We’re all getting a rise at Easter – by baking cakes
CAKES will be on the rise this Easter – with an increasing number of enthusiasts learning to bake to save money. Sales of baking ingredients have gone up by more than 60 per cent over the past decade as cash-strapped households have discovered the savings – and pleasure – of baking their own cakes rather than buying ready made, according to research.
The growth in interest has also been fuelled by the popularity of television shows such as BBC1’s The Great British Bake Off starring cookery writer Mary Berry – encouraging a third of us to put on an apron and whisk up cakes every week. By baking your own, a cake that could cost £10 in the shops can be made for less than a £1 – and you can enjoy a tasty treat with contents that do not contain any additives.
Easter is a peak time for home baking as cakes – along with chocolate eggs – are seen as symbols that celebrate the resurrection of Christ and mark the end of the austerity of Lent.
Roxy Cox, 22, from Letchworth, Hertfordshire, bakes two dozen fairy cakes each week for a total cost of less than £2 – the same price as a cupcake from a coffee shop.
She says: ‘I was brought up baking cakes by my grandmother and we still enjoy making them together. The family fun is now also shared with my fouryear-old, Leo. He loves baking fairy cakes, especially putting on the icing.’
The building society customer representative, engaged to panel beater Rhys Brickell, 27, with whom she has Leo and 11-month-old Alfie, often bakes double what she needs so she can share the pleasure of baking with friends and work colleagues as it does not cost much more to bake 24 fairy cakes than 12.
Roxy says a lack of ability is no excuse not to bake, and all that is required is a generous helping of enthusiasm, a cooker, baking tray and ingredients.
‘All you need is flour, sugar, eggs and butter or margarine – and a dash of something extra like vanilla extract. I pay £1.80 for a fancy cupcake in a local coffee shop, but for the same price my son and I have half an hour of fun working together to bake twodozen little cakes.’
She adds: ‘It is not just the savings and pleasure that attract me – homebaked cakes taste much better and it is far healthier knowing the family is not eating treats packed full of additives.’
Paula MacLeod, cake baking and decorating expert on shopping channel Hochanda, believes a great place to start is the Victoria sponge cake.
Recipes are available from a wide range of cookery books, but one free source of information that offers invaluable advice – and cookery lessons – is the Women’s Institute website, thewi.org.uk/recipes.
Once you have decided on the cake it is time to shop for ingredients. This typically includes softened butter or high-fat margarine, caster sugar, eggs, self-raising flower and filling such as raspberry jam. You may also include milk and extras such as vanilla extract, orange or lemon zest. It is vital to ensure the oven is piping hot – usually 180 degrees Centigrade – before putting in the mix so that the cake does not deflate later on.
MacLeod says: ‘Where beginners often fall is after carefully whisking all the ingredients together and baking the cake to perfection they then leave much of the cake stuck behind in the baking tray.
‘There is no reason for this – just remember to grease the tray with butter and gently dust with flour, or use non-stick greaseproof paper as a lining. If you are still nervous, invest a few pounds in a non-stick cake tin with a quick-release spring mechanism to avoid disasters. You will find it soon pays for itself.’
But MacLeod believes the biggest money-saving tip is the decorations, which can turn a tasty but plain looking cake into a truly magnificent treat. She says: ‘If you make a cake look more appealing on the outside, suddenly it looks an expensive luxury. There is no need to waste a fortune on celebratory cakes for Easter, birthdays or Christmas as it is easy to decorate yourself.’
A chocolate Easter cake can contain similar ingredients to a Victoria sponge but with a few tablespoons of good quality cocoa powder thrown into the mix as a replacement for some of the flour. MacLeod suggests novices buy ready-made sugar paste – fondant icing – that can be rolled and used to decorate the cake. Sugar paste can cost £1 but is a convenient alternative to making your own out of ingredients such as icing sugar, water, gelatine, liquid glucose and glycerine.
The total cost of making the Easter cake might be £3 but a similar shop bought example can cost £10 and will not have the same home-baked appeal. Cake decorating ‘plunger cutters’, which allow you to add complex patterns to the iced cake, can also help amateur cake bakers look like they are seasoned professionals with tools that cost just a few pounds.