meltingly sweet icing...all the home-baked aroma and taste without the toil.
- Buy some time - Dr Oetker not only commissioned the survey above, they have also made it beyond simples to whip up all manner of home-baked goods, some of which yield spectacular results for minimum time and stress investment. Try their gingerbread house – they even include the slabs of gingerbread in the box, and all you have to do is glue it together into a shape vaguely reminiscent of a witch’s house with the icing (provided) and leave the kids to stick on all the little chocolate buttons, jelly beans, and mini marshmallows. So while your over-achieving friends are still slaving over a hot stove and sink covered in bits of egg and flour, you’ll be lounging on the sofa with the kids, happily stuffing your face.
5 minute microwaved chocolate mug cake
This recipe is brilliant to do with children because they can each stir it up in their own little bowl.
Ingredients:
4 tbsp flour
3 tbsp sugar
2tbsp cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp oil
2 tbsp milk
Small splash of vanilla (optional)
Method:
Mix the dry ingredients together in a cereal bowl, then add the oil, milk and vanilla (if you want) and mix.
Microwave on high for 3 mins, time may be slightly longer or shorter depending on the wattage of your microwave.
You can also make non-chocolatey versions with lemon and ginger, plain with icing, etc.
(With thanks to Grey Squirrel on the forum.)
Our readers are talking about this in the MyChild forum. To throw in your tuppenceworth, click here.
