I have many fond memories of baking with my Mum when I was younger.  Together we’d make lemon cake, chocolate brownies, butterfly cakes, and probably many more delicious things that have now slipped my mind.  I loved standing on a chair so I could reach the work surface, my Mum’s hand over mine, gently guiding me as I stirred the mixture.  And then of course there was the obligatory licking the spoons and scraping out the bowl once the cakes were in the oven!

Now that I have children of my own, I’m doing my best to carry on the tradition.  We’ve made the lemon cake, chocolate brownies and butterfly cakes of my childhood, plus carrot cakes, flapjack, banana loaves, fruit muffins, cookies and Victoria sponge cakes.

However, my efforts have tended to be a bit hit-and-miss, and there have been just as many disasters as successes.  Usually my partner ends up stepping in to rescue the too-sticky/too-lumpy/too-runny/too-whatever mixture – my catastrophic attempt at gingerbread men will remain  forever etched in my memory.  There have been many times where I’ve stormed off in a huff after hurling kitchen utensils at the wall in a temper.

So, as one of my ’30 Things Before I’m 30′ challenges, I decided to make a cake all on my own.  With no help from anyone. At all.  Gulp.

I spent weeks scouring recipe books for ideas, sought advice from friends who seemingly effortlessly manage to produce the most incredible edible creations, and watched occasional episodes of ‘The Great British Bake-Off’ with increasing despair and panic.

Then I had the sudden inspiration that I should make my own birthday cake (I know – what on earth was I thinking?!).

So, yesterday I had a rare day to myself – no clients, no children – and I got to work…

 I have to say, for a first attempt, I’m quite impressed with myself.  And it tasted pretty good too!

What’s been interesting about this, is that something started off as a seemingly simple task has actually made me realise that no matter how scary something seems (whether it’s something as small as baking a cake, or something bigger) once you get started it suddenly seems a lot less scary.  Sometimes it’s all just about taking that first step.

So on that note, what challenge are you going to take the first step towards facing today?

Please do leave a comment below and let me know how you get on – I’d love to hear from you 🙂