Anyone Can Ice a Birthday Cake

If you think decorating a birthday cake is beyond your skill, think again. Anyone can create a cake that will please family and friends and it will only take you a few hours. Explore the online stores selling sugarcraft accessories and you’ll find a huge range of icings, colourings, cutters …

Read more

Anyone Can Ice a Celebration Cake

Anyone can create a celebration cake. It’s true: you don’t need any particular skill. With the wide range of instant icing, decorative accessories and ready-made cakes, even the most apprehensive cook can come up with a cake that will delight family and friends. It’s simple and it’s fun. We asked …

Read more

More Cakes from the North of England

The counties at the northernmost edge of England may have changed their names over the years but they’ve retained their traditions, including that for good food using simple and local produce. Cumbria Damsons thrive in the Lyth and Winster Valleys in Cumbria despite the sometimes harsh weather conditions that the …

Read more

Spun Sugar Techniques for Cakes

Sometimes the simplest things can have the greatest effect and spun sugar is just such a technique. The recipe is simple but the appearance of well-constructed spun sugar forms is magical and gravity-defying. Spun Sugar Tips and Hints There’s nothing easier than making the syrup for spun sugar work, but …

Read more

Making Fondant Roses

Constructing moulded fondant roses requires a certain amount of practise, but once you’ve perfected the technique, it’s a fantastic addition to your cake-baking skills and one that will win you many fans! Choosing Fondant Begin by making or buying some Mouldable Fondant. It’s easiest to start with white fondant as …

Read more

Special Effects: Pastillage Cake Toppers

Pastillage is often confused with gumpaste, the sugar and gum traganath blend used to mould flowers and leaves for wedding cakes. While the two are similar, the techniques used in pastillage are quite different. Because it’s a form of Rolled Fondant that lacks the softening ingredients, such as glycerine, found …

Read more

Using Confectioner’s Varnish On Cake

Sometimes we see a cake so fragile and luminescent as to seem almost impossible to eat. Airy sugar creations leap away from the cake layers, shining as if dew has just fallen on them from the sky. This gleaming, apparently unsupported, edifice of decoration is achieved using confectioner’s varnish, which …

Read more

Special Effects: Wood or Marble Effect Fondant Icing

These two special effect icings look best on a square single tier cake, where their subtle detailing can be seen without distractions. They also look good if you cut them into circles and lay them over cupcakes that have had their tops levelled. For wood effect icing you need: Ingredients …

Read more

Cake Decorating With Edible Gold Leaf

Edible gold leaf has a long and decadent history – it’s not known which was the earliest culture to indulge in eating gold, but as soon as any society learned to beat gold thinly enough to make gold leaf, you can probably bet that they ate food coated with a …

Read more

How To Store Cakes

You’ve spent hours in the kitchen baking the perfect cake its fragrant aromas wafting gently through the house. Now the hard work is done, don’t let it go to waste by neglectful storage. Read our tips on successful storage to get the best from every cake you bake. Working Out …

Read more

Cake Baker