spill over the edges. If it’s too shallow it could burn. Make sure you check the specified tin size and use the correct one – it might be worth investing in a few new tins if you plan to do a lot of baking, or you can scale your recipe up or down to fit the tin you have.
OTHER USEFUL TOOLS
PLASTIC PASTRY SCRAPER: My favourite tool in the kitchen; frustrating, as these are not generally available to the home baker, but get hold of one and it will become your best friend. I use it for scraping down bowls, separating dough, scooping batter into tins and scraping down surfaces when I’ve finished and made a mess. You won’t find them in homeware shops, but you can get them very inexpensively online | see page 263 for stockists |. MEASURING JUG: A good set of scales will measure in millilitres, but it’s handy to have a jug of some kind around for adding liquids gradually. GRATER: For grating vegetables. You can also use a food processor, but it will often grate much finer than you need. ZESTER: For chocolate and fruits. FOOD PROCESSOR: Handy (but not essential) for making up doughs, chopping and grinding nuts and whizzing up liquids with solids. PALETTE KNIFE: For spreading chocolate and icing cakes. WOODEN SPOON: To stir anything you’re heating on the stove, though a silicone spatula will work just as well. WIRE COOLING RACK: The best way to cool cakes – it ensures air can get to the cake from all angles, so that it cools evenly and doesn’t go soggy at the bottom. PIPING BAG: A piping bag will make your desserts (and you) look professional. A re-usable bag and one or two tips are all you need to decorate the cakes in this book. | See page 26 for how to use a piping bag |. COPPER BOWL: Best for whipping egg whites. GOOD OVEN GLOVES: These should be heat-resistant and not so cumbersome that you lose your dexterity in getting cakes or tart bases out of the oven without damaging them. SUGAR THERMOMETER: When you’re working with boiled sugar, you will need to invest in one of these to help you control the temperature | see page 213 for more |. SILICONE ROLLING PIN: For pastry, doughs and fondant. ADDITIONAL HANDY TOOLS • Cocktail sticks – for testing when your cakes are done • Knives, forks, spoons and kitchen scissors • Pestle and mortar • Biscuit cutters • Oven timer • Baking beans for blind baking • Kitchen roll, clingfilm and tin foil
A NOTE ON CLINGING PROPERLY Storing things airtight is key to achieving their maximum shelf life – if you’re using clingfilm to wrap leftover icing, batters, coulis, custard or anything else liquid, press the clingfilm to the surface of the liquid, not just across the top of the bowl, to seal it airtight. If you’re wrapping anything dry, make sure you wrap it, not the bowl.
USING A PIPING BAG
PIPING bags are handy for icing, filling tarts and buns, and piping perfect cookies, chocolate and meringues. It takes a bit of getting the hang of, but with a little practice you’ll get it in no time. Here’s how you do it. Slip the nozzle into place, following the instructions that come with your bag. Hold the bag about 10cm above the nozzle and pull the rest of the bag down over your hand like a cuff. Use a spatula, wooden spoon or large metal serving spoon to scoop some of whatever it is you are piping into the nose of the bag. Bring the cuff back up and push the batter down towards the nozzle, working out any air pockets that might have got trapped. Twist the bag above the batter and hold it there with your right hand (or your left if you are left-handed). Squeeze from here and use the other hand to guide your piping.
TOP TIP: SPLITTING THE BAG This is one of the best baking tips I was ever given. If the bag is too full, heavy or stiff for you to be able to get a good flow with your piping, split the bag by twisting it halfway through the batter (taking care the rest doesn’t spill out of the top). You can then hold the top of the bag with your left hand (if right-handed) and pipe from the split with your right as normal. This will mean you don’t have to keep refilling the bag and you can handle piping even when you have weak wrists like mine. WHICH NOZZLE DO I USE?
1M (1.5cm open star) – good for piping swirls, roses, meringues, cookies and icing cupcakes.
Wilton 10 (medium round tip) – useful for piping edges and making meringue mushrooms | page 191 | and bones | page 185 |.
Wilton 5 (smallish round tip) – useful for piping thin lines and dabs of frosting or chocolate.
104 (ruffle tip) – makes a nice ruffle effect for decorating cakes.
AND FINALLY. . .
Be prepared to do the dishes! WASHING UP will make up about a quarter of your baking time, so it’s worth a bit of planning to make sure you have the right tools clean when you need them. Be extra prepared with a sink of warm, soapy water.
If you’re organised you’re less likely to make mistakes – prepare your utensils in advance, READ THROUGH A RECIPE FROM START TO FINISH before you begin, even if it’s something you’ve made before, and try to clean up as you go. The results will show in your baking.
MAKE SPACE TO WORK. If you have a small kitchen, look for ways to make extra surface space – clear your dining table or pull in another table from somewhere.
KEEP A STOCK OF THE BASICS, especially free-range eggs, unsalted butter, caster sugar, plain flour and baking powder. You’re more likely to experiment and learn if you can whip something up when the mood takes you.
CHECK YOUR INGREDIENTS ARE AT THE RIGHT TEMPERATURE. Different recipes call for ingredients at different temperatures, and getting them wrong or right will greatly affect the outcome of your bake. Butter that’s too cold can be chopped into small cubes and gently heated in a pan or microwave. Cold eggs can be brought to room temperature by placing them in a dish of tepid (not boiling) water.
PREHEAT YOUR OVEN to the right temperature for at least 20 minutes before you need to use it. Check all the shelves are in the right place and try to keep the door closed – open it only when putting your bakes in and resist opening the door during bake time, as the cold air of the room will lower the oven temperature.
PREPARE ANY TINS you will be using before you start.
LEARN TO TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS. Get to know your oven and all its quirks inside out, so you learn when to rotate your baking trays or switch cake tins between shelves to ensure an even bake. When I started out making cakes for other people I was baking from home and I would bake hundreds of batches a day in my tiny oven; I never used a timer, but I always knew when a cake was ready by the smell that filled the room.
SPONGE CAKE
SPONGE recipes began to appear in the 1600s, when ovens were improving and new types of leavening were being experimented with. Before that, the closest thing to cake was a sweetened, enriched, spiced bread. A sponge recipe generally contains flour, sugar, fat, eggs, a raising agent and some liquid,
