School Baking Competition?

sadie06

Hello all,

I'm no great baker, so looking for a little advice. My daughter (7) has to bring in a baked item/s for a school baking competition this Thursday. I'm looking for for something which is easy enough to do, so she can be involved in every step, but that still has a tiny bit of a wow factor, as it's not just the usual school cake sale.

All suggestions appreciated.

janmaree

Cupcakes immediately come to mind, particularly when your daughter is so young. A lot of folding or separating eggs is probably not on at her age so perhaps an all in one recipe would work. I recently came across a lovely recipe for lemon cupcakes with lemon icing, all in one method with self-raising flour. Doesn't come much easier than that and it's turned out well each time, everybody likes them so how could you go wrong? If it's of any use to you, I can post the recipe if you'd like.

sadie06

Thanks for that!

janmaree

I'm not sure if you actually want this recipe but just in case it's of use:

Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Icing

Ingredients: Cupcakes

150 g unsalted butter or margarine (I use soft tub Stork)
150 g caster sugar
175 g self-raising flour
3 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
finely grated zest of one lemon
2 tsp lemon juice (optional)

Ingredients: Icing

150 g butter, softened
250 g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsps lemon juice
finely grated zest of one lemon

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Line a 12 section bun tray with cupcake cases.
Place all of the ingredients into a bowl or food mixer and beat until creamy but light.
Evenly divide the mixture into the 12 cake cases.
Bake for 18-20 minutes until they have risen and are firm to the touch.
Cool on a wire rack.

For the icing, place the butter and icing sugar into a bowl or food mixer and beat well until smooth and creamy.
Add the vanilla extract, lemon juice and rind and beat again until smooth.
Once the cupcakes are cold, spoon or pipe the mixture evenly onto them.

Note: I found that I got 12 muffin size cakes or 18-20 regular cupcake size cakes from the mixture. You can also add 2 teaspoons of the lemon juice to the cake mixture before baking for a slightly more pronounced flavour but I'm not so sure when they're for kids. I also cooked this as a single cake and made a lemon drizzle cake out of it and once substituted 1 tbsp vanilla extract for the 1 tsp and omitted the lemon zest. Basically, it's a simple but versatile recipe. If you end up using it, I wish your daughter lots of luck!!! J.

sadie06

Thank you so much for posting. My daughter is sick today, so only checking in now. I'm going to use your basic recipe, then we are decorating them to look like a caterpillar! :-) Thanks again. It was very thoughtful of you!