Entertainment

Thursday, 12 November, 2015 - 18:51

Baking without weighing scales

by KatiedeS

I was invited round to a friend’s house for a ‘pot-luck’ dinner the other night. I’d never heard of this term before but my American friends use it all the time. A ‘pot-luck’ is where you meet up with your friends for a meal and everyone brings a dish (either a main course or a dessert) with them to share. I decided to bake cookies as I absolutely love baking and hadn’t baked anything since moving to France.

After buying all the ingredients I realised I didn’t actually own a pair of weighing scales, so I had to make up my own recipe and guess how much everything weighed! I chucked flour, sugar, butter and chocolate chips together in the bowl and hoped for the best. Fortunately they turned out ok and my friends ate them very quickly later that evening. In fact, my cookies were the first to go!

Baking without weighing scales reminded me of the days when I used to work as a chalet host in a ski resort and I had to bake cakes for my guests every day! I used to follow a recipe for a yoghurt cake that doesn’t require any scales, as you use the yoghurt pot as your measuring cup. This cake is really quick and easy to make so I thought I’d share it with you:

Ingredients:

  • 1 pot of natural yoghurt
  • 1 pot of vegetable oil
  • 2 pots of sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 4 pots of flour
  • 1 sachet baking powder
  • ½ jar strawberry jam
  • Icing sugar

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
  2. In a large mixing bowl add the yoghurt, then rinse out the pot to measure the other ingredients
  3. Add the oil, sugar and eggs and mix
  4. Add the flour and baking powder and beat until smooth
  5. Pour the mixture into a lined baking tin and cook in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes
  6. After the cake has cooled, cut in half horizontally and fill the middle with jam
  7. Dust with icing sugar and serve
Discussion

Do you enjoy cooking? Do you like making cakes? 

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