What quantities of ingredients do I need for my cake tin?

How much mixture do I need for this tin, what recipe and quantities should I use?

These questions are regularly asked and it is very difficult to give a straight answer as there are so many variants, size, shape and height of tin for example, hopefully this chart will help?

As a general rule, measurement of ingredients for round tins are the same for petal, heart, hexagonal and octagonal. 

Square tins however need more mixture, so for a 6" square use the 7" measurements, 7" square tin the 8" and so on.

Madeira Cake Ingredients for different sized round cake tins all 3" deep

Here's what to use;	6" (1200ml)	7" (1800ml)	8" (2100ml)	9" (3000ml)	10" (4000ml)	12" (4500ml)
Butter, softened	150g	226g	276g	376g	500g	560g
Caster Sugar	200g	300g	366g	500g	660g	750g
Vanilla Essence	1 tsp	1½ tsp	2 tsp	2½ tsp	3 tsp	3½ tsp
Medium Eggs (53g)	3  (159g)	5  (265g)	6  (318g)	8  (424g)	10  (530g)	11  (583g)
Plain Flour, sieved	225g	338g	412g	566g	745g	845g
Baking Powder	1½ tsp	2½ tsp	3 tsp	4 tsp	5 tsp	6 tsp
Milk	3 tbsp	4 tbsp	5 tbsp	7 tbsp	9 tbsp	11 tbsp
Approx Baking Times	35-40 min	45-50 min	60-65 min	70-80 min	90-100 min	110-120 min

Approximate baking times are based on;

Pre heated oven 170°C/150°C fan/gas 3


Here's how to make it;

Line your tin with greaseproof paper and sieve the flour and baking powder ready for later.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy before adding the eggs gradually, continue beating until it is all incorporated. This is best done in a mixer or with a hand blender.
Now you can add the vanilla essence, flour and baking powder.
The milk is added at the end, add enough to make the batter loose, so it will fall off a spoon.

Tip the batter into the cake tin and make sure that the top is smooth before baking.

Test that your cake is ready with a cake tester or skewer, insert in to the middle of your cake, if it comes out clean it is ready.
Baking times are only a rough guide as all ovens are different, so always keep an eye on your cake so as not to over or under bake it.

Leave the cake to cool for a while before removing it from the tin, peel off the paper and leave on a wire rack until completely cool.

It will keep for a few days in an air tight container or alternatively, wrap it in plastic and freeze, for up to a couple of weeks, celebration cakes are much more easily decorated from frozen.

I hope you find this information useful and it helps you achieve the perfect cake!

Who Doesn't Like Coconut Ice?

This pink and white coconut ice is delicious and needs no baking: what colour will you make yours?

Here's what I used:

• 397g can condensed milk
• 350g desiccated coconut
• 350g icing sugar
• few drops vanilla extract
• pink food colour
• 23cm x 20cm x 4cm deep tin

Here's how I made it:

Pour the condensed milk into a large bowl before adding the desiccated coconut, icing sugar and vanilla extract. Mix well with a wooden spoon, spatula or your hands as I do, a bit messy but quick and effective.

Half the mixture into a lined tin and press down flat, damp fingers work well for this task.

Line your tin with greaseproof or baking parchment, this prevents the mixture from sticking and eases the lifting of the coconut ice from the tin ready for cutting.

Add a few drops of your chosen colour to the bowl with the remaining mixture. I chose pink for this batch but it looks great in bright green too. You can use whatever you like and be creative.

Spoon the coloured mixture onto the the first layer and press down evenly smoothing the top.

Cover loosely with cling film and leave overnight in a cool place to dry out and set firm.

Lift from the tin and cut into about 40 pieces before storing in an airtight container. It will last for up to 3 weeks if kept cool. I don't think you will need to test this out cos it won't last that long!

I hope you like this recipe, I've tried a few different ones and this is undoubtedly the easiest and the best tasting yet! It makes a lovely gift that is always well received or of course you can just spoil yourself with a special treat.

Enjoy!

Hands off it's mine!

Colour free coconut ice!

First layer in place!

Pink coloured coconut ice!

Top layer done!

It's Only Fudge!

My Favourite: Creamy, salted caramel flavoured fudge. What's your favourite flavour?

Oh no, have to eat it now!

Here's what I used:

• 100g butter
• 550g demerara sugar
• 200g golden syrup
• 350ml double cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp sea salt flakes

Here's how I made it:

Simmering!

