I have never been a baker. Every time I pick up a spoon and decide to bake everything goes wrong. My cakes are undercooked, overcooked, or plain rotten, so I usually cave in and pop to the local shops to satisfy my sugar cravings (which seems to be most nights). Since lockdown however, I finally decided to put my skills to the test and really master the art of baking, or at least learn how to not destroy the oven.
I am quite impatient when it comes to the kitchen. I never let my food fully cook because I am always far too hungry to wait that extra two minutes to create the perfect pasta (yes, it is often only that extra minute or two). Being in lockdown, I decided to change this, beginning with a batch of homemade brownies. This is where I tried the vegan brownies: how hard could it be to undercook a batter without eggs? (How very wrong I was.) Four attempts later and I had finally mastered this simple recipe and it was delicious.
Feeling optimistic, I branched out from brownies and attempted banana bread, cinnamon rolls (albeit a packet mix but no one needs to know) as well as cupcakes. Over the past three months, I have transitioned from being quite possibly the worst baker to someone who actually has a chance of qualifying for The Great British Bake Off (if the most difficult dish we had to bake was a sponge cake).
Despite my initial struggles and messy attempts, lockdown has taught me the importance of perseverance and patience. Never in a million years would I have thought I would ever be able to successfully whip up a batch of brownies in twenty minutes or bake a banana bread seasoned enough to make the taste buds really pop. That’s not to say I will stop popping to Sainsbury's to buy a packet of cookies, but I have learnt to love baking and have begun to stretch myself beyond my comfort zone.
