Hints, Tips and Tools (3 Viewers)

Choc chips are beautiful pieces of chocolatey goodness that are added to muffins and cakes to deliver a little hint of luxury to your taste buds. So instead of mixing them into your cakes, how about adding them to your buttercream. By adding them to the buttercream filling, you will add extra crunch and texture to your cake and create a little surprise for those who are not expecting them. Strawberry Milkshake Buttercream Hints, Tips and Tools Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Recipes and Guides Tutorials

Here is a lemon zest and juice tip for you to try. If a recipe calls for the use of both the zest and the juice from the lemon, firstly grate the zest into a bowl. Then cut the lemon in half, and squeeze the juice over the lemon zest. The lemon juice will prevent the lemon zest from drying out and going hard, thus making your cakes extra scrumptious! Hints, Tips and Tools Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Recipes and Guides Tutorials

If your recipe requires you to measure out sticky ingredients such as syrup, honey, treacle (molasses) then remember this neat little trick. In order to help you remove your ingredients easily, simply spray your tub, jug or scales with a non-stick spray prior to weighing and all your gooey ingredients will slide out easily. [embed] No scraping, tapping or banging, just easy pour liquid! You can do this using any greaser or releaser and is a good tip to know if you are measuring out ingredients using the melting method. Hints, Tips and Tools Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Recipes and Guides Tutorials

We all know that ginger is a funny shape, and when cut with a knife loses half its actual size. Therefore to stop and prevent this from happening simply peel your ginger with a teaspoon. Yes, I did say a teaspoon! The curve of the spoon sits nicely on the outer edge of the root and peels the skin away with ease, leaving you with just the amount of ginger you require. Hints, Tips and Tools Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Recipes and Guides Tutorials

If you need to make jam soft in order for it to spread easier, then try using the following tip. Take your jar of jam out of the fridge or cupboard and place it in a jug of hot water for approx 10 minutes. For plastic jam, pots reduce the temperature to very warm rather than hot. (Be careful when removing the jar from the jug as it may be hot). Once removed, dry the jar with some kitchen towel and leave to cool for a few minutes. The jam will now be a soft consistency allowing you easy spreading over delicate cakes such as sponges or swiss rolls. The jam glides over the cake easily, ensuring that when you are covering it won't tear. Hints, Tips and Tools Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Recipes and Guides Tutorials

Do you find that your butter sticks to the knife when you are cutting it into cubes? If so, there is a little trick you can do to prevent this, simply sprinkle a little flour onto the butter, and this will prevent it from sticking to the knife, thus making your cubing process much more easier. Hints, Tips and Tools Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Recipes and Guides Tutorials

Here is a baking tip on how to prevent your baking paper from sliding off the baking sheet. Roll out your baking paper and size it against your baking sheet. Cut out a piece that covers the whole baking sheet. Sprinkle a few drops of water onto the corners of the baking sheet and a couple in the middle. (I ran my fingers under the tap and then lightly sprinkled the water with my fingertips). Now place the baking paper back onto the baking sheet, you will notice that the drops of water act like an adhesive and stick the paper straight to the sheet. This now frees up your hands to apply your baking goodies to the sheet without having to fight with the baking paper! Hints, Tips and Tools Basic Baking and Cake Decorating...

To stop your sugarpaste or icing from going sticky, firstly lightly knead it on a lightly dusted surface. Then finish working it by rolling it out using a rolling pin. If you use your hands to soften and roll the sugarpaste icing, you will transfer heat to it, and the more you work it, the more sticky it will become, by using the rolling pin you are working the paste but not transferring direct heat to it. Hints, Tips and Tools Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Recipes and Guides Tutorials

If you have spare batches of icing (that's all the same brand) and are not quite sure what to do with them, then try this nifty little trick. 1. Simply get your spare bits of icing together and bind them into a ball. 2. Then roll the ball out with a rolling pin on a lightly dusted surface until flat. 3. If you have enough your could create a multicoloured effect on a cake, however, if you don't have that much you could always make some funky cupcake toppers with it like so. 4. Not only have you created some one-off cake toppers that look fab, you'll barely have any waste, and if there is a little icing left over then you and the kids you can always eat it! Hints, Tips and Tools Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Recipes and...

In order to recreate a light flesh skin colour for your edible models, you will need to use Paprika Flesh Colour concentrated dye. Add a small amount of the paprika dye to your white icing fondant using a cocktail stick, then knead in. Build up the skin colour you require; you can make everything from a pale complexion to a 'you've been Orange Tango'd' complexion depending on how much dye you use. If you add too much dye, then add some more white icing to lighten the colour. https://www.helpmebake.com/threads/how-to-use-concentrated-food-dye.49/ If you require much richer or darker skin tones, then look to use either Autumn Leaf Sugarflair or Chestnut Brown Sugarflair. These will provide you with an array of beautifully honed skin...

