Basic Baking and Cake Decorating (2 Viewers)

If you are having trouble with a buttercream cake and need to hide some of the flaws you are experiencing, here are five ways you can hide, disguise or enhance your imperfections. How to cover flaws and imperfections on a buttercream cake. 1 Pipe roses on the cake to cover it. 2 Cover the exterior in chocolate curls. 3 Add sprinkles to the buttercream in various areas around the cake. 4 Strategically place dragees or pearls in the flawed areas and make them part of the pattern. 5 Give it a naked or rustic vibe and add yourself a topper or decorations of your choice to enhance it. And there you have it 5 simple ways to make your buttercream cakes look beautiful. Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Hints, Tips and Tools...

To help keep your cake in place when using buttercream or frosting, you can stick a piece of double-sided tape to the turntable and then place your cake board on the top. This will keep the board in place and stop the board and cake from moving while you buttercream. Or if you don't fancy sticking the board to the turntable, you could always use a non-stick mat, silicone mat or piece of black anti-slip mat to hold the cake and board in place instead. Either way, it won't move. Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Hints, Tips and Tools Recipes and Guides Tutorials

Adding multiple flavours or a mixture of ingredients into cakes and bakes can create something magnificent, so with that in mind and carrying on from my recent post relating to flavour combinations, here are a few more for you to look at. The lists below are there to help you work out what flavour pairings complement each other and will hopefully help you experiment a little more in the kitchen. Spices All Spice - Can add warm undertones and enhance flavours in any puddings or pies that you make. Anise - Works well with cakes, biscuits and pastries. Dark Chocolate This pairs well with any of the following: Dark Rum Banana Raspberry Candied Ginger Cherries Kirsch Hazelnuts Apricot Jam Lemon Works well combined with any of...

If you're looking at making some flavoursome bakes or want to upgrade some of your old recipes, then why not check out some of these flavour combinations? If you're looking for summer vibes, then any citrus fruit will give you that tangy zingy flavour that you have been looking for. Lime and Coconut are a perfect combination. Lemon with Blackberries or Raspberries pairs beautifully. Thyme can also compliment Lemon and Lime dishes but be careful with it, add a little and you can't taste it, add too much, and it will overpower the bake, so ensure you get a great balance between the two. Berries Who doesn't love a berry? It's bright, colourful, and filled with goodness so try adding them to your cakes and bakes. Nuts These also...

I never needed to thin out piping gel until I made my most recent cake. The celebratory cake was made up of afternoon tea mini cakes and baking ingredients, and I required a thinner form of piping gel for my miniature strawberry tart to help make it look more authentic. I initially tried using cold water, to no avail, as the gel just sat in blobs on top of the water. I then moved on to boiled water to see if that would alter the consistency, but again this just created the same blobby mess that the cold water did. So then, going for third time lucky, I went ahead and used vodka; I added a small teaspoon of neat vodka to the piping gel, mixed them together with a spoon and et voilà, perfectly thinned piping gel. Now please note...

Marzipan comes in two colours, white and yellow (golden). The difference between them is white marzipan is pliable and can be dyed with food colour to make modelled fruits or vegetables etc., and yellow/golden marzipan is generally used to cover cakes, although white marzipan may also be used as a covering. The golden or yellow marzipan is used as a first layer to cover Christmas or Wedding Cakes giving you a smoother surface to work with, allowing the final layer of icing fondant to be applied on the top. The cake should be covered in apricot jam prior to the marzipan being adhered to it. The jam acts as an adhesive and allows it to stick to the cake. The marzipan acts as a protective layer, preventing the fruit cake from staining...

I'm all about having staple cake decorating items in my cupboard, and Piping Gel is definitely one to add to the list. You'll be surprised to discover how versatile this tub of clear gel really is, and how many things you can actually use it for. Having recently used the piping gel as a form of glue to stick my edible ladybirds to the side of my cake. It was great to find that not only did they stick without sliding, but you couldn't see any of the gel holding them in place either. You can make piping gel yourself if you wish, but for the amount you get in a tub and the price you pay, it's probably easier to buy it and have it in your cake drawer. That way, it's always on hand if you need it and you'll have the same consistency of...

Torting a cake is just a really posh way of saying that you need to level and slice your cake into even-sized layers and then fill them evenly to give you the height of cake you require. You must ensure that each layer is level so that when stacked and filled, the overall cake is stable, straight and upright. How do you torte a cake? To torte a cake, you would level it first, then select a specific cake height that you want your cake to be. From there, you would then torte (cut) the cake into even layers and then fill them. The thickness of the layers will depend on who the cake is for and how tall/filled the recipient likes their cakes to be. This is because some people prefer minimum layers and minimal filling, whereas others...

If you want to ensure that your cupcakes come out moist and fluffy each time, then why not try some of the following techniques to help you out. A little tweak here and there with your baking can lead to fabulous results. 1 It's all about creating air bubbles; therefore, if you're using a stand mixer, mix your batter on a very slow speed until the ingredients have just combined. 2 Try not to over mix; otherwise, you'll undo all that lovely work you've just put into it. Overbeating leads to tough and dense cakes, and we want to avoid that! If you over-mix your batter, you will pop all the lovely air you've just created, so to prevent that, you could use a hand whisk instead. That way, you can see precisely when the ingredients are...

If you want to add some height or depth to your cakes without breaking the bank, then why not use some of these handy tips and tricks. 1 Try using separators, hanging jewels or glass inserts to create elaborate designs and give you that much-needed height. 2 Add inexpensive cake toppers such as Mr & Mrs, Happy Birthday or make your own design to give the cake some much-needed flair. 3 Use dummy tiers. This is because you can have them decorated the same as the rest of your cake, and they don't cost the earth. They add additional height and wow factor to your cake, giving you the overall effect you are looking for. You can have a large cake for a small gathering, and you won't have any cake wastage. They're a lot cheaper on your...

I have provided a list of questions and answers below explaining how and why we knead icing/fondant and the reasons behind why certain things happen to it. How do you knead icing/fondant? To knead the icing/fondant, you would take the amount you wish to use and then start rolling and pushing it into your lightly dusted work surface using both hands. Why do we knead icing/fondant? We knead the icing/fondant to warm and soften it; thus making it more pliable and easier to work with. Kneading also removes any air pockets that may be trapped in it. How long does it take to knead? The amount of time it takes you to knead the icing/fondant depends on how much you are trying to soften it and the temperature/climate you are kneading...

If you're in the business of making custom cakes or you're starting out, then you may have come across people who want the earth but aren't willing to pay for it. Just remember, if you have the talent and people constantly come back for your amazing cakes, it's worth keeping in mind a few key details. As in life, you get what you pay for and sometimes, let's face it, in this industry, it isn't always the case. How many times have you done that extra few hours or made a mistake and started again? I have known people work through the night to finish a cake and know they won't get paid for those twilight hours. In light of the hard work endured, there is a lot of customer satisfaction with cakes, especially if you see it through to...

When making cakes, especially larger ones, you may have found it difficult to pick the cake and board up from the work surface due to the following reasons:- The size and weight of it. The cake board sits flat against the worktop. You're unable to get your fingertips underneath the board. An excellent trick to combat this is adding 'feet' to it. By this, I mean adding clear door stoppers to the base of your board before you add your cake to it. To do this, you simply peel the self-adhesive clear door stoppers away from the packaging. And then stick them to the base of your board. What this does is create a gap between the work surface and the board, allowing you to place your fingertips underneath it, enabling you to...