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Hot water pastry is used in hand-made pie crusts and is durable enough to hold some heavy fillings such as meats and root vegetables. It is a great, savoury choice and can be made in a relatively short amount of time. If you are looking to make the pastry for your pies, here are a few tips for you to focus on. Use lard, butter or a mixture of the two when making hot water pastry. Lard will give the pastry the fat, but the butter will give the pastry the flavour. To make a hot crust...

The Sachertorte was first created by the ingenious 16-year-old apprentice chef Franz Sacher for the Austrian Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich in 1832. This culinary masterpiece is a luxurious, rich chocolate cake filled with lashings of apricot jam and covered in a velvety chocolate glaze. It is slightly denser than that of a normal chocolate cake but is loved by millions across the world. If you are looking to recreate this beautiful classic or want to make changes to the recipe...

To help get your Bonfire Night celebrations in full swing, here are a few ideas and recipes for you to try. S'mores: These delightful treats are incredibly popular across the pond and can easily be recreated here too. To make S'mores, you can roast them over the bonfire, or if you're looking for a quick, fire-free alternative, we have a simple method of whipping them up in minutes. No bonfire needed! Ginger Cake: A warm, moist ginger cake with a hint of spice is a perfect treat for you...

If you've ever wanted to whip up those ooey-gooey marshmallow treats that our American friends love so much, well, now you can. Not only have I put together a quick and easy S'mores tutorial. But you can make a batch of them in a matter of minutes without the need for a bonfire! Having said that, if you are aiming for authenticity, then you can char them using a kitchen blow torch, although that bit's entirely optional. (Please note that children should be supervised by an adult at all...

Here are some tips on how to make a vertical layer cake. Overall Results A vertical cake needs height, colour and plenty of flavour. For best results, line the pan and use a light, springy sponge recipe, such as a Swiss roll for the cake layers. Buttercream or cream cheese is a great filling as it holds its shape. Tips on how to make and assemble the cake. The cakes are thin and bake very quickly in the oven, so keep an eye on them. Once baked, immediately take the sponge from the oven...

Here are a few examples of the colourful cupcake toppers and the Avengers Cupcake Toppers I recently bought from AK Giftshop on Amazon. Not only were they vibrant and cheery, but they were also conveniently pre-cut too! Although this review is predominantly for the Avengers cupcake toppers, I thought it only fair to show you a few of the other sets I bought and the quality they offer. This is so you can see firsthand the level of quality they bring. Product Packaging/Delivery The...

I found the leopard print edible cake wrap while searching for a unique cake covering for one of my daughter's 18th birthday cake tiers. It isn't something I've ever used before and is a new product to me that I haven't yet tried. After ordering the cake wrap from Sugar Fables on Etsy, here are my insights into the product. Product Packaging/Delivery Victoria, the seller, notified me when the package had been dispatched. The sheets were sent in an A4 Do Not Bend Envelope. The leopard...

Roll up, roll up, exciting news here folks! The release date for the upcoming season of our beloved GBBO has finally been announced. Following a highly anticipated wait, cryptic adverts and scouring the web to discover more. It has now officially been confirmed the Great British Bake Off will be back on our screens next Tuesday, 26 September at 8 pm. Whoop, whoop! But there's more exciting news to share! With Matt Lucas departing the show, he has now made way for the lovely and hilarious...

Here is the 18th birthday cake I made for my daughter. It comprises of 3 tiers, a 5-inch, 7-inch and 9-inch cake. Two tiers are made of up of chocolate chip Madeira cake, and the base is a dummy tier. This is probably the most expensive, busiest, time-consuming, head-scratching cake that has really pushed me. I'm not sure what was going on with the icing/fondant on the day, but it's the first time I've ever had to triple-cover a cake tier! The top tier was covered in two layers of white...

It was the perfect top layer to my Matilda cake 😋

As the summer break has finally come to an end, we have now resumed our BSG meetings. During this month's meeting, we had the privilege of enjoying a delightful fairy model presentation by the exceptionally talented Lisa Courtney-Rigby. Lisa has a diverse range of skills and talents, including contributions to Saracino, her creations for Cake International and her numerous magazine features, which all keep her in high demand. We were lucky enough to see her in action, thanks to Nicola...

Macerated strawberries are when you soften the fruit in liquid. This can sometimes be done when you have below par fruit and are looking to revive it or when you are looking to enhance the flavours of fresh fruit. How do you macerate strawberries? Cut them in half and then either soak the strawberries in a liquid such as Balsamic Vinegar or Lemon Juice or cover them in a couple of tablespoons of Sugar. This helps soften the berry and extract the juices, thus giving you a sweeter...

Thank you for your help, very much appreciated my mum's birthday cake turned out lovely 😊

There was a slight change of plans again for this month's meeting. Rather than the Froggy Teapot presentation originally planned, we were treated to Sandra showcasing her wedding-themed modelling skills but with a bit of a twist. So, instead of demonstrating conventional bride and groom toppers, Sandra opted for a fun and unique idea to top a wedding cake using mouse figurines instead. Sandra's approach to modelling really resonates with me, as it's all about converting shapes into...

This month's meeting was initially a demonstration of Royal Icing with Judy Banks; however, unfortunately, the snowy weather prevented that. So instead of no meeting, Judith kindly stepped in and provided a fascinating demo on Jelly painting. Now you may be wondering what exactly jelly painting is. Well, contrary to what the name suggests, it's not the art of dipping your paintbrush in a bowl of jelly and painting with it. No, it is, in fact, a cake-decorating technique where you paint...

If you have any kind of bake sale coming up and you're looking for a few ideas or inspiration, then why not try making one of the following items? They can be altered and amended to suit your needs, and they can be as simple or elaborate as you want them to be, depending on your time and budget. 5 Things to make for a Bake Sale... Biscuits and Cookies These are always a best-seller. Stick with the classic chocolate chip cookie or shortbread, or be a little more daring by adding fruits...

This is the recent Bob the Builder cake I made for my Dad's 70th Birthday. The cake is an 8-inch Madeira filled with jam and buttercream. It was then double iced in both white fondant and then pastel green fondant, which enabled me to get a smooth finish on the cake and ensured that nothing showed through, as I didn't have a lot of pastel green icing if I needed to recover it. Most of the decorations are made from Saracino modelling paste to help with their structure, such as Bob the...