You must leave it to set!

Cut into small pieces, or not!

Melt the butter, sugar, syrup and cream in a medium sized high sided, heavy based pan.
It needs to be a high sided pan as the mixture will double in volume when simmering.

Stir until the sugar has dissolved then simmer over a medium to low heat until it reached 100°C, stirring occasionally.
Turn it down if it starts to stick, you don't want it to burn.

Now stir more regularly until the temperature reaches 116°C.
What ever you do, don't leave it!

Take off the heat and add the vanilla extract and sea salt.
The better the quality of the vanilla the better the flavour!

Give the mixture a  good beat with a wooden spoon or spatula for a couple of minutes until it thickens and loses it's shine.

Pour into a lined 23x23cm or if you prefer, 9" square tin.
Line your tin with greaseproof or baking parchment, to prevent the mixture from sticking and so the fudge is easy to lift out when cooled.

When it has started to firm up, after about an hour, cut into small squares and leave until completely cold.
Don't be tempted to remove it from the tin at this stage, it won't be set enough.

When set it is ready to test, but be warned, you may need a couple of pieces just to be sure it's up to standard!

It will have a longer shelf life if you keep it refrigerated. Not that it's going to last long enough to go off!

See how long you can resist?

It is possible to add other ingredients to this fudge to spice it up a bit, such as cherries, raisins, other dried fruit or even nuts.
What will you add to yours?

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

Spooky Halloween Cake!

This three tier novelty cake is the perfect table centre piece for a Halloween party. Made from 10" and 8" round cakes and a 6" sphere for the pumpkin.

The base cake is covered in purple sugar paste and allowed to dry over night in order to ease the addition of the decoration. This is done with a black edible pen by copying haunted house pictures found on internet, first with an outline and then colouring in to achieve dark silhouettes.
The moon is a large circle of bright yellow sugar paste, attached with edible glue and painted round with orange food colour to give a more subtle but spooky appearance.
Grave stones, which are just crosses are added between the houses and a tree branches break up the moon along with a few bats in flight.
Grey food colour is painted in the sky for haunting clouds and finally twinkly lights add the finishing touch to the houses with bright yellow food colour painted on with a very fine brush.

The mummy tier is covered in white before adding strips of pale grey sugar paste cut randomly then attached with edible glue. Two eyes are made from bright green balls of paste with smaller black, red then yellow balls added to make scary eyes, these are stuck on with the glue and more strips are added around them to give the effect of them peeping through the bandages. A dusting of dark grey food colouring to finish makes it look old and dirty.

In order to cover a sphere you will need your orange sugar paste to be quite thick, this gives you more time for moulding and makes it less likely to crack. Place the paste over the cake and wrap around with your hands smoothing as you go, the base need not be covered as it will sit on top of the mummy. When covered mark on some grooves going from top to bottom with the back of a knife and
add a green stalk and with some leaves to the top.
The features are cut from black sugar paste, the eyes are triangles, the smiley mouth a zigzag line turned up at the ends, attached with glue.

After the cakes have been stacked, roll out a strip of red sugar paste about an inch wide with one straight edge, this sits against the cake and one wavy edge. Attach to the cake drum, you'll need to use one that is 14" round in order to take the decoration, then add some tear drop shaped balls of paste to look like blood dripping from the cake down the board.

That's about as frightening as I can do, what a wimp! It's not too terrifying for little tots either!
Hopefully it's given you some ideas for your own SPOOKY Halloween cake.

Yummy Raspberry Jam!

Why do raspberries always ripen at once? After picking two kilos in one day, I decided to make some jam and was not disappointed. How can something so simple taste so good?

Equal quantities of fruit and Granulated sugar are used for this jam, so if you have two cups of fruit, you will need two cups of sugar, two kilos of fruit, two kilos of sugar!

I prefer my jam a bit tart so I added some freshly squeezed lemon juice. If like yours sweet just leave it out.

My very large cooking pot contained two kilos of raspberries, squashed with a potato masher to release the juice but leaving a few whole so the finished jam has fruity chunks!

Choose a big saucepan because when the jam achieves a rolling boil it doubles in volume.

Put your raspberries on the heat and boil for a couple of minutes before adding two kilos of sugar and lemon juice if using. The juice of one lemon to about 500g of fruit works for me.

