A Baking SUCCESS!

It was a time we never thought would come. Invited to a barbecue last night, we thought to have (yet another) go at baking something that might be acceptable to take along to a gathering of people, you know grown up people who might not be quite so accepting of the great chocolatey stodgefest that most of our cake baking attempts of late have resembled.

This time round, banana and chocolate chip muffins. Adam mixed and beat and I measured and poured. Into the oven they went and (Handel type Messiah music here) Halleluia! they rose. We took them to the party, heads held high and they were a real hit. People want the recipe and everything. We are cake making gurus. We are, in fact, Jamie Oliver and Martha Stewart.

Sadly the muffins are too late to enter the Great Blogger Muffin Off held a few months ago. But they'd have won. Truly they would have done. And for all those in Bosnia who let me know that they can't get their cakes to rise either (thank you for that, you have no idea how much better it makes me feel to know that it isn't just me struggling with the baking here!), try them. If we can get them to work, they must be pretty infallible.

A right old chocolatey stodge

Another birthday, another cake disaster. This time it was Dave's birthday and armed with a new recipe that I have baked successfully before in the UK, I set about measuring, mixing, beating and greasing with the boys. I was confident of this cake. Really, I was. I mean, I'd already baked it once and it rose a treat, tasted great and was generally a cake worth eating. Also, it used plain flour (still haven't resolved the self-raising flour issue despite many attempts and associated flops) and all the other ingredients were readily available here. This was a cake that was going to work. I was going to break my Bosnian cake duck.

I felt like I needed this cake to be a success. I can bake cakes, I have baked quite a few in my time. But since we've been in Bosnia I have not managed a one. Also, I've been momentarily depressed that one of the most popular searches that lead visitors to this blog is 'stodgy cakes' which is not quite how I wish to be remembered.

We were hopeful as it went into the oven, but 40 minutes later, the skewer came out clean and the cake was as flat as a pancake, except for a little half hearted attempt at a rise around the edges. More chocolate orange brownie texture than light and fluffy cake. There was only one thing for it. Ice the thing, cover it in M&Ms, fizzy lemon cola bottles and sticky gummy dinosaurs and try to contain the excitement as we wait for Daddy to return so we can sing Happy Birthday. Actually it didn't taste bad, was just a bit - oh alright then very - stodgy. The boys wasted no time in tucking in and tuck in they did, they are mercifully forgiving of cake disasters. There's nothing quite like a birthday party to get excitement levels to a peak and all the adults then had to do was to sit back and watch the effects of large amounts of sugar on small boys. Dave hasn't had a birthday party quite like it for years.

PS - Brits In Blagai - the recipe is coming your way. Please can you try it and see if you have any more success or is it something in the Bosnian flour that is thwarting my attempts (oh, please let it be something in the Bosnian flour and not total incompetence on my part, although I have a terrible feeling that the incompetence may play a large role, sigh).

stodgy cakes

Yesterday was a nadir in my cake making days. Usually I can bake cakes. I mean, they are not going to win me prizes at the local village fete, but I can add some combination of eggs, butter, sugar, flour and occasionally milk, chocolate and other yummy stuff to make something relatively palatable. Making cakes with the boys is a regular afternoon activity, best done the day before the cleaner comes. We all enjoy it, flour and eggs go everywhere, and sticky fingers create havoc, but it is a great rainy day moment, and there are a lot of rainy days right now so we have been doing a lot of baking.

Yesterdays effort, in theory a Nigella Lawson buttermilk cake (so easy it said on the recipe), ended up with the consistency of a stodgy flan and for the first time ever, had to go into the bin. I cannot work out why I can't get the cakes to work. Possibly the oven is not as hot as I think it is. Possibly my scales are very inaccurate (they are very inaccurate, but so were my English ones). I can't get to grips with the different types of flour here, but do feel that I know what plain flour is. The baking powder and bicarb of soda has been bought from England so should behave like normal. I have no idea.

Then, relief. I've been in contact with another Brit in Bosnia who is also struggling with cake making here. She can't work out the flour situation either and also has only about 5 recipes per recipe book that are usable out here. It's not just me! Phew! So, as long as we stick to chocolate brownies which don't need to rise then we should be ok. I'll just have to keep the Victoria sponge attempts on hold until we go home.

The Legend of Lukey

Luke reached the grand old age of 2 yesterday. Only 2 - it feels like he has been around for much longer (that may be to do with his disincilination to sleep). Full toddlerdom awaits us and I feel he will embrace the terrible twos with enthusiasm. He is a sweet little boy, loud, rumbunctious, stubborn, charming and a real one for an audience. He does exactly what he wants to do. On a walk, he will decide he wants to go back to the car and set off, without looking back or stopping and with or without the rest of us. Luke has taken to Bosnian life with enthusiasm. He likes nursery, he likes the food there and he is loved by the Bosnians who are charmed by his attempts to speak Bosnian and penchant for blowing kisses.

We had a small party for him on Sunday. I made a cake (which tragically collapsed, I have yet to get to grips with the different types of Bosnian flour, and am still trying to work out what might constitute self-raising flour, which most my cake recipes call for). Still the 15 or so people who came round sang Happy Birthday and gamely ate the stodge.

The tradition is that you take a cake to nursery on the day of your child's birthday. I'm quite happy to submit my friends to my baking attempts, but thought better of public humiliation at nursery so I asked Tanja, our lovely cleaner, if she would mind doing the honours. The cake appeared, the biggest cake I have ever seen, resplendent with Bob the Builder on top.

Bosnian cakes are quite different to the British ones, lots of layers and cream and coconut flakes. I have to say, I'm not the biggest fan. But the Bob the Builder cake was greeted with delight at nursery and none of it was left at the end of the day. The nursery did a really great job of making his birthday special - they sang Happy Birthday in English and Bosnian, danced dances and generally had a right old party. He won't remember it, but I do feel he had a pretty decent birthday.