Live webchat with Mary Berry - Tues 21 May 10-11am

getmehrt

Hi Mary and welcome to Gransnet,

I hate the taste of baking powder. I feel I can always detect it. It tastes metallic and distinctive to me.

When baking powder is called for, can you usually substitute self-raising flour, or do I just have to do without those recipes?

I always use self raising flour for cakes. When I'm using the all in one method I add a little extra baking powder because the mixture isn't beaten so much. The secret is not to add too much - if the recipe says a teaspoon, it's a level teaspoon.

ursulaminor

I also have a baking question. Which is better - oiling or greasing with butter? I've had a few sponges stick using both so not sure where I am going wrong

For greasing tins I always use butter because it is easier for the parchment paper lining to stick to it. Oil doesn't have the same adhesion.

shysal

Congratulations, Mary and the team, on winning a BAFTA award. For the first time in my life I actually felt compelled to vote. I thought you looked lovely on the night, your sense of style is perfect, do you agonise over what to wear to achieve the balance between modern and classic, or does it come naturally? I wish I could achieve the same effect, but have no flair!

Just like most people, I agonise on what I'm going to wear. I try and choose something that is colourful, not too tight, suitable for my age without being frumpy. I'm glad you liked it. The jacket I felt was almost part of the dress and you couldn't see my floppy upper arms!

whenim64

Mary, I've been a fan for years and the GBBO is my idea of heaven. Can you recommend a good recipe for two 4/5 year olds who love flinging flour and eggshells around. I think they're getting bored with cookies, brownies, cupcakes and bread. I do allow them to switch the mixer on and off and add ingredients under (very) close supervision. Thanks

Why not try to make pizza? They'd love handling the dough. Use fast action yeast or even a scone dough and let them choose the toppings you know they will enjoy, and the bonus is they can have it for lunch.

closetgran

Do you ever get sick of cake?

I don't get sick of cake but I am a little bit tired of over-iced cupcakes. Lemon drizzle is my favourite.

Mamie

Hello Mary
I have always enjoyed your recipes and I think I first watched you in the TV programme Houseparty, which is indeed a very long time ago now.
Although I enjoy watching and reading recipes from many cooks, I find that I return all the time to the same great writers; for me, probably Jane Grigson, Marcella Hazan and Madhur Jaffrey would be the top three.
So my question is about your favourite cookery writers. Who has had the most influence on you over the years? Or to put the question another way - which are the most bespattered books in your kitchen?

The most bespattered books in my kitchen are from Katie Stewart, who used to be Cookery Editor of the Times and had her feet firmly on the ground, and her recipes were excellent. I was inspired by Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson.

eGJ

Your new recipes all now have butter which has been softened. Can we use all your "old" recipes which say soft margarine and substitute softened butter? Your books nearly fill one shelf and my first book of yours is Marry Berry Cooking at Home which I think I bought in 1983!!

For the all in one method of making cakes either use a spread such as Stork for Cakes or softened butter. My reason for changing to softened butter was that so many people, by mistake, were picking up low fat spreads and getting very poor results, whereas Stork gives excellent results.

Gally

Hello Mary!
Over 20 years ago 2 friends and I opened a coffee shop in our small village. It became very successful and ran for nearly 8 years until we ran out of puff and sold it as a going concern. Everything was home made (except for the rolls which we got from our village bakery). I relied totally on your recipe books for all my tray bakes and cakes - my piece de resistance was the Easy Chocolate Cake made with milk, oil and plain flour. It's the only sponge I make which will rise and is absolutely delicious!! So, I just want to say a Big Thank You for your, up to now, unacknowledged help in making a success of a small business which literally started with an investment of £300 from each of the partners. Thank you and long may you continue to enthuse the cake makers of the the world!

This is the sort of post that makes my day. I just love baking and it's very rewarding for me when I get a lovely post like yours. Tray bakes certainly are so easy to make for numbers and as for that chocolate cake, I make it so often and it's one of my top favourites. I'm so pleased that you had such success with your shop.

CariGransnet

On which note - we would all like to know how you can eat so much cake and stay so slim. We are rather fond of cake at GNHQ so any tips are desperately needed would be greatly appreciated

My mantra is Have a small slice, enjoy every moment of it and don't go back for a second. No tidying up in the cake tin when an odd piece falls off, no eating the half flapjack that the children leave.

annodomini

Mary, why do the cherries sink to the bottom when I bake a cherry cake and what can I do to prevent this disaster?

To make a cherry cake it's always best to add something to stabilise the flour. This is sometimes ground almonds, or rice flour. This supports the cherries and the mixture needs to be fairly stiff before adding the cherries. Cut the cherries in half and wash excess syrup away and dry them well before adding.

minky

Does your new book have lots of pictures? I have never been able to fathom why people write recipe books but don't show a picture of how whatever it is is meant to look in the end.

My new cookbook, Mary Berry's Cookery Course, is generously illustrated. There are step by step guides for the tricky processes and I'm there to hold your hand throughout. Expect to find perfect omelettes, the very best lasagne and lots of glorious puddings and cakes.

swizzle

Hello Mary

Fashions in food have changed so much since you began writing books - how have you kept up with that and are there things you made then that you are still making now whatever the fashions?

There are new ingredients arriving all the time and I try to use them in my recipes. For example I can remember when you couldn't buy fennel, avocados or mangoes. So I make sure that in my recipes I give instruction on how to prepare and use them. Sometimes you'll see a new flour labelled cake flour on the shelf in the supermarket. I keep to self raising, plain and strong because cake flours come and go.

Yofab

Hello Mary, I love baking - something inherited from my mother who made cakes every weekend. Could you tell me the reason why sometimes cakes sink in the middle - very frustrating!

Cakes sink in the middle for a variety of reasons. If you take them out of the oven too soon the mixture will dip in the middle because it's not done. If you add too much baking powder it will rise in the oven and towards the end will sink.

leona

What sort of granny are you? Do you cook much with your grandchildren or is it a bit of a busman's holiday? And if you do - do you let them lick the spoon? I panic about raw eggs (not that it ever did us any harm)

Thank you so much - I love all your books and look forward to this new one

Hello Leona

You ask whether I'm a good granny and if I cook with the children, and if I worry about raw eggs? I certainly do cook with the children, and I've got 5 of them now! I think it's great for them. It teaches them how to add up because they're using scales. Of course I let them lick the bowl, that's the best bit! I'm not worried about raw eggs. I buy British eggs with a lion on and use them in date. This means that the chicken has been inoculated against salmonella.