Baking by Moonlight

What do normal people do in the middle of the Saturday afternoon, in the pangs of a diet and the middle of a three week house move? Well I make cake. We had one lemon and, of course, no recipe books. All the books are at the new flat (except the one I’m reading ‘Desert Sons’ by Mark Kendrick), why oh why did I move all the books to the new flat. All we have left at the old flat is the TV, the sofa, the kitchen, the bed and the internet. Which is the main reason we’re still here at the old flat. Cris cannot survive without internet.

So having trawled the online recipe book known as Google and found nothing I really liked; I improvised. This is middle-of-the-afternoon cake making which only involves the scales in a cursory sort of way.

I made a straight Victoria sponge recipe (with a touch extra flour) and added half a lemon in rind and a big splash lemon extract (I love to cheat, and it’s concentrated). This brings us onto the fancy tin. I got this one from Lakeland (Heaven) for £7.99. They do a deep fancy tin too, which I would really like to have, but my kitchen is too small. Maybe once I finish moving…. I love the fancy tin, it makes decorating easy, although you can’t use it for anything you actually want to decorate. Once cooked cover with lemon drizzle icing made from the left over rind, the lemon juice and sifted icing sugar. If you use a whole lemon of juice it makes too much icing. But it fridges well.

Eat warm in the sunlight off tiny flea-market plates with a boyfriend. Any one will do!

On Sunday I am making a buffet lunch for ten members of my extended family who are coming down for my brother’s wedding. Now a lot of the time most people don’t cook for more than maybe two or four, so cooking for many can seem a totally daunting task. The key to cooking for a lot of people (more than six in my book, and I’ll do food for up to 25) is planning.

Plan the menu at least a week before hand as it gives you plenty of time to change your mind and account for changing numbers of guests. Once you have your menu draw up a shopping list and try to work out how much of each ingredients you’re going to need. If in doubt, over-buy. It is much better to have a spare pot of cream than to run out half-way through a recipe.

The more space you can make in your kitchen and the more tools and utensils you have to your disposal the easier you’re job will be. However this will increase the amount of washing up to be done. Something else you can do is get a Kitchen Bitch. I have a Vinnie, but a good friend, relative or boyfriend will do just fine. Coercion is a good tactic, washing up in payment for food/money/sex.

Once you have your list to your shopping the day previous. If you really can’t do that then you really need to get up early and get the shopping in. You do not want to run out of time near the end of the day because you slept in and didn’t shop. Don’t be tempted, it never works.

Alrighty then, you got enough shopping, it’s nice and early and you can cook. If you’re doing a dinner then you can cook all day and no worries. The trick is knowing when everything needs to be done. If you’re doing a lunch then there is a lot of stuff you can cook and prep up the day before.

When ever you have a lot of dishes always start with anything that needs setting or chilling or cooling before assembly. This usually means that pudding comes first. Now, unless you cook for many often do NOT be tempted to make several dishes at once. There is little worse than pouring one mix into another and then realising that it’s part of a different recipe. However you can use preheat time and cooking time to start new recipes off.

Don’t forget to enjoy yourself, there’s a reason I get all stressed in the kitchen three hours before anyone gets there. Be dressed then and be calm and happy and enjoy yourself with people. No apologies, no excuses. Whatever you serve, smile and be happy with yourself.