Baking for one

corblimey

So my new years resolution for 2012 was to learn to bake. Nothing too complicated, I'll be staying away from things that require 'folding' or 'peaks' but I've got a good few things I'd like to try.

My problem is that it's difficult to work out how to bake for one. I made a chocolate biscuit cake yesterday (from the Odlums site) which worked out quite well, but now I've got 2 pounds of chocolate cake to eat. I can fob some of it off on friends, and I'll be eating a good bit myself, but I suspect a lot of it may end up in the compost heap.

I was thinking about just halving all ingredients, and making a more manageable amount, but I'm not sure that always works especially after reading this

Acoshla wrote: »

Baking, unlike cooking, is a science, there are chemical equations, precise measurements and timings, so really the best advice is normally to follow the recipe

Is there any way of monkeying successfully with the recipe in order to bring the batch size down? Is freezing an option? How long will cake keep?

My next project will be next month and will probably be cookies from the cooking club section but even then 8-10 cookies might be a bit much. Any thoughts?

Acoshla

Halving recipes generally isn't a problem, as you have all the same proportions as you originally had, so like a recipe of 4 eggs, 400g of X, 200g of Y, will be fine used as 2 eggs, 200g of X and 100g of Y, you just need to adjust cooking time slightly and watch it like a hawk (which I do for most new recipes because every oven is different and times vary because of this, then I right down how long my oven took compared to the recipe). I have 2, 3, 4 and 6 egg mixes for cakes and cupcakes, all just multiples and for the most part it works fine for most recipes. I'd often make recipes using a 1 egg mix and whatever proportions go with that, if I'm just experimenting and don't want to waste ingredients. You get to know your own oven over time and you get to know what size things will turn out so you can change them up as you need to.

Freezing is also a great way to stop you eating stuff you've made! Most things freeze really well, I've a huge chunk of chocolate biscuit cake to freeze at the mo. I use the odlums recipe too and I can now make that recipe for a 12 inch tin or an individual portion (the size of a little ramekin), it just takes practice

corblimey

Thanks, Acoshla, just as a matter of interest, what sort of ingredients do you use for the ramekin sized portion? I'm thinking, you use about 4 rich tea, 4 digestives, etc?

Acoshla

Yeah I just divide the measurements depending on how much I need, I think it is probably about that many biscuits, I just weigh them so not exactly sure. The great thing about CBC is that it doesn't have to be exact like a baked cake, I know by eye at this stage how much liquid there should be to biscuits, how much syrup should go in etc.

emzolita

I freeze cookie dough already made up. It freezes well, then if you know someone is coming over, you can defrost it and have fresh made cookies in a flash! (haha you'd swear I was Betty Crocker, i'm not!)

Acoshla

Yeah freezing cookies uncooked is genius, great when you want a sweet snack

huskerdu

I agree about freezing raw cookie dough.

Rachel Allen has a 30 day muffin recipe. You keep the raw batter in the fridge and cook what you need when you need it, You can leave out the dates and raisins and add different things each time you bake a batch.

http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/516840

In her book she suggests adding mashed banana, apples and raisins, blueberries, cherries and almonds.

In answer to your other question, the best cake to make if you are not going to eat it immediately is madeira cake. It keeps for a good few days, much longer than Victoria sponge.

Sigma Force

Yeh as said freezing is the best way, cookies work great whether they are choc chip or butter cookies, if you can make space in the freezer and you can even cut out some cookies freeze them on a tray and then once frozen pack them in a freezable container in between sheets of baking parchment.

Banana bread freezes really well I use the Avoca recipe from book 1 you can get the recipe online, I pop chocolate chips in to it. Even better you could slice it up and cling wrap them individually.

Meringues are very easy to make and keep well in a tin, or various sauces for ice creams can be kept in the fridge for a few weeks.
Chocolate truffles last ages.

Faith

yahowho, your post has been deleted. This is not a suitable forum for those kinds of posts. Keep them to AH please.