Homemade Barney Bears recipe

Let me start by saying, I have no judgement on people eating, or buying Barney Bears. I just thought there might be a better way of getting these bear shaped cakes for our kids. Maybe a way with less packaging, less ingredients, and less cost.

All Ida and Martha’s friend’s seem to have Barney Bears, so it makes them want them, too. I’ve got them a couple of times as a treat, but with my ‘buying less packaged snacks’ drive, and ‘spending less on the food shopping’ goal, they’re out the window.

When it was just Ida I was buying snacks for they’d last. Now there are two of them, they go in two days, rather than 5. When three of them are eating all this, I’d have to buy three packs, £3.50 gone. When I could make 8 for £1.23.

A pack of 5 Barney Bears is £1.25, making each bear 25 p. With my homemade bears, they’re 15 p per bear. I’ve slightly overestimated costs below. You could probably make them cheaper if you choose cheaper ingredients.

This price is based on:

Flour: 1kg for £1. I only need 55g so this makes it 5p

Egg: £2 for 6 eggs. I need 1. 33p

Butter: £2 for 250g. I need 55g. roughly 60p

Sugar: £2 for 500g. I need 55g. Roughly 25p

Price isn’t the only reason I don’t like buying them.

I hate not knowing exactly what’s in them. You might have read my non UPF snack ideas, these fit perfectly into this blog.

Here’s what’s in a Barney Bear

• Wheat Flour 23 %, 
•  Glucose-Fructose Syrup, 
•  Sugar, 
•  Eggs 12 %, 
•  Rapeseed Oil, 
•  Stabiliser (Glycerol), 
• Skimmed Milk Powder 3.7 % and Whole Milk Powder 2.5 % (Milk equivalent 58 %), 
•  Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder 1.5 %, 
• Wheat Starch, 
•  Dextrose, 
•  Raising Agents (Diphosphates, Potassium Carbonates), 
•  Glucose Syrup, 
• Emulsifiers (E472b, E475, Soya Lecithins), 
•  Salt, 
•  Natural Flavouring, 
•  Thickener (Guar Gum), 
•  Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid)

Here’s what’s in my homemade Barney Bear

• Butter
• Sugar
• Egg
• Flour
• Vanilla extract

Here’s how I made my homemade Barney Bears

This is a no waffle recipe, written by someone who struggles to follow instructions!

This recipe makes 8 bears. Double up for 16.

• Silicon bear mould from Amazon
• 55 g Butter
• 55 g Caster sugar
• 55 g Self raising flour
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• Optional: chocolate, raisins

1. Spray the bear mould with a spray oil.
2. Whisk the butter and sugar together
3. Add the egg and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you whisk
4. Add the flour
5. Whisk
6. Scoop out into the bear moulds
7. Add raisins/chocolate if having and cover over with some cake mix

Bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

Pop them out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.

And here you have the cutest little bears. You know exactly what’s in them!

Did the kids like my homemade Barney Bears?

Yep! They were a hit. Who doesn’t like cake in the shape of cute bears when you know exactly what’s in them?