Stirring constantly, bring to the boil and keep it boiling, this is called a rolling boil, for how many minutes is going to depend on the amount you are making.

My two kilos took about 20 minutes, a smaller amount will get hotter quicker so will be ready in less time.

The setting point for jam is 220F or 105C, the best way to check for this is with a sugar thermometer, it can be clipped or rested on the side of your pan with the end in the mixture. When the correct temperature is reached your jam should set.

Pre heat your oven to 120C before washing your jars in hot soapy water and rinsing well, place in the oven on a baking sheet until they are completely dry. This sterilises the jars helping to preserve the jam and prevent it from going mouldy.

If like my son, you don't like seeds in your jam, it can be put through a metal sieve.
A sieve made of anything else is going to melt as the mixture is very hot so be very careful when potting up your yummy jam!

Leave to cool before sealing on the lids and store for later use, if you can't eat it all in one go!

How Do You Colour Cake Batter?

 How to make bright eye catching cake batter and bake them into bright eye catching sponge cakes!

A basic sponge mix is best for this purpose as you will need to beat the colour into the batter, if you make a genoese for example, the beating action will disperse all the air and you will end up with a brightly coloured biscuit!

Basic Sponge Cake Recipe

225g (8oz) Self Raising Flour
225g (8oz) Butter, at room temperature
225g (8oz) Caster Sugar
4 Eggs
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Method

Preheat oven 180C / gas mark 4 and line 2 x 8" round cake tins.
Mix all the ingredients together in one bowl then divide the batter into two.

Now you are ready to add your chosen colour, the brighter the better.

I've opted for orange and purple.

Add a teaspoon of colour before beating together until evenly distributed.

It is important to use bake stable food colour, this will ensure the colour you have chosen is the colour you will get.

Add the coloured batter to your prepared cake tins levelling with a spatula before baking for approximately 25 minutes.

Remove from the tins and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

You may think at this stage that the colour is not very bright, but don't be fooled, trim off the bake crust and "voila" fab intense colour, marvellous!

Watch out for that bumpy road!

This cake decoration is achieved with a simple car cutter and added detail to make this fun, bright & colourful birthday cake, perfect for your little back seat drivers!

This 10" round sponge cake and 13"cake drum have been covered with a bright ice blue sugar paste/fondant.

Red Velvet!

These Red Velvet Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting look and taste amazing, perfect for a special treat!

Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe

250g plain flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

100g soft unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

1 tablespoon red food colour paste

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs

175ml buttermilk

1 teaspoon cider or white wine vinegar

Frosting

500g icing sugar

125g cream cheese

125g soft unsalted butter

1 teaspoon cider or white wine vinegar

Method

Pre heat oven 170 C/gas mark 3 and line 2 muffin tins with paper cases.

Sieve all the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy before adding the food colour and vanilla extract. Add the eggs slowly along with spoonfuls of the dry ingredients to prevent the mixture from separating, keep mixing until everything is incorporated.

Finally mix in the buttermilk and vinegar before dividing into 24 cupcakes.

Bake for 20 minutes then leave to cool in the tin.

Meanwhile, blend all the frosting ingredients together starting with the butter, cream cheese and vinegar before gradually adding the icing sugar. Spread or pipe on top of the cooled cakes and enjoy!

Sunflowers, Hessian & Vintage Lace Cake

I designed this Vintage Sunflower cake for a friends 50th birthday, the brief was "up to you to feed 100 party goers!"

The invitations had a sunflower theme so I used that for my inspiration. I thought two deep cakes would be better than one huge one so opted for 6" deep 10" square with an 6" deep 8" round on the top.

I made the sunflowers using yellow flower paste for the petals and brown for the centres, when dried a good dusting with darker shades of yellow and some orange was added to the petals and darker brown to the centres before steaming to set the colour and achieve a more natural finish.

This flower choice does some what limit your colour options but I decided on a mink brown and sage green colour scheme to blend together rather than to clash.
White sugar paste had brown and a dash of pink food colour added to achieve the right shade of mink and spruce green was added to ivory sugar paste for the sage green colour.

A wood effect iced cake drum helps to draw the eye away from the dark flower centres making them less obvious and obtrusive. (there is a video on this blog showing how to achieve the wood effect)

Edible Hessian and Vintage lace was was achieved with "edible lace & moulds" after letting this dry over night the Hessian was dusted with shades of brown and beige for a realistic look.