In order to free your cake from the tin much easier then do this handy tip when your bakes come out of the oven. Place your wire rack on the side. Wet a tea towel by placing it under the cold tap and then wring it out. Put the damp tea towel on top of your wire rack. Place your freshly baked cake directly onto the tea towel and wire rack as soon as it is removed from the oven. By placing the hot tin directly onto a cold, damp surface, it quickly assists with cooling the tin down, causing it to contract and release your cake much easier. You can use the same method if using cakes in sandwich tins too. https://www.helpmebake.com/support/threads/what-sandwich-tins-look-like.322/ Tip: Be sure to remove the damp tea towel...

If you find that your icing, fondant, or sugarpaste is hard or dry then simply add some Trex or some other alternative vegetable fat to it, although a rule of thumb with this is less is definitely more! Make sure you use it in stages, and slowly otherwise, you run the risk of adding too much and making a mess. Trex in moderation will soften and loosen sugarpaste/icing/fondant making it pliable and easier to use, all you need to do is rub a little between your hands and then knead the icing/fondant/sugarpaste with your hands, which in turn will soften and restore it. Tip: Trex or vegetable fat is a great tool if you are using your icing/fondant/sugarpaste in a Sugarcraft gun. The Trex acts as a lubricant in the barrel and helps form...

If you find your sugarpaste, icing or fondant is too pliable, overworked and is too gooey (for want of a better technical term) and you need to revive it then all you need to do is this. By adding smalls amounts of either CMC, gum tragacanth or Tylo powder and kneading it in, it will begin to slightly harden your sugar paste and bring it back to life. Hints, Tips and Tools Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Recipes and Guides Tutorials

A few tips for chocolate moulds are, always rest the mould on a tray before you fill it! If you don't, the mould will bow under the weight of the chocolate and leak all over making a mess. By using the tray, you are creating a support system which allows you to move the moulds more freely and easily to the fridge. Once you have poured the melted chocolate into the silicone mould (only fill them about two-thirds full to start with), either tap it on your kitchen work surface or slightly shake the mould forward and backwards or side to side. This helps distribute the chocolate into the mould and removes air bubbles from it. You can then add more chocolate if you require in stages until the mould is fully filled. Also, ensure you have...

To keep your cheesecake base from crumbling, you may wish to add a little melted chocolate to your biscuit and butter base. This will help solidify the mixture together, making it crunchier and help keep it stuck together when slicing. Hints, Tips and Tools Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Recipes and Guides Tutorials

When using moulds with icing fondant it is best to lightly dust them with cornflour rather than icing/confectioners sugar. This is because cornflour sits on the top of the mould and ensures the icing does not stick allowing it to release easier. Icing sugar or confectioners sugar is known to absorb into icing and can cause the icing fondant to stick in the ridges of the mould. Cornflour is also known to leave dust marks on dark colours such as black, red, green etc therefore if you do use icing sugar with your moulds then try the following tip for additional help. Tip - If your icing is very soft or warm and sticky and you find it is tearing when you try to remove your icing fondant from the mould then simply place the mould with...

To check if airbrush colours are okay to buy then tip them upside down if it takes the liquid longer than a few seconds to reach the top then don’t buy them because the liquid is too thick! Beginners Help with Airbrushing Hints, Tips and Tools Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Recipes and Guides Tutorials

To prevent excessive crumbling when you are carving a cake, ensure the cake you are using is very cold or slightly frozen, as this will assist in the reduction of crumbs and help you have a better finish. Hints, Tips and Tools Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Recipes and Guides Tutorials

To help bananas stay fresher in your fruit bowl simply wrap the cluster part of the bananas, i.e. the top part where they are grouped together with clingfilm (saran wrap) and then place them on top of your fruit or hang them on your bowl. When you remove a banana to eat simply tighten the clingfilm back around the cluster part. By wrapping this section, the bananas will ripen at a much slower pace. Hints, Tips and Tools Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Recipes and Guides Tutorials

If you add cornflour to chopped up processed strawberries before adding them to cake batter, it absorbs the moisture and water and won't make your cupcakes soggy. :)

Here is a quick way to clean up all those little pieces of extra icing fondant from your silicone mat, without dropping them all over the floor! Simply get an extra piece of icing fondant and press that into the smaller the pieces on your mat, the small pieces will squash into your bigger piece and collect quite quickly thus leaving you with an icing fondant free mat. You can also use it to absorb any excess icing sugar too. Hints, Tips and Tools Basic Baking and Cake Decorating Recipes and Guides Tutorials