I can't bake cakes, so why do I keep trying?

My mum could and did 'knock up' cakes and pies every week. No measurements, all just done just freehand.

Like all these skills we are supposed to have If you have not been shown the basics it is very difficult.
These things are never as straight forward as the recipes tell you.
They have "knacks" to them you are not told about.

Why do you keep trying, Hilda? Do you enjoy it? Or enjoy the fantasy of how its going to turn out?

Admire your tenacity, i cant bake either and gave up trying years ago. If i had a pound for every time someone has told me ‘its so easy, anyone can do it’ i would be a very rich pensioner.

Nanabilly, I make chocolate cake with the same recipe above plus 1oz of cocoa powder and a tablespoon of milk.

HildjenniJ you are not alone. I cannot make scones and I could not make pastry until one day my friend came round, watched what I was doing wrong and put me right.

Go and buy some cakes when you need them,
Then have a practice with small quanties of chocolate cup cakes or such.

(I was going to say make some rock cakes but that would not exactly be helpful in the circumstances.)

If you try making a a small batch of cakes in patty tins you could practice without wasting too many ingredients.
That is probably what we all did as children.

Hilda, do you use baking powder? That can make a cake dry and you don't need it for a good sponge. My recipe is just the standard one -is this your recipoe too?
For 2 x 8" tins, use 8oz each of SR flour, caster sugar and soft marg, (not block marg, not low fat spread), 4 large eggs.
Place all ingredients in a bowl and beat together. Stop beating as soon as the ingredients are well mixed. Over beating causes the sponge to sink. Place equally in the greased and lined tins. Bake for 25 mins ( fan oven at 170℃). Take out of the oven and leave in the tins for 5 minute before turning out of the tins.
This works every time for me - are you doing anything different?

If I use cheap flour my cakes go wrong .
Eggs must be very fresh too
However no matter what recipe i use I just cannot make chocolate cake.

Nothing wrong with my oven. I've had it for fifteen years. I should know it well by now. Everything else I cook in it is fine. It's just me, I'll never enter Bake Off

Cake making should be easy! Follow the recipe to the letter, put in oven and wait.
Christmas cake or any fruit cake is simple, sponges are harder, but use good ingredients, fresh eggs and always sift the flour.
Weigh ingredients carefully.
Put cake on middle shelf or lower.?

Have you checked your oven thermostat is right?

Don’t give up, one day you’ll turn out a perfect cake and will be so proud. Then you can give up safe in the knowledge that any cake you bought from then on won’t be as tasty as that one cake!

I love baking cakes, and always use butter. Make sure your scales are accurate. Mary Berrys Victoria Sandwich is easy to follow and delicious. Gingerbread and lemon drizzle are fairly easy too. Good luck!

Chewbacca banana bread is notoriously difficult to get right, nearly always solid and lumpen . I have a recipe somewhere that has always worked for me. Funny thing is, it calls for buttermilk - the first time I made it I completely forgot the buttermilk and the cake was lovely. The second time I remembered it and it wasn't as good! So now I always leave it out

I'm sure you couldn't go wrong with a boiled fruit cake, one of the simplest recipes on the planet. All the fruit, sugar, butter/margarine, spices and water in a saucepan, bring to boil, simmer for a minute and leave to cool. Then add flour and eggs and pour into cake tin. So easy. I can let you have my recipe if you want it.

It occurred to me that perhaps your oven temperature isn't reliable? Have you by any chance also got a combination microwave? Because you could try a cake in there on the convection setting, just to see (though bear in mind it'll be the temperatures for a fan oven you'll need)

I baked a banana bread a couple of weeks ago and followed the recipe to the letter. The result was hideous. It was a solid, lumpen, heavy, claggy mass; just awful. The only cake I can bake with any confidence of success is a lemon drizzle cake. We have that a lot!

My pastry is dire too.

I'm no good either with cakes, but my daughter gave me a recipe for banana cake and it comes out great every time.

It's just cakes in general springy. I have made Victoria sponges successful, but not very often. They are usually dry, or sunken in the middle. Christmas cakes are a no no. I do quite a good gingerbread, but I'm not very fond of that. I give up.

What goes wrong with the Victoria sponge, HildajenniJ? Tell us and maybe we can help.
Good Housekeeping recipes are triple tested so are usually reliable.

Try Delia's all in one sponge recipe. It never fails! Fill it with fresh raspberries and whipped cream! Sprinkle with sifted icing sugar.

Neither can I!!! I can bake anything else, but NOT shortbread.

Marydoll, I can make you any amount of biscuits, but NOT shortbread (I don't know why).
Baggs, no, not even a plain sponge. My cakes are a disaster.

hildajenniJ, don't give up. If at first you don't succeed...... Why not start with something simple?
There are lots of all in one recipes. Just chuck everything in and mix.
Biscuits are even easier, especially if you have a food processor.

Carrot cake can be difficult. Surely you can make a decent Victoria sponge cake? Mind you, using butter rather than marg can make a huge difference, as can the quality of the eggs.

It could be the recipe that's crap rather than your efforts

Like second marriage, it is a feeling of hope over experience.
Not quite the right words I know but the sentiment is the same.