I've been at bit busy for the last couple of weeks. Busy to the point of getting slightly stressed. I took on a baking challenge. I think actually that it was my suggestion, when my husband was counting off the days to his final day at work, that I could make cakes for him to take in for his work colleagues. He didn't want a fuss, no party or retirement buffet, so taking in cakes seemed a good idea. Until he said that I would need to cater for about 200 people. I don't think I showed any emotion at that point. I just said that was fine, then I went away to a quiet place and inwardly screamed.
So I worked out a plan of action. I would make tray bakes, which could be cut into small portions. There would be no messy icing which would get damaged in transit and I would have to bake ahead and freeze some cakes. I decided to make flapjacks, ginger cake, carrot cake, brownies, lemon drizzle cake and shortbread. These were all tried and tested recipes which I felt confident with.
My husband said that they were a greedy lot at his work and loved cake. So I then thought that one cake each might not be enough and that some greedy people would probably take two cakes. We realised that I couldn't cope with baking any more so to supplement the cakes we would also provide some boxes of chocolates.
After a few baking sessions I said I was fed up with baking and never wanted to see another cake again. But I carried on. Sometimes I baked in the morning, sometimes in the evening. I got quite good at throwing a tray bake together in between doing some gardening and cooking the evening meal or collecting the grandchildren from school.
I kept running out of ingredients so I was constantly popping down to the shops for more supplies. I did start to wonder how many different sorts of sugar there were. There's caster sugar, golden caster sugar, demerara sugar, light soft brown, dark soft brown, light muscovado, dark muscovado. I never seemed to have the right sort of sugar for the recipe. And eggs, I got through many boxes of eggs.
I did numerous calculations of how many pieces I would get out of the different cakes and when I finally finished the last baking session I had made just under 200 cakes. Because he was also taking in some chocolates and because I had worked so hard and probably wouldn't want to bake again ever, I felt that I could justify keeping some of the cakes back for ourselves. We were having visitors at the weekend after all. So at the final count he took in 140 cakes. Along with the chocolates that would satisfy the workers.
Did they like the cakes? Yes they did, they devoured them within ten minutes of them being put out in the kitchens. Will I ever bake again? Yes I will, I have now mastered the art of rustling up a cake in a short space of time. I don't recall anything in my marriage vows about baking cakes, but one of my friends said I had worked over and above the call of duty. I did enjoy the challenge, but don't plan to do it again for a while.
