Baking quick questions

lucylema

SDG31000 wrote: »

Hi lucylema, no you don't need marzipan on a sponge cake. Just brush the cake with jam or put on a thin layer of buttercream and then roll out your blue fondant and apply that. I hope that helps

Thanks hunni, will post pic once its done (if it gets done lol)

Dinah93

I'm hoping to decorate our Christmas Cake this weekend and I was watching The Great British Bake Off and they had tools which looked a bit like mortar boards you must use to skim plaster onto a wall with in order to get the icing on a cake. Does anyone know what these are called, and is there anything I might already have in my kitchen to get the same result, as my icing always falls apart on the corners.

adelight

Do you have a palette knife? Fish slice? Anything with a flat surface and preferably a raised handle? Anything like that will do.

Dinah93

I have a spatula... think the slots might make it unviable though! how do I have a stand mixer and not one, not two but three types of blender, and no palette knife?!

Oscar_the_Pug

Do you mean an icing smoother?

Very cheap here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cake-Icing-Decorating-Sugarcraft-Smoother-Polisher-Tool-/180766364628?pt=Uk_Crafts_Cake_Decorating_MJ&hash=item2a1683d3d4

Diflower

A ruler is good:) Or a palette knife, anything really that's flat. If you get the surface smooth-ish, then dip your palette knife/ruler/whatever into boiling water, flick off any excess and go over it briefly, it will then be magically ultra-smooth.

mardatha

For the first time ever I'm trying to bake my bread in the oven instead of in the breadmaker... I want to make a medium round cottage loaf - how long should I give them in the oven?

Allegra

If you make sure that the oven is nice and hot before you bung the dough in, most bread will be done in about 25 mins (or as quick as 20 in a fan oven). Look in on it after 20 min, and if it looks nice and brown, pull it out and give it a knock - it should sound hollow. If it doesn't, give it another 5 mins, and so on, until it's either getting too brown for comfort or sounds sufficiently cave-like Note how long it took to get to that point, and next time you'll be able to dispense with all the knocking....

mardatha

Brilliant ty - its in the oven but I forgot to pre heat it so it went into a cold oven.

Homeagain

Can anybody help? I bought a huge box of instant porridge oats (the sachet type) and nobody in the house likes them. I don't want to throw them away. Can anyone suggest a biscuit or cake recipe that will use them up??