You should know by now that the Hour Hands team loves a challenge so when the annual ‘Bake off’ conversations started up again, it was only a matter of time before some of the team decided to get in on the act! Sarah and Emma, our fantastic office bakers, couldn’t wait to get cracking!

Read on to hear from Sarah about dualling bakers, and how we are all benefiting from it. It’s certainly fuelling the bookkeeping team whilst reconciling and the PAs whilst prioritising client’s inboxes and making their venue bookings! We love sharing delicious cakes and cookies in the office!

Bake off – love it or hate it?

For some, the thought of attempting a biscuit combination or whipping up scones for something to do sounds like hell rather than something you choose to do, but for me, baking and cooking is a pleasure and I do it because I love it. I have so many recipes in my head: a delicious type of mindfulness.

From the moment my Grandpa taught me how to make chocolate rose petals, from the roses he carefully grew in his beautiful garden, to the day he arrived at our house with a birthday cake like you’ve never seen for 5 year old me, I’ve been smitten with baking and cooking. Today, I am the proud owner of well over 100 cookery books with well-leafed pages bearing the marks of favourite recipes used many times over.

Baking is a distraction for me. Something. I don’t have to think about it. I simply bake when I’m bored or have half an hour to spare – much to the appreciation of the teenagers in the house!

I love playing along with the challenges on Bake Off, so I was happy when Emma said she loved it too. So now we challenge each other by bringing in a recipe, with completing the technical challenge (except the Battenberg!) or even taking on a showstopper.

Two weeks in and we’ve so far made a beautiful loaf cake, a not-so-beautiful illusion (they’re definitely not always perfect) and two sets of delicious cookies.

Baking Secrets from the Hour Hands bakers

• Dampen baking paper, shake it out and then put it in the tin. This makes it much easier to mould into the shape you need and the cake still doesn’t stick!

• You can make a super easy sponge cake by weighing your eggs and then adding the same weight of self-raising flour, butter and sugar. Flavour with some lemon peel / juice!

• TBS means Tablespoon and TSP means teaspoon…. Things often don’t go well when you get them the wrong way round!

Interesting baking facts about Sarah

Her favourite baking recipes come from: Nigella

Her favourite cake: Lemon cake or Coffee and Walnut

The baking-related thing  that she most wants to do: Learn French patisserie

Hour Hands is made up of experienced Personal Assistants as well as talented bookkeepers. All are ready to support you with those urgent and important tasks that you just don’t have the time to complete. From booking travel, to managing your diary, organising your email and delivering research  – Jo and her colleagues can help you complete tasks and shift them off your to-do list! By outsourcing your tasks, you can flex when you need support – be it ongoing support or for a one-off project or resolving a particular task. 

To find out more simply visit our website or call us on 01727 818262. We will ask how we can support you and offer a solution either on an hourly rate or package cost. The choice is yours – we simply want to help.