( feature )
Mary is visiting Gloucester Quays for its third annual food festival, and will join more than 80 food stalls from the local area and beyond
overbakes and underbakes – but it happens, and people learn from that. “I’m not a chef, I’m a cook, but I do know
cakes; that’s why I am judging. I try to be fair, to stimulate. My aim is to encourage people to bake at home, and get children involved.” Mary’s certainly been round the culinary
block. After graduating from domestic science college, she began carving out a career in food that would last more than 60 years. She’s been a recipe tester and cookery editor; she’s written more than 70 cook books; she has her own line of salad dressings with her daughter, and hasmore recently become a regular face on our TV screens. Indeed, she’s actually taking a break from filming her new series to appear at the food festival. “I shall be flying down and flying back.” she
says, “as throughout the whole of July I shall be filming my own programme,Mary Berry Cooks, which will be on BBC2 next year. It will be a breath of fresh air to come down to Gloucester! I’m cooking in my kitchen and the series will focus on entertaining and the sorts of meals that people want to eat when guests come round.”
crumbsmag.com 55
Mary B’s rage against the
soggy bottom! Mary gives us her top tips on avoiding the most common baking mistakes
◗ If your cake batter curdles after adding the eggs, just add a bit of flour. ◗ Use digital scales and weigh accurately. ◗ Every oven varies. If you take the cake out and it is still a bit gooey in the middle or something, write on the recipe for next time. The oven won’t change, so just make a note of your successes and the tin that you put it in. ◗ I think because everyone is quite diet- conscious nowadays, instead of picking up
a baking spread they automatically go for a low-fat spread. But they tend to contain a lot of water, so you’ll get a poorer cake as a result. ◗ For my lemon drizzle cake, warm the lemons by splitting them in half widthways and popping them in the microwave for 30 seconds. You’ll be amazed how much more juice you will get than if you squeezed them straight from the fridge.
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