I’ve never really been able to bake. I’m a cook in the careless, “let’s see what happens” sense of the word, and that doesn’t really suit baking. Baking is all about precision, timing and patience. Not my strengths.
But since I got Lilly Higgins‘ brilliant book Make, Bake, Love, I’ve gone a bit baking mad. Not always very successfully, but with great enthusiasm. So when I got a press release about the Alzheimers Association’s Tea Day initiative I decided to challenge myself by holding a tea party to raise funds for a good cause (my Granny, a great baker, has Alzheimers), and to bake everything for it myself.
We held it yesterday and thanks to all my very generous friends who came and donated, we raised €600.
We had:
Lilly Higgins’ Lemon Drops
Lilly Higgins’ Vanilla Cupcakes (some were iced with berry butter cream, some with lemon icing and others with vanilla)
Lilly Higgins’ Lemon Madeira (I added some lemon drizzle icing because I love it so much)
Darina Allen‘s Flapjacks
Ginger cake & mini ginger cakes (confession: these came from an Aldi mix, and were super easy and delicious)
Berry & yoghurt muffins (really really easy & delicious)
Lilly Higgins marble cake – I’ve always loved this but I found it a bit beyond my technical skills – it was completely uncooked when I took it out of the oven first so it was left in for a lot longer than the recipe said. It was ok in the end!
Chocolate fudge cake & coconut buns (these were a big hit & went quickest) donated by some work colleagues!
I was feeling a bit crafty (again, not a skill I am known for) over the weekend and made two cakestands – plates glued to glass dessert dishes, or glass candlesticks. Simples!
It was great, too, that some of the neighbours came along, lured in by this masterpiece by Red Balloon in Ballincollig:
