cake.

When I began making these blogs, I made a video of mum talking about her 'speciality' dessert - Gateau Moya from the recipe book "Clockwatcher's Cookbook" by Anne Dare from the 1970's, purchased for £1.95.

Bear in mind this was made the same day as the initial video in the blog so again, I can only apologise for what she is wearing. I have since confiscated it.

As challenging as this recipe sounds, mum has never actually made it for me. This is because she once made it for my dad for his birthday but he had already eaten in the day so didn't want it when he got home. She vowed never to make it again and has been true to her word. This was about thirty years ago.

Mum insists that the recipe asked you to "get an M&S sponge cake" but I felt sure this couldn't be right, especially as the book wasn't even from M&S. The recipe instead asks for "1 cream and jam filled sandwich (fresh or frozen)" (64). So I guess mum was right to an extent, a home made cake was not a key ingredient. The title of the book, "Clockwatchers' Cookbook" tells us that this is not the kind of cookery book for someone who actually enjoys preparing a meal. The inside cover note confirms this by stating "One eye on the clock and a meal to prepare? This situation often detracts from the enjoyment of eating a meal." The focus is put on the "eating" of the meal, not the preparation, something that is unusual in a cookbook. Dare's cookbook is all about cutting corners and saving time, something else that is not often seen in cookbooks.

For as long as I can remember, these have been the sort of birthday cakes I have had. Throughout the years, I have made my way through pretty much all of the birthday cakes that Marks and Spencer sell. However, as a surprise for my 18th birthday, my mum actually baked me a cake. A real one. And it was surprisingly quite good!
Forgive the unflattering photo.

A giant cupcake made by my mother's own fair hands. And she vowed never to do it again.

At the beginning of this blog, I wrote about Jacqueline Wilson's novel Sleepovers where a girl, Daisy, bakes her birthday cake with her mother. This seemed to touch my own mother and she promised that we would make my 21st birthday cake together as it was a 'special occasion'. She spent weeks researching cake designs and after settling on a penguin (a fabulous choice) she searched through pictures on Google to find the perfect one. About a week before my birthday she asked to do a "trial run." I refused. It's a cake, not a show. We purchased new cake tins, mixing bowls and spatulas. We even bought fresh flour rather than the bag that was in our cupboard from 2009. 

My new mixing bowl. Which I was abnormally excited about.

For the penguin, we decided to do a chocolate head and arms and vanilla sponge body with jam and buttercream, all iced with regal icing. We used the same recipe book that inspired the dinosaur cake you saw in my earlier blog, but our results were slightly more successful, and we really did it as a team!

Mum beating the eggs and sugar, which she was a dab hand at!

Before and after. They looked like proper cakes and weren't burnt at all! It was a miracle!

The finished product. Which was pretty amazing. Sadly there was only really me and my mum around during the day on my birthday and we didn't have an appropriate box to put him in to take him to dinner (yes I know I'm referring to the cake as a him, do not judge me) so nobody really saw him. Nor did I blow out a candle. But we had the cake. Which we had made together, as mother and daughter. 

We didn't get this recipe from the "Clockwatchers' Cookbook" this time though, we used "Kids' First Cook Book" which mum loved and said she had also used at school because it was clear and had good pictures. I have had this book since I was about 7 and have always used it for cakes as well as biscuits and other basic recipes, even now. 
We only used that for the actual cake mixes though, the design and cutting and assembling of the penguin we did BY OURSELVES. Because we are culinary geniuses.

The book is aimed at children and so is full of step by step pictures that clearly demonstrate what to do. Each recipe includes "life-size photographs" of all the ingredients needed as well as the "cook's tools" required. 

This is what my dinosaur cake was supposed to look like. Considering I did it by myself, I think I did a pretty good job.
The layout of the book is very clear and everything is labelled, helping even the most incompetent of cooks prepare simple things. 
The instructions themselves are very simplistic: "Draw round the cake tin on greaseproof paper. Cut out the circle and put it in the tin. Stir the lemon juice into the milk. Put the butter and half the sugar into the mixing bowl and beat it until pale and fluffy" (16). With these simple instructions, it is hard to go wrong. Where most cookbooks would say "line the tin," this book tells you exactly how to do that, yet still manages to not sound patronising. To make up for the simplistic instructions, the top of each page has a small paragraph about the recipe, for instance, "No birthday party is complete without a surprise cake - so here;s how to make a wonderful chocolate cake that tastes delicious!" (16). Again, because the book is aimed at children the language is fairly simplistic, but these basic adjectives manage to convey an enthusiasm for the recipe to readers, young and old.

Although the "Clockwatchers' Cookbook" has long been shelved, my "Kids First Cook Book" will still be used in years to come.

So for the first time ever, I have actually cooked with my mother. And it wasn't that bad. Mum just said "I really enjoyed the day" and looks sad because I haven't said the same.
I kid, it was nice to feel like I had a normal mother. Even if it was just for the day.