CONTENTS

COVER

TITLE

INTRODUCTION

TOOLS & EQUIPMENT

INGREDIENTS

LINING BAKING TINS

MAKING & FILLING PIPING BAGS

1/// Basic Cake & Cookie Recipes

2/// Fillings & Frostings

3/// Layering, Covering & Stacking

4/// Piping Techniques

5/// Decorating with Sugarpaste

6/// Cake Projects

7/// Cookie Decorations

BAKING SOS

INDEX

COPYRIGHT

Introduction

After I became a mother, I started using my own mother’s age-old recipes to make my children’s birthday cakes. Each year I made them more and more elaborate and friends started asking me to make cakes for them, too. As I enjoyed creating new designs I realised that baking was where my passion lay. I hope that this book will birth, or help develop, such a passion in you, too! In it I have provided you with all the baking and decorating techniques and tips you need to get creative with your own cakes and cookies.

Everything has been organised to make it easy for both beginners and experienced cake makers alike to master all the methods and recipes.

Throughout the book practical, accessible text is accompanied by clear photography so that you are able to follow all the techniques closely as you try them out for yourself.

The book starts with the preparation and planning of a cake – from the list of the tools you need to the way to line a cake tin. The basic cake and cookie recipes are then described, followed by recipes for covering and filling them.

In layering, covering and stacking you will learn how to get the perfect cake ready for all the decorations you may wish to include. The next chapters then explain the following decorating techniques and methods in detail: hand piping, hand moulding and the use of different cutters and silicone moulds.

The book ends with some of my favourite cake and cookie projects, which amalgamate much of the expertise you will have perfected by this point into specific designs. These are totally interchangeable so feel free to experiment and create your own cakes, simply using the designs as inspiration for your own imagination.

Enjoy!

Tools & Equipment

Before you begin baking, ensure you have all the tools and equipment that you’ll need on hand. Here is a summary of the things needed for baking and decorating cakes and cookies.

Baking tray: a rimless, flat, metal sheet, designed for baking rows of cookies.

Cake boards: of various sizes and thicknesses.

Cake dowels: use to create a strong internal support system for tiered cakes.

Cake stands and plates: many pretty, stylish stands and plates are available.

Cake tins: traditional shapes are round, square and rectangular.

Cookie cutters: use to cut decorative shapes from rolled-out dough.

Cupcake tins: metal baking tins with usually 6 or 12 cups used to bake muffins and cupcakes.

Foam pad: useful for working on to add veins to flowers and leaves, for softening the edges of flower petals and for frilling.

Freestanding or standmixer: takes all the effort out of beating cake mixtures or mixing frosting ingredients together.

Grater: use to remove the zest from citrus fruit or to grate chocolate.

Measuring spoons: use for measuring small amounts of ingredients like natural vanilla extract, salt or baking powder.

Metal spoons: have many uses in the kitchen.

Mixing bowls: at least one or two large and small bowls are a must.

Modelling tool set: a starter kit has a variety of ball tools, a scallop tool, a tool with a cone at the end, a veining tool and a dog bone tool.

Non-stick baking paper: use to line baking trays and cake tins, and for folding into paper cones to create piping (icing) bags.

Paper cases: cupcake liners are convenient, save on cleaning and are very easy to use.

Pastry brushes: use to spread glazes and egg wash, to grease tins or to brush excess flour and icing (confectioners’) sugar from dough and sugarpaste (fondant).

Piping (icing) bags and nozzles: use for cake and cookie decorating; piping bags can also be fitted with decorative nozzles for piping frosting and cream.

Pizza cutter: handy for trimming excess rolled sugarpaste (fondant) after covering cakes or cutting strips of sugarpaste.

Plunger cutters: use to add details to your cake, cupcakes and cookies.

Rolling pins: useful for rolling sugarpaste (fondant), pastry and cookie doughs.

Sieve: use to sift and eliminate or separate clumps from flour, cocoa powder and icing (confectioners’) sugar.

Silicone moulds: easy to use, flexible and highly detailed moulds.

Spatulas: these have many uses including scraping batters from the sides and bottoms of bowls, as well as spreading, filling, folding and stirring.

Sugarpaste (fondant) smoother: ingenious tool that gives a sugarpaste-covered cake a satiny, smooth even finish.

Thermometer: useful for Italian meringue or when mixing butter into chocolate ganache.

Whisks: use to whisk dry ingredients together, beat eggs or whip cream.

Wire racks: use to cool cakes after baking. Also useful to place a cake on when pouring a ganache over it.

Wooden spoons: use for beating cake mixtures and frostings.

Ingredients

Have a good supply of the following essential ingredients in your kitchen when baking and decorating cakes.

Eggs

These play an important role in the baking world, adding structure, colour and flavour. It is the balance between eggs and flour that helps to provide the height and texture to cakes.

Dairy products

One of the most widely used categories in baking ingredients is the dairy products. These include butter, milk, yoghurt, thick (double) cream and mascarpone.

Wheat

Wheat-based flour is made by grinding wheat – the most popular grain used in baking – and includes plain (all-purpose) flour and self-raising flour.

POLENTA

Made from ground cornmeal, polenta has a rich yellow colour and adds a lovely flavour.

Sweeteners

A large variety of sugars can be produced by extracting and purifying sugar from sugar cane, including caster (superfine) sugar, light brown sugar, raw (demerara) sugar, icing (confectioners’) sugar and glucose syrup.

Food colours

These come in many forms, such as liquid, powder, paste or gel. The most reliable is the gel because it is more concentrated so will not affect the final results when it is added to a recipe (for example into buttercream). Also, the result will be much brighter and more saturated than the liquid form. (Powdered colours can also come in a sparkly range, as shown at left.)

Piping gel

This is a sweet gel that can be used in many different ways in cake decorating, such as glazing sugarpaste (fondant). It can also be added to buttercream to give elasticity when applying writing to the surface of a cake.

Leavening agent

Baking powder contributes in numerous ways to baking – not only does it leaven certain ingredients (reacting with the liquid to cause the cake to rise), it also tenderises, adds flavour and provides a finer crumb.

Thickening agent

The simplest way to thicken food is to add an ingredient that is itself thickened, such as egg, cream or yoghurt. When this is not possible, a thickening agent can be added, such as powdered gelatine. Its function is to absorb a large quantity of liquid.

Softening agent

Glycerine is a softening agent in the form of a clear, odourless syrup. It has the property to attract moisture and is used in baking to help cakes stay moist.

Flavourings

Chocolate (dark, milk and white), cocoa powder, vanilla (beans and extract), almond extract, coffee, salt and white wine vinegar are all flavourings used in cakes and cookies.

Culinary nuts

These are dry, edible fruits or seeds usually with a high fat content and they are used in a wide variety of roles within baking. Some examples include walnuts, almond meal and pistachios.

Poppy seeds

This is an oilseed harvested from the opium poppy (the tiny, edible black seeds are found in the heads). They have a slightly nutty aroma and taste and are widely used in baking.

Fruits

Various fruits are used to add flavour and decoration to cakes, such as lemons, oranges, blueberries and strawberries.