Cake is good for you.

My grandmother's saying comes to mind 'a little of what you fancy does you good'. I've taken to making small cakes in paper cases, from boiled fruit cake to chocolate cake with fudge icing and anything smallish in between. It's a very good method for portion control (for me). I have just one in the afternoon with a big pot of tea. Makes me feel good.

I think I will go back to cake baking. I will try ayse's way.

What a good idea, ayse.

I made a very good pecan and date cake yesterday. I baked it in a rectangular cake tin so that I can cut it into slces or squares. Mr. Hjj very pleased as he loves cake and doesn't get very much. I am a rather indifferent baker.

Oh good I do miss cake and baking- that's what I'm going to do this Sunday as the weather forecast is dire.

Hope people do try a bit of baking....its not difficult I used to get 5 year olds to do it. The secret.....for all those who say they can't.....is to get a simple reliable complete (some books assume you know some stuff)recipe (Mary Berry or Delia or Good Housekeeping) STICK TO IT completely (Baking is akin to chemistry and you would not mess around with chemicals if you were doing an experiment) and the result will be edible if not delicious as anything home-made with half decent ingredients will always taste a lot better than something out of a packet.

Cake - I find that if cake is sealed up I can ignore it, on the other hand if it is loose or open I'll snap it all up. I have field tested this theory more than once and proved it, so we tend not to buy very much cake these days.

Wish I could be like that with chocolate......if it in a wrapper and in a tin and in a cupboard.....it still calls to me.

Cake certainly IS good for you! Devon cream teas should be available on the NHS.

Delia once said that if you use good ingredients even a disaster tastes good. That goes for cake. I have a tray bake recipe in which I vary the ingredients Hilda W so muscavado sugar and fruit mix soaked in alcohol and mixed spice is a Christmas tray bake. Same recipe but white sugar and tea soaked fruit is every day fruit cake. Golden caster and choc chips and almonds make a different cake but same basic tray bake. It never gets boring as I root around the cupboard looking for variations.

I'm not keen on cake, so can't understand GNHQ's apparent obsession with it. I'd much rather have a cheese sandwich...

Me too, Ana but I'm having to cut down on bread so it looks like I'll just have to settle for cheese.

"Cheesecake? Cheesecake? Are my ears playing tricks on me? A cake of cheese? Not in my lifetime." Genius.

Ahhh...cheesecake, what memories! On a buttery biscuit base a thick creamy layer of lightly whisked cream cheese topped by a thin sheen of exquisitely piquant blackcurrant purée. The whole nicely chilled. About a million calories a slice so will have to remain a distant memory!

British Baking by Peyton and Byrne is a really good reliable book and if you want a try of something more exotic Cake Days by The Hummingbird Bakery - all these recipes are reliable and easy.

Stansgarn.....oh I'm all in favour of variety....its just when you have never baked before...or always had disasters, its best to stick to the basic recipe until you have a bit of confidence.

papaoscar It was a Peter Kay quote.

I've no sweet things in at the moment. Other than popcorn, so Corrie and popcorn it is then, lol.

This posting inspired me to make a madeira yesterday - simple plain and always welcome with a cuppa - I sued a Peyton and Byrne recipe but changed the butter for Flora - easier to cream and a bit healthier for my cholesterol high husband.