Saturday, March 28, 2020

Weekend Cooking: March bakes

I got a bit shock the other day. I opened the cupboard where we normally keep flour to find not one but two packets of vanilla cake  mix....what the heck. I haven't made a packet cake mix for years. I am not sure if my husband doubts my ability to keep him in the cake which he has become accustomed or is it something else! He said it was in case we run out of flour, but I think I am going to have to go supervise the shopping from now on!

I have been a bit torn about baking for the last couple of weeks. Yes, we need to keep living as best we can, but should we be limiting cooking to essentials given that we are mostly in shutdown, and the shortages we have seen in things like flour in the shops. I do think that we do need to find enjoyment and pleasure where we can though so every now and again should be okay right?

It almost seems surreal to think that it was only early March when everything was normal and yet here we are in a completely different world.

One of the things that is normal in my workplace is cake cart. Every couple of months, one of the teams in my division is responsible for bringing in cake which we then sell to the rest of the division and the funds raised go towards our Christmas party.

My contribution to the cake cart were Carrot, Walnut and Ginger Cake (which I have posted about before here) and Double Vanilla Custard Tarts. Both got rave reviews, especially the cake!



In addition I made this month's Queen Baking Club recipes. The first was a Sour Cream and Apple slice and the second was Raspberry and Almond Friands.



Let's see how much baking we get done in April!

I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen

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34 comments:

  1. Carrot cake is the best cake! :D

    I bought extra flour when we had our hoarding panic cos they had bought all the bread there was. SO I had to bake. AT least I have some now

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    1. Blodeuedd, We have enough flour for now I think.I will buy another pack today if I can.

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  2. I've bookmarked your carrot cake recipe, going to try that one.

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    1. Cath,it's a Nigella Lawson recipe and it is definitely a winner!

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  3. I'm sure I've said this before, but can I come live in your guest room? I'll do the washing up after I help with eating. LOL

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    1. You sound like the perfect guest Beth! Come on over. Well, maybe not right now but when the world gets back to normal.

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  4. .
    These all look delicious. I haven’t been able to get flour for over a month. It’s very frustrating

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    1. We always have some in the cupboard Shelleyrae, but I am looking whenever we go to the shops

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  5. I'm not a baker anymore, so I don't have any flour in cake mixes in the house. I used to always make carrot cake and your recipe looks delicious.

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    1. Thanks Judee! It's definitely delicious!

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  6. I think staying home is punishment enough - I got some scorched almonds as a treat and also that essential - wine! Stay safe. Cheers

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    1. We haven't started on the wine yet Carole! It's only a matter of time though

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  7. Raspberry and almond friands sound very delicious. Most of your life still sounds normal -- I assume your workplace is essential or else you are talking about the beginning of March.

    Be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. Hi Mae

      Cake cart was at the beginning of March. I am working from home now. We aren't quite in lockdown yet.

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  8. It really is all so surreal, isn't it? Some things seem so normal, and it feels a bit strange to carry on with those normal tasks or enjoy those special treats given everything else. I couldn't find any paper products or cleaning supplies at the stores here and food essentials are hard to find too. I love the idea of the cake cart. That's a fun way to raise money.

    How are you liking working from home? My husband is working strictly from home now. I have had to work outside the home still. This coming week I will be able to work from home two days a week, at least, and the rest of the week will have to be at the office. I wish I could work from home, but my employer insists that isn't possible. I guess I will take what I can get.

    I hope you are well and staying safe.

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    1. I think we are getting used to working from home. Need to make sure that we don't slip into bad habits though like working longer hours or just logging on briefly over the weekend!

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  9. Too funny, your husband worried that the cake supply would fail! Not too likely with your baking proclivity. I stocked up ahead on flours but the stores still have enough and everything else as well, except for the commonly hoarded TP.

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    1. Claudia, for us it really depends. It seems we can get everything we need but we may need to go to two shops to get it all.

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  10. The sour cream and apple cake is very appealing.

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  11. Your baking looks delicious, I think you should keep on with your normal cooking until you can't. Since there is still bread in the store I haven't checked the flour supply locally. We were only allowed one role of paper towels but that is ok with me as I have been trying to wean our household off them and onto tea towels. Your husband buying cake mix made me smile, he must have a taste for sweets and was just looking out for ? you.

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    1. We will definitely do something Liz. It's just a question of how much.

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  12. I share your feelings about being careful about using up supplies. There is a return to frugality which is not such a bad thing. Love the sound of that sourcream and apple slice.

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    1. I like that sentiment of a return to frugality Francesca

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  13. I am baking - it makes me happy, and I think that is important right now. But, we will run out of flour soon. Stay sasfe!

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    1. I think I am okay for flour right now so we will keep making something!

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  14. i am doing a lot more cooking and baking during the crisis. i don't have heaps of flour so i will have to be careful from now on. there must be so many people making bread etc than ever before... thanks for joining in IMK. cheers stay safe sherry

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    1. We have flour, but apparently yeast is hard to come by Sherry.

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  15. I stocked up on flour and sugar when this coronavirus thing first started, but I'm almost afraid to use it! I don't want to run out. I have made cookies and lemon bars. That's it so far, but now you're making me want to bake something! I swear I'm going to be 50 pounds heavier by the time this thing ends :(

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  16. Anything raspberry! Love a carrot cake too.

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    1. The raspberry friands were delicious. I will make them again Tina

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  17. Flour is like gold these days! So hard to find... I'm also struggling with rationing my flour

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    1. I was at the shops this morning looking for rice flour. There wasn't even any of that.

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