Bake or not to bake – that’s the question!

As I walked through St. Pancras station the other day with Sarah, our princess of the sales department, we spied a fantastic glass-domed display depicting the underground map all made of cake: they had ‘Victoria Sponge’, St Pancakes’, ‘Leicester Flapjack Square’ and so on. It was to celebrate National Baking week and baking certainly seems to be undergoing a renaissance! A study released this week reveals that the younger generation is the driving force behind the latest baking renaissance… 16 to 24 year olds are six times more likely to bake something from scratch every day compared with any other age group.

Inspired by shows such as The Great British Bake Off, a third of people take their inspiration from TV and now 43% of families bake at least once every fortnight. The real joy for me amongst all those statistics is that 6 / 10 people said that if they make the effort to create something from scratch at home, it tastes much better than bought food. (Of course it does!!)

Top 5 Cakes People Bake
The young may be leading the way in the kitchen, but we Brits are proving suckers for tradition.The Top 5 baking creations are:

• 1. Apple Pie (the apples this autumn are TRULY delicious)
• 2. Victoria Sponge
• 3. Fairy Cakes / Cupcakes
• 4. Chocolate Brownies
• 5. Cheesecake

People from Wales are the best in the kitchen, with over half of those surveyed in the region claiming they are equally as good at cooking as they are at baking. I love Welshcakes and firm favourites in our
Cake Baking Regions in the UK…
… come on South East, we know you can do better! The Top 5 baking regions in the UK are:

• 1. North East
• 2. Northern Ireland
• 3. Wales
• 4. Midlands
• 5. South West

Apparently baking remains a firm female-led activity. When men were asked to choose between baking or cooking, over one third preferred cooking to baking.
But why baking?

I was trying to work out why it has suddenly become so popular again. I think the recession has had a significant impact on the ‘Top 10 Food Trends’ for the last year because we all know that home-cooked can also mean more economical; people are going back to basics. I also think that in tough times we return to the more traditional practices of our parents and grandparents for comfort and stability.

What’s your favourite baked dish? What do you enjoy baking?