Basic Baking Ideas with the Kids

Whether it is with your children, grandchildren or even just your friends’ kids, there is something memorable about baking together.  When they get older, they will always remember the times spent in the kitchen making a cake or muffins with you and it can even aspire them to something more – maybe even the next celebrity chef!

One great way to start their interest in baking is to buy a children’s baking set.  These will normally contain a few staple items such as muffin tins or a loaf tin as well as cutters and a whisk as well as the important apron to help save their clothes a little.

So once they have their basic gear ready, what kind of baking can they do?  One of the simplest, and tastiest, start up baking projects are muffins and here is an idea of a classic recipe.

Basic Muffin Recipe

Ingredients:

• ·         2 medium eggs
• ·         200g caster sugar
• ·         250ml milk
• ·         125ml vegetable oil
• ·         400g self raising flour

If you want to make chocolate flavoured muffins, substitute 100g of the flour for cocoa powder but not drinking chocolate

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6 and line the muffin tray with paper muffin cases.  In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the oil and milk.  Add the sugar and whisk until dissolved.

Sift the flour into the wet mixture and mix until it is smooth and if making chocolate muffins, add the chocolate powder at this point.

Fill each muffin case until it is around two-third full to allow the muffins to rise and not spill over the top of the cases.  Bake in the oven for around 25 minutes then leave to cool or enjoy warm.

Lemon and Almond Drizzle Cake

Ingredients:

• ·         250g margarine
• ·         250g golden caster sugar
• ·         4 large eggs
• ·         Zest of two lemons
• ·         Juice of one lemon
• ·         200g self raising flour
• ·         50g ground almonds

For the decoration:

• ·         Juice of two lemons
• ·         250g fondant icing sugar
• ·         20 sugared lemon decorations

Heat the oven to 180 degrees or gas mark 4 and line the loaf tin.  Cream together the margarine and sugar until pale and fluffy before beating in the eggs, juice and zest.  Fold in the flour and the almond.

Spoon the mixture into the lined loaf tin then bake for around 20 minutes until golden brown then leave to cool.

Combine the syrup ingredients and pour into a few holes made in the cake with a skewer.  Drizzle the remainder of the mixture over the top of the cakes and add the sugared lemon decorations on top.

Conclusion

The great thing about both muffin and loaf tins is that there is a huge range of cakes that can be made in both.  As well as sweet options, there are also savoury recipes that can be ideal for a special breakfast treat or to cool down and take as part of a packed lunch the next day.  Plus once the kids get the baking bug, it may quickly become their favourite thing to do on a weekend or whenever they visit!