Home-made cakes thread 2

pookiewn

bazzaboo wrote: »

Love this thread and got great ideas and tips from you all. And the cakes are fab.
Now I've got a question, does anyone know where I can buy corn syrup? Or is there an alternative? I want to have a go at making modeling chocolate. Cheers

You can use liquid glucose for modelling chocolate, it can be bought in tesco, sainsburys etc. Not sure if or how well golden syrup works for it.

Golden_Anemone

Cake4brains wrote: »

Hi, I find using vodka can make it streaky. If you can steam it (either with a steamer or an iron) it works really well. Obviously making sure the machine is limescale-free!

Thank you Cake4brains! I will try that too. Thankfully we're in a soft water area so I don't have problems with limescale in the iron.

murie

hi- I am new to cake making (ish) but I have a couple of big birthdays coming up this year so I would love to have a go at making the celebration cakes. I have ordered some cake tins and am eager to get started! (gonna practise on Valentines cake). What does everyone use to prepare the tins, eg should I grease and flour them or is it worth investing in some of the cake tin release that is around?( the tins are not loose bottomed or spring loaded) Thank you.

Dontknowanymore

tiff wrote: »

So sat down with DD11 this afternoon to do buttercream icing and it turned into a family event with DS14 and DH also having a go. These are pics of the best ones that I did. Still lots of practice needed, will hopefully be able to have another go tomorrow and also going to try making some fondant roses.

See! They look great!
Where did you get your nozzel from?

Golden_Anemone

murie wrote: »

hi- I am new to cake making (ish) but I have a couple of big birthdays coming up this year so I would love to have a go at making the celebration cakes. I have ordered some cake tins and am eager to get started! (gonna practise on Valentines cake). What does everyone use to prepare the tins, eg should I grease and flour them or is it worth investing in some of the cake tin release that is around?( the tins are not loose bottomed or spring loaded) Thank you.

I use cake release from Lakeland but greasing well works too.

MummyOfTwo

murie wrote: »

hi- I am new to cake making (ish) but I have a couple of big birthdays coming up this year so I would love to have a go at making the celebration cakes. I have ordered some cake tins and am eager to get started! (gonna practise on Valentines cake). What does everyone use to prepare the tins, eg should I grease and flour them or is it worth investing in some of the cake tin release that is around?( the tins are not loose bottomed or spring loaded) Thank you.

Hi Murie, If you are in the lovely position of treating yourself to new tins I would go for at least loose bottomed, if you can afford the spring loaded go for those. Decent quality tins will last a long long time. Do make sure they have a nice depth on them too. I would say always go for a careful grease and line job on the tin regardless, it will ensure a nice even shape and save you having to work any miracle with buttercream/icing when finishing!

pookiewn

Hi,
Does anyone have a good carvable chocolate cake recipe? I have an old faithful recipe, but it's very crumbly and not sure it would make a good aeroplane!
TIA

Lexis200

murie wrote: »

hi- I am new to cake making (ish) but I have a couple of big birthdays coming up this year so I would love to have a go at making the celebration cakes. I have ordered some cake tins and am eager to get started! (gonna practise on Valentines cake). What does everyone use to prepare the tins, eg should I grease and flour them or is it worth investing in some of the cake tin release that is around?( the tins are not loose bottomed or spring loaded) Thank you.

Always grease and line if it's a normal shape as you are guaranteed it will come out then. No need to spend money on a spray release as a £1 bristle pastry brush and some vege oil works just as well for awkward/detailed tins.

Good luck

nat82

pookiewn wrote: »

Hi,
Does anyone have a good carvable chocolate cake recipe? I have an old faithful recipe, but it's very crumbly and not sure it would make a good aeroplane!
TIA

I've just been looking at this recipe as recommended by Annie H and if you look further down the page at the Comments section, it can be used to carve. HTH.

Lexis200

bazzaboo wrote: »

Love this thread and got great ideas and tips from you all. And the cakes are fab.
Now I've got a question, does anyone know where I can buy corn syrup? Or is there an alternative? I want to have a go at making modeling chocolate. Cheers

If you use a lot of chocolate it's probably worth looking at a site called HB ingredients. It will cost you a tenner in postage for a small (sub £200) order, but the chocolate is about half the price of the shops. I use mainly Callebaut which is about £13 for 2.5k - if you're making lots of stuff or can get a few people together it's well worth it.

They also sell glucose syrup (aka corn syrup) by the kilo for, if memory serves, about £2.50. When you consider 140ml in the supermarket is about £1.50 it makes it very worthwhile if you're doing a lot of baking etc.