Sometimes, with the best will in the world, recipes go wrong. Especially if you make them up. But often just because they don’t turn into what you wanted them to doesn’t mean they can’t be something else.
So on Saturday, when I was intending to make baked fruit bars and it turned into a vegan sponge and fruit pudding I wasn’t too upset.
Let’s start with the fruit bit because that cannot go wrong and in many ways is a dessert in itself if served with tofu ice cream or soy yoghurt.
You can use any fruit you like but I used a 12oz /350g mix of blackberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants because that’s what I had in my organic box. You can use chopped apples, pears, peaches or plums, strawberries, gooseberries… oh you get the message!
Add to the fruit 3 tablespoons of cornflour, 3 tablespoons of water and 5 tablespoons of sugar and simmer until it becomes soft and mushy.
Delicious!
Now put that to one side for a little while if you can bear it and make some vegan sponge.
This sponge isn’t a soft airy one. It’s more of a crispy sponge batter. Like baby rusks. Or trifle sponges. But nicer. Much nicer (I’m not really selling this recipe am I?).
Mix together 8oz/425g self raising flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 6oz/175g sugar in a bowl.
In a jug mix 4floz/125ml sunflower oil with about 3 tablespoons of soy or rice milk and a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Slowly mix the wet ingredients with the dry until you get a thick batter.
Pour about half the batter into a greased and lined baking tray. Remember your cooked fruit? Get them now and pour them on top.
Then pour the rest of the batter on top of that and bake at 180*C/350*F/Gas Mark 4 for 40 minutes. (Tip: put a second baking tray or dish underneath to catch fruity drips so you don’t have to clean them out of the bottom of your oven. )
Now, here’s the problem. The top was fantastic and crispy, the fruit middle was delicious and sticky and sweet but the bottom layer was kind of soggy. So how to rectify that? Here’s what I suggest.
Instead of cooking it in a baking tray, cook in a pudding dish or basin. Place the fruit at the bottom of the basin and layer the batter on top and then bake for 40 minutes. You should get hot sticky fruit and crispy batter and nothing soggy in sight. However, I haven’t tried that out yet so if it goes horribly wrong it’s not entirely my fault OK?! 
So readers, tell me about your experiences of when recipes go bad!!!!
You forgot the bit about how you ran out of batter and had to quickly make some more but then you were out of sunflower oil and then there was a tantrum and then a sympathetic cuddle from me and then everything was alright
Oh this looks delicious! Sometimes things are MEANT to go wrong
I once made a pumpkin cake that completely flopped (didn’t rise) so I converted it to a pudding, poured a syrupy sauce over it and we had it with ice cream – it was divine! But I’ve never managed to replicate it!!
I have been making my own bread for about 4 months and it’s been going pretty well. I found a French Bread recipe that worked and i’ve been tweaking it every time i make it, substituting yogurt for water, or using spelt or multigrain flour or a combination of flour. The bread usually turns out and is especially good right after it’s baked
Two weeks ago i bought some rye flour at the local farmers’ market and i was so excited, i used 2 or 3 cups of it, AND some spelt, and topped the rest up with multigrain. Well. The bread was not fluffy or bread-like, the dough was WAY to wet, it FELL when i baked it, and the bread was dense and HEA-VY. It wasn’t bad when freshly baked, but the next day it could only be used as toast, and i discovered, the thinner the better… and then i got an idea. I sliced the whole loaf extra thin, put it on a baking sheet and baked in the oven for about 10 minutes at 325 F. And now i am rationing the best melba toast i have ever had because i don’t think i could ever duplicate it!!
That looks super yummy!
For me, berries in Anything is almost bound to taste good, and this looks SO delicious! It reminds me of a Sour Cherry cobbler recipe I copied from a magazine recently, and I think your last suggestion is exactly what the cobbler recipe said to do. I leave for school in three days and so want to try one of these out before summer ends…
Btw, I just wanted to say I love the blog and how fresh your perspective is! Keep inspiring
That looks really yummy!
Well that looks absolutelly yummy – whether it went wrong or not!!
Those berries look sooo delicious and so does the final result!! We are getting in berry season and I can’t wait. Love Andy’s story filler LOL
I actually had a disaster last night. I was making Snobby Joes from Veganomicon and the recipe asked for 3 tablespoons of chilli. Only problem was, Aussie chilli powder is obviously a lot stronger than American chilli powder it seems. I would only ever normally put 1/2-1 teaspoon of chilli powder in a dish so tried 3 teaspoons instead and you bet, it was disgusting. Should have used my common sense a bit more when adding the chilli powder. Ha.