Week fifty five and I now can’t imagine a weekend without getting out Mary Berry‘s Baking Bible to look and see what I haven’t yet done and what I want to do this weekend with whatever time I have.

This week, I chose the basic tray bake that begins the tray bake section. I love the simple instructions that Mary gives you- pretty much throw all the ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly together. I used one of my foil tray bake tins from my favourite shop- you guessed it….Lakeland! I poured the mixture in, spread it as evenly as I could and put it in the oven. My how time flies when you are having fun and I used the time to get out all the bits and pieces I needed for the next recipe. Finally the timer pinged and I checked the sponge. I was evenly cooked and I was happy with it. The only “Kim ” addition was to add some basic icing to the top with some sprinkles instead of Mary’s suggested dusting of icing sugar– it brought out the inner child in me and reminded me of baking with my mum and nan.

The second recipe was Mary’s walnut tea loaf. This recipe starts in a pan on the stove by heating the sugar, golden syrup, milk and sultanas. Once the sugar has dissolved, you need to allow the mix to cool. Meanwhile Mary asks you to add the dry ingredients into a bowl and then add the cooled mix with a beaten egg until the mix is smooth and pour it into a bread tin. Not so tough! Into the oven it went and I used the time to tidy the usual mess in the kitchen where despite all efforts, flour goes everywhere but especially on the floor and on the dogs! The timer was set and I set to putting the kitchen back into some kind of order. Finally the timer pinged for the last time this weekend and I checked the tea loaf. It had a good rise and the testing skewer came out clean. I allowed it time to cool in the tin and then tipped it out to finish cooling on a rack.

Mary suggests that it tastes good spread with some butter- I think it was so moist, it tasted good without anything on it!

It’s The Great British Bake Off Semi Final- woo hoo. It comes to something when I delay my weekly blog in order to have some TV time with this. I enjoyed the show and was sad to see Beca go, I thought it would be a toss up between her and Ruby and by the tears and look on Ruby’s face, she thought it might have been her time. I am pleased that Ruby is in the final but also my favourite from week one -Frances. I hope she manages both style AND substance next week to give Ruby and Kimberley a run for their money!