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On The Menu - December 2019
This is a reprint of an article I wrote about 10 years ago. It came to mind recently, after my oven stopped working, then the rangehood stopped working, and we were down to one burner on the cooktop. And we thought "well it must be a sign it's time to get the new kitchen".
So that's what's happening, but as it's so close to Christmas and the holidays it won't be installed for a few weeks. In the meantime, we're looking at alternatives for baking, and so I dragged out the old electric frying pan, and rememberd this story.
You Can Bake in Summer and Stay Cool!
When I was a child my mother baked twice a week, every week without fail. Summer or winter, Tuesdays and Fridays were baking days. She managed to produce the best cakes, biscuits, slices, scones and breads I have ever had, and all on a rather ancient gas stove. And her Sunbeam electric frypan.
When the weather was really hot the baking was done in the frypan. The cakes baked beautifully, as though they were done in the oven. The advantage for Mum of course was that the frypan didn't heat up the house like the oven did.
It's very easy to prepare your electric frypan and cake tins to bake in and some manufacturers may still include cake recipes and methods in the individual instruction manuals. If they don't, these are the basic guidelines:
1. Make sure the frypan you use has a high domed lid.
2. Place a rack in the frypan to sit the tin on when baking.
3. Always pre-heat the frypan to the required temperature before putting the batter in, just as you would if cooking in a conventional oven.
4. Grease and line your tins. Cover the base with four layers of brown paper and one of buttered greaseproof, butter side up.
5. Keep the steam vent closed during cooking, this is important.
6. When placing the cake tin into the frypan, lift the lid and put it in quickly then replace the lid. Do not leave the lid off a moment longer than absolutely necessary.
7. As with conventional ovens the cooking times will vary from frypan to frypan and between brands. Check the cake after the stated cooking time. If it's not done cook for five minutes and test. Continue cooking in five minute sessions until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
I found an old Sunbeam aluminium frypan with a high metal lid at an op shop and I use this pan to cook cakes in as my everyday electric frypan is non-stick and has a shallow, glass lid. It cost a grand total of $12 and is just brilliant for cake baking on a hot day, or even when the oven is full. If your electric frypan isn't high enough, it is worth keeping an eye out for an old aluminium pan to use just for cake baking.
Butter Cake
This is a simple butter cake recipe that cooks beautifully in an electric frypan and is economical too.
Ingredients:
125g butter (not margarine)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups SR flour, sifted
1/2 cup milk
Method:
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Gently fold in half the sifted flour and half the milk until just combined. Add remaining flour and milk and mix well.
Pour mixture into a well-greased and lined (as per point 4 above) 23cm x 12cm loaf tin. Place on rack in frypan and replace lid. Bake at setting 10 or 215 degrees Celsius for approximately 45 minutes.
Variations:
*Chocolate - add 3 tbsp cocoa with first batch of flour
*Coffee - dissolve 2 tsp instant coffee in the milk, leave out vanilla extract
*Cherry - Take a packet of glace cherries and halve the cherries, stir into second lot of flour before adding to the batter.
So that's what's happening, but as it's so close to Christmas and the holidays it won't be installed for a few weeks. In the meantime, we're looking at alternatives for baking, and so I dragged out the old electric frying pan, and rememberd this story.
You Can Bake in Summer and Stay Cool!
When I was a child my mother baked twice a week, every week without fail. Summer or winter, Tuesdays and Fridays were baking days. She managed to produce the best cakes, biscuits, slices, scones and breads I have ever had, and all on a rather ancient gas stove. And her Sunbeam electric frypan.
When the weather was really hot the baking was done in the frypan. The cakes baked beautifully, as though they were done in the oven. The advantage for Mum of course was that the frypan didn't heat up the house like the oven did.
It's very easy to prepare your electric frypan and cake tins to bake in and some manufacturers may still include cake recipes and methods in the individual instruction manuals. If they don't, these are the basic guidelines:
1. Make sure the frypan you use has a high domed lid.
2. Place a rack in the frypan to sit the tin on when baking.
3. Always pre-heat the frypan to the required temperature before putting the batter in, just as you would if cooking in a conventional oven.
4. Grease and line your tins. Cover the base with four layers of brown paper and one of buttered greaseproof, butter side up.
5. Keep the steam vent closed during cooking, this is important.
6. When placing the cake tin into the frypan, lift the lid and put it in quickly then replace the lid. Do not leave the lid off a moment longer than absolutely necessary.
7. As with conventional ovens the cooking times will vary from frypan to frypan and between brands. Check the cake after the stated cooking time. If it's not done cook for five minutes and test. Continue cooking in five minute sessions until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
I found an old Sunbeam aluminium frypan with a high metal lid at an op shop and I use this pan to cook cakes in as my everyday electric frypan is non-stick and has a shallow, glass lid. It cost a grand total of $12 and is just brilliant for cake baking on a hot day, or even when the oven is full. If your electric frypan isn't high enough, it is worth keeping an eye out for an old aluminium pan to use just for cake baking.
Butter Cake
This is a simple butter cake recipe that cooks beautifully in an electric frypan and is economical too.
Ingredients:
125g butter (not margarine)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups SR flour, sifted
1/2 cup milk
Method:
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Gently fold in half the sifted flour and half the milk until just combined. Add remaining flour and milk and mix well.
Pour mixture into a well-greased and lined (as per point 4 above) 23cm x 12cm loaf tin. Place on rack in frypan and replace lid. Bake at setting 10 or 215 degrees Celsius for approximately 45 minutes.
Variations:
*Chocolate - add 3 tbsp cocoa with first batch of flour
*Coffee - dissolve 2 tsp instant coffee in the milk, leave out vanilla extract
*Cherry - Take a packet of glace cherries and halve the cherries, stir into second lot of flour before adding to the batter.