China 2018

I hadn't expected there to be a race this weekend, immediately after last. But fortunately our store cupboard of wild ingredients (mostly kept from previous years of baking) had all the ingredients to make this.

Tally measures...

We made Fa Gao - which roughly translates as 'prosperity cake'. A cake for Chinese new year in which the tradition implies that the larger the cake expands in cooking the more prosperous the year will be for you.

A very simple recipe it was, rice flour, dissolved sugar solution and baking powder mixed together and cooked by steaming in a bain-marie. The girls could do it themselves - which was helpful in getting them off the sofa to have a go.

...Heidi poses...

The first attempt implied that the coming year was going to be dreadful for us. I am determined not to have my future determined by superstition plus they tasted awful, so we made another batch with somewhat better results.

However none of us actually liked the cake. It was dense and grainy with a mild sweetness, but no flavour. Who'd have though from those ingredients!?

...momentary collaboration...

...and Heidi provides oversight.

Attempt 1 - Five cakes using the colours of our five favorite F1 teams
Stodgy dense rice lumps!

The more prosperous attempt 2 - this time without a coloured case to represent Red Bull Racing.
And one proud child (Heidi didn't help with the second attempt).