I love using cake decorating stencils they are so quick and easy to use. I first came across culinary stencils in Florida last year at the ICES convention, I saw them being demonstrated and I’ve been hooked ever since. The easiest way to use stencils is on a flat surface, however, once you have practised a […]
Tips for Baking Mini Fruit Cakes
Contrary to popular opinion, many people do like fruit cake and it’s not just the older generation. Fruit cake is one of my favourite cakes, as it is my 14-year-old sons! The secret, I think, is to have a really good recipe – try the one in my ‘Contemporary Cake Decorating Bible’ book, it often […]
Introduction to Celebration cakes class
As you can see from the laughing faces of the class photo below, Friday’s students on my ‘Introduction to celebration cakes’ workshop all seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. The students, many having dealt with cake disasters at home, were all willing and eager to learn. They found kneading the sugarpaste – a must for all […]
Why do my cakes sink in the middle?
“Why do my cakes sink in the middle?” is a question I’m often asked. Cakes usually sink when the cake batter is not completely cooked. Everyone’s ovens are different so you need to find the optimum baking time for your own oven. Towards the end of baking, test the cake repeatedly to see if it […]
DVD interview – Rough cut
There is something a little bizarre about watching yourself over and over again on film!!! But this is exactly what I’ve been doing over the last few days. The interview section is an extra on my DVDs but even so I want it to look right. I must say that after the fourth time of […]
Novelty cat cake carving class
“I feel really chuffed” and “I’m definitely coming back, I’ve learnt so much” were a couple of the comments from last Fridays novelty cake carving class. For many of the students it was the first time they had ever carved a cake so at first it was all a little daunting….however once I’d showed them […]