I've gotten into baking recently, now that I have a kitchen with an oven. It's quite a challenge, to be honest, trying to find the right ingredients out here in the middle of nowhere (at the moment I live in a village in rural Zambia). Some stuff is hard to find, some stuff is impossible, still I love the challenge
I call it "Baking in the Bush"
Anyway, my birthday just passed recently, at it so happened that I found myself looking after the orphanage alone, both directors had left for buisness, and so I decided to spoil myself and the kids and bake up some cakes.
Because butter is expensive, I looked up recipies that didn't call for butter in the cake, saving some butter just for icing. I made layered cakes, chocolate and vanilla and covered it with icing. On one cake I just decided to be foolish and put as many cookies and candy and gum as I could. It came out looking lopsided but I gave it to the kids and they loved it, tore it apart piece by piece (as I expected), but thankfully there was enough candy to please everyone.
This is what it looked likeThe other cake was simpler and I shared it with the nannies and staff, but it came out looking a lot nicer and neater (I think)
I don't have a picture of it though.
I've also been into muffins and cupcakes lately. I made fifty cupcakes the other day to feed the entire orphanage (33 kids, plus staff). I'm not sure what I want to try next
but I hope to come up with something fun