The Recipes That Started It All ~ From Baby Buck Baking 16.06.26

People often ask where Baby Buck Baking began.

The obvious answer is lockdown. In 2020, while I was studying at university and attending classes online, I started baking cakes from home and sharing them online. What began as something creative to fill the days eventually grew into Baby Buck.

But the real answer is much earlier than that. Long before there were cake orders, workshops or Baby Bruce slices, I was a kid who loved to eat.

I grew up in what I like to call an ingredients household. There was always flour in the pantry, butter in the fridge and eggs on hand, but rarely the kind of ready made snacks you could grab and eat. If I wanted something, I usually had to make it. I loved that.

Some of my earliest memories are of waking up before everyone else and heading straight to the kitchen with cookbooks in hand. I'd flick through the pages looking for something I could make with whatever ingredients we had at home. Scones, pikelets were my go to - A clear lover of carbs! Nothing particularly complicated, but at the time it felt like magic, creating something from a handful of simple ingredients.

My grandparents lived just up the road, and so many family memories revolved around food. We'd spend weekends together baking, cooking and watching MasterChef. Looking back now, I realise those moments shaped the way I think about baking far more than any formal training ever could.

The recipes I've chosen to share aren't the most impressive things I've ever baked. They're not the recipes that built my business, but they're the recipes that built me!

Both have changed over the years, evolving alongside my taste buds and baking skills. But each one still takes me straight back to those childhood mornings in the kitchen, discovering the simple joy of making something from scratch.

Childhood Cheese Scones

Here I present one of my childhood scone recipes.

I recently made these again for the first time in years and quickly realised that fully developed adult taste buds can be quite different from those of a six year old. Unfortunately, the recipe didn't quite have the same wow factor I remembered.

Looking back, what made these scones special wasn't necessarily the recipe itself. It was the excitement of choosing something to bake, making it independently and feeling incredibly proud of the result. Those early experiences taught me that baking is about far more than following instructions. It's about creating something, sharing it and enjoying the process along the way.

These days, my favourite savoury bake is a cheese bite recipe from Wellington Bakehouse. I add half a teaspoon of sumac and substitute 10g of the flour for cornflour, which gives them extra depth and light texture.

I'd say these cheese bites give me the same feeling baby Vic had when she pulled her little cheese scones from the oven. They're perfect alongside a charcuterie board, or as a snack on the go.

My Pancake Recipe

This pancake recipe is one I take great pride in, and is very nostalgic to me. I used to make these for friends after school sleepovers, and they're probably the recipe I've cooked more than any other (excluding cakes of course).

What I love most about pancakes is how simple they are. A handful of pantry staples transforms into something that feels comforting and a little bit special. Over the years, I've made small changes along the way, adjusting ingredients and methods until they became exactly how I like them.

Managed to find a picture of the pancakes from a sleepover with friends in 2016!

I still think of my grandad every time I make them. His advice was always to flip a pancake once it had formed "a million bubbles". Not exactly scientific, but somehow it always worked.

To this day, these are my bread and butter. They're simple, reliable and tied to some of my favourite memories. More than anything, they're a reminder that the recipes we return to most often are usually the ones that become part of who we are.

Makes: 12 x 5” pancakes

Ingredients

Dry ingredients

240g flour

60g icing sugar

12g baking powder

4g salt

Wet ingredients

320g milk

40g freshly squeezed lemon juice

8g vanilla

1 egg

For cooking

Butter

Oil

To serve

My favourite topping is sliced banana with golden syrup

Method

1. Make the buttermilk

Pour the milk into a bowl, then add the lemon juice. The mixture will curdle slightly, which is exactly what you want. This creates a quick homemade buttermilk. Set aside for a few minutes.

2. Mix the dry ingredients

In a separate mixing bowl, add the flour, icing sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix until evenly combined.

3. Add the remaining wet ingredients

Add the vanilla and egg to the milk and lemon mixture. Whisk until combined. If you have an immersion blender, you can use that instead to make this step extra quick and smooth.

4. Make the batter

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Whisk until combined, or use an immersion blender if you want the batter extra smooth.

5. Heat the pan

Set your element to a medium heat. Add a small knob of butter and a little oil to the pan. The oil helps stop the butter from burning.

6. Cook the pancakes

Once the butter starts to bubble and fizz slightly, use a ladle or ice cream scoop to pour the batter into the centre of the pan. Try to keep the pour steady and central, as moving the ladle around can make the pancakes less circular.

The larger the pancake, the longer it will take to cook!

7. Know when to flip

The first pancake is often a write off because it absorbs the excess butter and oil in the pan. You can avoid this by wiping the excess with a paper towel before adding the batter.

Flip the pancake when lots of bubbles form on the surface. My grandad’s rule of thumb was to wait until there were “A million bubbles!” However, a more reliable sign is to gently lift the edge and check whether a light crust has formed underneath. Once golden brown, flip and cook the other side.

8. Serve

This mixture is not overly sweet, because I usually add toppings. My personal favourite is banana with golden syrup, but feel free to add whatever you enjoy on top!