My impulsivity can be a blessing and a curse. In this instance, though, it was definitely a blessing. My boyfriend and I were wondering what to do one weekend and decided we wanted to bake a cake. We’ve both never ever really been into baking. We’re both incredibly big foodies and really enjoy cooking breakfasts and evening meals, but baking is an entirely different kettle of fish! They always say that “cooking is an art, but baking is a science”, and that truly terrifies me, as when I’m doing dinner I’m extremely off-piste and creative. Baking is far more disciplined, which has never really appealed to me, but for some reason, this weekend, we decided it was!
Now, I don’t really have a sweet tooth, so the cake we wanted to make was exclusively for Kyle. HOWEVER, I still wanted to make a Red Velvet cake - even though I had zero intention of eating a single piece. Red Velvets were the only cake I’ve ever really liked, though I’ve not *chosen* cake from a cafe menu for years upon years. I’m definitely the sort of girl who’d rather have a sausage roll! But, a Red Velvet looks so decadent, and the cream cheese icing isn’t so sickly sweet.
I set off to B&M for the equipment. As we never ever bake cakes, or anything sweet, we literally didn’t have a single utensil. So I was working from total scratch! I obviously didn’t want to spend a fortune, because this isn’t a regular hobby of ours, and B&M always has the goods for cheap. I was really pleasantly surprised to see they had a whole range of baking equipment in their kitchen section. I wasn’t really sure how much to expect, as I’ve never even really looked for it before.
It was great to see such a range of items, and at such an affordable price. I chose two of the Silicone Round Baking Trays at £2 each. These are good because they’re super easy to clean, and for a beginner I wanted something easy to pop cakes out of once cooked. I also grabbed a set of Mini Whisks which were only £2 as well. These were particularly handy as one is metal and one is plastic, meaning we won’t be doing damage to the bottom of any pans or bowls when mixing. These whisks have also been used loads and loads in my usual cooking routine!
For £3 I also purchased the set of 3 Baking Utensils, which consists of silicone-headed spoons, scrapers and spatula-type things. These proved extremely useful for mixing, and also as part of the decorating process, as the cream cheese icing looks so nice scraped across the Red Velvet sponge so the cake is peeking out from behind it. I was feeling extra so also chose the Icing Bag Set for £2, which, to be honest, I have used once and now it sits collecting dust in the kitchen cupboard. I kinda want to throw it away! I think it’s a good item to have, and it really worked nicely to create little decorative squirts of icing when we made our cake! It’s just a slight faff to clean, and something I really don’t need considering we never bake.
I also picked up the 12 Cup Muffin Tin which was £3, so an absolute BARGAIN in my opinion. It’s Betty Crocker branded and has a lovely non-stick texture. We had some leftover cake batter so ended up making around 7 or 8 cupcakes afterwards. For these, we also needed some Paper Baking Cases, and they came in a pack of 36 cases for £1.50. They’re also just the cutest pastel designs, with baby pink, mint green and pastel polka dot patterns. They looked super cute and ended up making some really pretty Red Velvet cupcakes with the cream cheese icing on top!
All in all, I only spent £13.50 on all of these goodies, which is just great considering we get to keep them forever now. Any time the mood takes us to bake a cake, we’re sorted! What’s nice is we’ve been able to use most of these items for various other needs in the kitchen. The muffin tin has come in particularly handy for making breakfast egg cups as meal prep for the week! I’m always using the silicone spatulas when cooking pastas and curries, and the whisks are super handy. So, this little spur of the moment baking haul made our rainy Saturday fun and has remained really useful. B&M is always so great and I am still yet to be proved wrong!
Lots of love,
Jasmine x
Great baking haul! All of these acquisitions from B+M Bargains look like great deals.
ReplyDeleteI especially like the three-piece silicone-headed, wooden-handled spoon, scraper and spatula set - it looks like an excellent deal at only £3 !!!!!! I can easily imagine them being put to several good uses!
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