Lemon Drizzle Traybake

This week marks the second week of my diet (15lbs lost in a fortnight), but that doesn't mean the baking is stopping, in fact we have a bake sale at work this week in aid of a good cause so again I turned to my copy of the reliable Mary Berry's Baking Bible and checked out the traybake recipes, figuring that this would be the best way to go; the recipe doesn't produce any 'overs' so there is nothing I can be tempted (well, there is, but there is only just enough to sell for charity rather than stuff in my mouth).  Normally I would select a cupcake recipe, or a large layer cake, but I decided that this was the right way to go, and you can never go wrong with "Lemon Drizzle Traybake" or Lemon Drizzle in any format whatsoever.

The recipe was incredibly simple, granted I could have embellished it with lemon curd or something, but I chose to follow the recipe to the letter (this did admittedly prove difficult when I realised that I had absolutely no granulated sugar for the crusty topping though).

The whole thing took 25 minutes to mix together - including weighing everything out and mixing it in my trusty Mason Cash bowl (I will never regret spending the extra cash on that, it's massive and perfect for mixing all my recipes).

It started to rise the moment it was put in the oven (thank you recommended 2tsp of baking powder).

By the time it had been in the oven for just 20 minutes it was a lovely golden brown colour on the top and had started to come away from the sides.

Given the below freezing temperatures outside it took very little time to cool enough that I could put it on a cooling rack over a tray (which I lined with silver foil) and poured on what looked like an absolutely huge amount of lemon syrup (lemon juice, caster and demerara sugar - this should have been granulated but having gone on diet this was one thing I knew I would never be able to resist in my tea should I still have it in the house).  The cake now needs to stand until it is absolutely cold, then it will go in an air tight container until Tuesday (bake sale day).

Fork Biscuits

Today I tried my hand at "Fork Biscuits".  This is the first biscuit recipe in Mary Berry's Baking Bible and she says that it is one that is one she has had for a long time in her repertoire.

Though I started a starch, sugar and fruit free diet last week (and have so far lost 9lb - thank you South Beach) this is not going to stop me in my endeavour to improve my baking skills before I attempt an entry in the 2013 Great British Bake Off.  Work is hopefully going to be appreciative.

The recipe for the "Fork Biscuits" is pretty straight forward, sugar, self raising flour and butter (though I have added in a dessert spoon of good vanilla) and they look very similar in appearance to the "Lime Lattice Cookies" that I baked a few weeks ago.  I just have to hope I have the strength to resist eating even one single bite of one of them.

They don't look like much at all, but they smell really good and if the mix (which I resisted adding water to when it didn't bind as well as I wanted it to) which is very light and crumbly, is anything to go by then they will be light and crumbly when baked.

They don't take much time at all to cook - just a matter of 10-12 minutes to turn a light golden brown in a fan assisted oven, then they just have to cool on a cooling tray and they can be packed in a biscuit tin.  This time tomorrow they should all be gone and I will have hopefully resisted eating a single bite of one of them.