3 Super Simple Baking Recipes

I'm a big lover of baking- partially because it's a great stress reliever, but mostly because I love cake. It's fun to experiment and try more challenging recipes but sometimes, you just want to whip up something nice and simple.

I have a few  go-to, easy recipes that I gravitate towards whenever I fancy something sweet to munch on. Usually it's because Bake Off is on. Never put on Great British Bake Off without preparing yourself with snacks-rookie mistake. Here's 3 recipes to fulfil all your Bake Off related, snacking needs. Prepare to be hungry. 

1. Brookies

This one is actually taken from Lily Pebbles who posted this recipe on her blog a couple of years ago. They're basically a beautiful combination between cookies and brownies and they are THE SHIZ. Whenever I offer to bake for family gatherings/gaming nights etc., these are regularly requested. They can be a little messy to make (get ready to end up with icing sugar all over your kitchen. And possibly you.) but once you get the hang of it they're super simple to make. I tend to half Lily's original recipe so you get around 30 brookies from this. 

Recipe:
42g cocoa powder
200g caster sugar
62ml vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
125g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
30g icing sugar

Mix together the cocoa, sugar, oil and vanilla and beat in the eggs. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix it all together. Cover the dough and let it chill in the fridge for a few hours. When you're ready to bake, pour icing sugar onto a plate, take a spoonful of dough, cover it in the sugar and roll it into a ball. This can get a little messy - the best way I've found is to make sure you get a TON of sugar on there- it makes it much easier to roll into a ball. Space them evenly on baking parchment, bake them for 10-12 minutes at 180 degrees and bob's your uncle. Check out Lily's original post here for more detailed instructions.

 

2. Banana Cupcakes 

This recipe is about as basic as it gets- they are standard cupcakes with a banana added. That's literally it. A monkey could make it (provided they don't just eat the banana). But add a generous swirl of vanilla buttercream and they taste pretty damn good. This is actually based on Mary Berry's cupcake recipe and I have to say, it's a damn good one. They are so big and fluffy they basically turn me into the girl from Despicable Me. 

Recipe:

Cake Ingredients
175g butter
175g self raising flour
175g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 banana, mashed

Icing Ingredients
175g butter
350g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Mix together all the cake ingredients in a large bowl until smooth- I find an electric hand-whisk is best for this. Divide the mixture between 12 muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes. For the icing, beat the butter with an electric whisk until smooth and light in colour, then gradually beat in the icing sugar. Do this a bit at a time or you'll end up with an cloud of sugar all over your counter. Then stir in your vanilla. When your cakes are cool, pipe the icing on whatever way you like and you're done. Simples.

3. Blondies

Again, we have a stolen recipe. This one came from a video Tanya Burr did a few years ago, which you can find here. Blondies are essentially white chocolate brownies so they're amazing if, like me, you find regular brownies a bit too rich. This recipe actually gives you more of a cakey texture than a dense, fudgy one- obviously it's down to personal taste but I actually prefer this. Again, these are often requested by family but it's honestly a miracle if any make it to them because I could easily eat a full tray of these. In fact, no need to speak in hypotheticals, I HAVE eaten almost a full tray.  #IRegretNothing. I felt a bit rotund afterwards and couldn't get my jeans buttoned up but GOD it was worth it. 

Recipe:

150g white chocolate
125g butter
150g caster sugar
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
200g flour
A pinch of salt
100g white chocolate chips

Melt together the chocolate and butter. Add the caster sugar and stir it in. Then add the vanilla extract and eggs and mix. Add the salt and flour and mix together until smooth. Add the white chocolate chips and stir in. Bake at 180 degrees for around 35 minutes, until golden brown on top and a skewer comes out clean. Let them cool, plate them up and try not to eat every last one. 

What are some of your favourite things to bake?