Baking Bad - cake disasters to make Mary Berry weep

Baking has taken hold of the nation's heart and more and more of us are donning an apron, grabbing a rolling pin and covering the kitchen in icing sugar in the quest for the perfect bake.

Programmes like the Great British Bake Off are loved by the British public and have given us a push back into the kitchen.

Baking's no longer synonymous with grannies and aunts - it's actually now quite cool, even more so if you can produce something as tasty as granny!

But as much as we love baking, love, sometimes, just isn't enough and even the most enthusiastic Mr Kipling-wannabe can succumb to the dreaded 'soggy bottom'.

If this rings true, hopefully, we can make you feel less flat with some of our favourite baking disasters from Diamond staff.

1. I'm not safe to bake unfortunately...I once set cabbage on fire because I forgot to put water in the pan
2. Once in home economics l was too impatient for my cake to cool, I didn't listen to my teacher and iced it warm, l turned my back only to find the top layer had slid onto the floor...
3. I made mince pies for the first time and feeling smug decided to make icing lids and decorated them very beautifully. I then put the newly-lidded pies in the oven and baked for half an hour...melted icing doesn't look, taste or smell good
4. My sister wanted help making gingerbread men but I was busy so left her to her to it. I went back 20 minutes later to find a tray of biscuits about to go in the oven but they all had a pile of ginger on top. I asked her what she was doing and she just looked at me and said: "I forgot to put the ginger in them, but they'll still be OK like that won't they?" Safe to say the ginger was scraped off and they were simply 'men' biscuits!
5. I made banana bread that rose perfectly, smelled great and I couldn't wait to taste it. After waiting for it to cool a little, I excitedly cut a slice and bleugh! I'd used salt instead of sugar...
6. I baked a white Christmas cake and followed the recipe exactly. After 2.5 hours of baking, the centre of the cake was still raw so I left it in for another 30 minutes. After cooling for 2 hours, I took it out of the tin and it collapsed. I was so angry that I punched it and then packed the debris into a pudding bowl and gave it away as a Christmas present!