A Sprinkle of Baking Inspiration

Struggling for ideas of what to bake?

Turns out that I have a list on my laptop of sweet and savoury things that I want to bake at some point. Trust me, the list is very necessary because whenever I get an idea and think, “ooo I want to make this!”, I will then forget it after 5 minutes. And it is always nice to have a list of ideas at the ready when I don’t know what I want to make.

So today I thought I’d share it with you in case anyone is in need of some ideas or inspiration! There’s a lot of ideas here, and the sweet list is up first of course! Scroll down for some savoury ideas 😊

SWEET

- Beignets

These seem to be a specific type of doughnut, but they look so good I really want to make them. They’re extremely popular in New Orleans and were declared the official state doughnut of Louisiana in 1986, so they must be good right?

- Chocolate chip cookies

Chewy, chocolatey, delicious! I always have to restrain myself from eating all of the cookie dough so that there’s some actual cookies coming out of it.

- Souffle

Something I’ve only seen on Bakeoff but have never tasted. What even is a souffle? Is it like a mousse? Is it like a really light cake? The only way to find out while in lockdown is to make one!

- Upside-down cake

A classic. I made a pineapple upside down cake a few days ago which we ate warm with custard. This is a super easy one to make for dessert – if you pop the cake in the oven when you start eating your meal, it’ll be ready right on time to have for pudding.

- Croissants / pain au chocolats

The pastry looks time-consuming to make – making croissants takes more time than the other things on this list, but imagine the satisfaction when they’re baked with all those layers! If you want to jazz it up even more, add a filling – almond, chocolate, whatever you want!

- Crumble

Wholesome, classic, lots and lots of custard. What’s not to like? And it’s super easy!

- Scones

If you want to feel extra summery, bake some scones! They’re surprisingly quick – I made scones yesterday and my family and I ate them outside in the sun which was lovely.

- Welsh cakes

I’ve made these once before. They don’t look super pretty but they are DELICIOUS, trust me. I was surprised by how much I liked them and they’re really quick to make. Eat them fresh!

- Coffee cake

I love coffee cake, especially with walnuts. And coffee icing is just dreamy.

- Bread and butter pudding

Another thing I’ve never made!

- Cheesecake

I used to make cheesecake a lot in school but I haven’t made one in a while. There’s two main types (baked [left photo] and no-bake [right photo]) – they have fairly different textures but are both absolutely delicious!

- “Healthy” brownies (or proper brownies)

I keep seeing brownie recipes with sweet potato, pumpkin puree, black beans and all sorts. I want to try one of these recipes out of pure curiosity – can black beans in a brownie really taste like brownie?

- Carrot cake

One of my favourite cakes – cream cheese icing is essential. And walnuts (if you’re not allergic obviously!)

- Lemon drizzle cake

Another classic, easy to make, refreshing and moreish.

- Panna cotta

One of the contestants on BakeOff made panna cotta and it looked amazing, so panna cotta ended up on the list. Technically you don’t actually bake these, but in my head they still count as baking.

SAVOURY

- Soft pretzels

I LOVE those large, soft pretzels for some reason. They’re just so good!

- Bread

Bread is underrated. I baked a seeded white load the other day after dad hit the jackpot and managed to find bread flour, which we ate warm and buttered with soup – wholesome!

- Focaccia

I’ve never made focaccia, but I recently found out that we have a rosemary plant (don’t know how I didn’t know about this, it’s not like it’s new – it is a fully-grown bush in the garden) so will definitely be attempting focaccia! Yum.

- Naan

Just for fun!

- Sweet potato pizza dough

We have some sweet potatoes at home and I’ve been wanting to make pizza, so I thought I’d try making sweet potato pizza dough. It’s very simple and uses sweet potato, oats, egg and then any seasoning you want (garlic, salt etc). Dinner tomorrow is on me!

That is all that’s on my list at the moment. Don’t forget to tag #isolationbakes if you make anything!

Stay safe everyone, sending loads of BakeSoc love!

Tanvi xx