advice

Hi Angie, please can you give me some hints and tips for pre cooking sweet pastry, or point me to a thread on here. I very often need to pre - bake a sweet pastry case for e.g Bakewell tar. All recipes for bakewell filling say bake at 180, gas 4 my pre- cooked case then burns even if I cover...

Advice please. I'm making a cake for a wedding celebration for my daughter and it's going to be 4 layers of 8" vanilla sponge. In fact, cakes are made and in the freezer. When it comes to the icing, I'm completely conflicted about what kind of butter cream icing to use. I've read so many blogs...

Hi! Could anyone please tell me why my meringue kisses turned all bumpy onve baked? I had made swiss meringue and its looked super glossy amd smooth when going in and mostly through the baking process. In tge end though they turned all bumpy and rough looking.. Baked at 100C for 1h20mins(until i...

Hi Janey I hope you don’t mind me pointing this out, but I have a little advice for you, if I may. 😊 After looking at one of your cake pics again, I can see the very faint ridgeline from your tin when they have been removed. I had trouble with this with my old tins, (as you can see on my cake...

My buttercream cake was set perfectly last night, put in the box overnight to get to room temp, and this morning there was a very slight ring round the cake not really noticeable but I knew it was there, it's starting to maybe bulge, why does this happen? And how to prevent this from happening...

Hiya, me again lol, instead of 150g of each for the Victoria sponge recipe can i up it to 200g of each and 3 1/2 eggs as my cakes don't seen to be rising much and thought by inceasing the ingredients they may rise more? 6x3 inch tins. Jane xx

I had never used enamel dishes before but have now bought a round and rectangle one. I used shop bought shortcrust pastry in both dishes and blind baked the pastry. When I removed the baking beans and put the dishes back in to brown the pastry in both dishes puffed up to the top of the dish...

Hello , I’m doing some baking for a friend who runs an retail outlet. Can anyone please help with a recipe for a fruit cake using a liner in a 2lb loaf tin. Please can I ask for tried and tested recipes only, I want the cake to be “light & soft” if you know what I mean. Thanks

Hi Angie, can I ask for a little help please 😁 want to make a moist coconut cake 6x3 inch deep, not very good with measurements, what ingredients would you recommend?do i use coconut milk? Thank you Jane x

Hi, Can anyone help please? I use candy melts to make my own chocolate covered sweets and filled chocolates, but I find that when melted it is rather thick. How do I make it thinner, to coat without a) changing the taste b) loosing the ”crack” when you bit into it. I would like to be able to...

Morning everyone, I’m making cupcakes today and I think I remember Angie saying she uses an ice cream scoop to fill them. I would prefer to fill by weight. Does anyone know how much an ice cream scoop amount would weigh? Thanks

hello everyone, I want to make chocolate cupcakes with the type of icing you get on the bought ones, quite a hardish top and softer underneath. Can anyone help how I achieve this please.

Last year I made a royal icing drip birthday cake with 7 layers of rainbow cake inside for my dad's 60th. Everybody loved it but the only judgement was the crumb coat. My parents aren't fond of buttercream and mum keeps talking about how you can use jam instead of buttercream as a crumb coat...

Hi All, I have spent the past 9 years perfecting all of my baking to accommodate my son’s severe food allergies. He recently passed a baked milk challenge and I am to bake cakes with at least 1 cup of milk in it. Unfortunately I cannot use eggs because he is allergic to them. I have spent the...

A cake comb is a decorating tool with a straight edge or ridges (teeth) that allows you to apply patterns or straight edges on a buttercream or frosted cake. There are multiple ones to choose from, and the results you can get from them are endless. Not only can they create patterns or...

Hi, my daughter has requested a 3d shaped cat birthday cake that has either chocolate chips or Oreos in it. I normally use this vanilla recipe baked in a 7" diameter and 3" deep tin and baked at 140C for 1h 40 mins. It always turns out well. 200g self raising flour 200g caster sugar 200g...

If you are inspired to make this old school staple, then be sure to read the below advice and tips to ensure you get the best possible bake! Advice & Tips when making a Malt Loaf Ensure that you mix the ingredients properly and there are no flour pockets; if you don't, you will have white...

Have you ever heard the term crumb coat or dirty icing and wondered what earth somebody was going on about. Well, not to worry, I have you covered. And literally, that's all it is. What is a crumb coat? A crumb coat, or 'dirty icing' as it's also known, is the first thin layer of...

Hi, making this chocolate cake again but only have light brown sugar, can i use this instead of normal granulated sugar? will it be the same amount? Will it affect the cake in any way with it being brown sugar. https://www.helpmebake.com/threads/how-to-make-a-chocolate-cake-tutorial.482/ Thank...

Hi Angie, Based on the cakes I've made so far and the rainbow cake trials, it seems baking on the middle shelf of our oven gives the best results. For a layer cake, this means baking in 2 or 3 batches depending on how many layers there are. I'm fine with this, however it raises the question...