Why I bake

Baking for me is something that I learnt from a young age while watching my mum. The techniques that seem to confuse people or need explaining are second nature to me and I’ve grown to have a feel for what you can get away with. It’s an amazing gift that I’m not sure my mum even realises she has passed on – she probably thinks that she hasn’t passed a skill on to me as she never got around to teaching me Irish which is her first language.

Most of the baking in my house, when I was growing up, wasn’t consumed in the house. Cakes were always a gift item to show love and affection to family and friends when visiting them. However there were always those birthdays where my mum and dad would come together to create something quite special – log cabins, caterpillar cakes and pink castles with turrets. My mum made the cakes and my dad constructed them into fabulous structures using inspiration from cake books found in the local library. This is an area I lack in as I don’t have a love of icing but cakes as a celebration item is integral to my makeup.

My friends and family repay my baking by furnishing me with wonderful cake tins and baking accessories. My work colleagues heap praise on me to encourage yet more baking. I don’t think many believe me when I say that baking isn’t a chore – it calms me and I get enjoyment from thinking of the pleasure people get from eating the results. There is also probably an element of control that I get from it. As long as instructions are followed the results can be relied on and after a tough day I do reach for the mixing bowl over a bottle of wine.

The variety of things to bake, the smells, the textures, the edible gold spray paint (!) are all things I love and I hope to share some of that with you.