I draped one piece over the top tier, the other around the base of the bottom tier.
For a more feminine look I added a double edged decorative lace and edible buttons to the bottom and a taller flat edged lace around the base of the top tier.

Bunting was made out from pieces of left over Hessian cut into triangles with letters added to spell out a birthday message, attached with piped string and more vintage edible buttons.

Yummy Pud!

Don't waste your left over bread, make a yummy pud instead! This bread pudding is a great way to use up left over bread, rolls and buns. Try it you'll love it!

Bread pudding recipe

500g left over bread
500ml milk
200g dried mixed fruit
2tsp mixed spice
2 medium sized eggs
100g melted butter
100g caster sugar
2 table spoons of brown sugar.

The darker the sugar you use the darker the pudding will be, I've used light brown sugar in this one cos that's what I had in the cupboard.

For the mixed fruit, sultanas, currants raisins and mixed peel work well and give lots of flavour and different textures.

Method

Pre heat oven to 180 C / Gas mark 4 and line an 8" square tin ready for the bread mixture.

Soak the bread in the milk for about 15 minutes until soft before adding all of the other ingredients and mixing well.
Put in your prepared tin and bake for about 1 hour 10 minutes in the middle of your oven.

Sprinkle with granulated sugar while still warm, then cut into small squares once cool and enjoy!

Any One For Tennis!

This tennis court cake is great for Wimbledon fans. Grass effect green sugar paste/fondant, crisp white lines, net with posts, racquets, new balls, and not to forget the score, which is a great way to add a persons age and a sneaky little message!

The grass effect can be achieved with a veining mat or with a kitchen scourer, a new one of course!
Cover the cake with green sugar paste/fondant and immediately press on the mat or the scourer for the grass, this needs to be done before the paste begins to form a skin and starts setting.

For the white lines, roll out flower paste very thin, cut into even width strips and attach to the cake with edible glue to form the lines of a tennis court.

The net is also made from thinly rolled flower paste, cut into even strips, long horizontal strips the width of your cake and shorter vertical strips 2" long. Space the 2" strips evenly along some non stick paper and apply edible glue, then place the long strips evenly spaced across, attaching a extra wider band along the top of your net and a thicker band down the centre, like a real net and it also adds some extra support. Leave this to dry thoroughly.

Lolly sticks are supporting the wooden posts, they are pushed down into the cake and brown flower paste is rolled into a sausage shape then placed over the stick to cover it. Using a craft knife cut down the inside of the posts to make a slit which will hold the net in place with the help of some edible glue.

Racquets are made with sugar paste rolled into really thin sausages, shape into an oval about the size of a ten pence piece, then add a "V" shaped sausage for the neck and a black handle. The strings are piped royal icing as are the little bouncy lines around the cake.

Tennis balls are also sugar paste in yellow with piped white markings to give a better effect. For the top of the cake the balls are completely round and for the sides they are cut in half with the flat part attached to the cake.

Any Score can be added, in this case it was a 50th birthday cake for a lady from her husband, hence "50 - Love". How Sweet!

Piñata Cake With Surprises Inside!

This Piñata cake is packed with surprises, brightly decorated with multi coloured sponge layers to match and filled with yummy sweets. Kids love them!

I made this one for my 29 year old big kid and she and her friends loved it! Filled with their favourite sweets it's a great surprise, in my daughters case it was Dolly Mixtures, Skittles and M&Ms, but you can use any. It's more effective if they are out of the packet so that they tumble out of the cake as the first slice is cut!

For this cake I used a basic sponge recipe as gel colours needed to be added to the mixture which would require a good bit of mixing, if you use something like a genoese recipe you will end up beating all the air out.

Ingredients

225g (8oz) Self Raising Flour
225g (8oz) Butter, at room temperature
225g (8oz) Caster Sugar
4 Eggs
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Method

Mix all the ingredients together in one bowl, divide into 2 and colour each one differently.

I used Pink, Yellow, Green, Blue, Orange and Purple. You can fill two 8" lined and greased sandwich pans out of each batch so you will need to make 3 batches in total for 6 brightly coloured layers.

Make sure you use bake stable food colour to achieve a bright baked finish, in a gel or paste so it will not alter the consistency of the cake mixture.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180°c/ Gas mark 4 for approximately 15-25 minutes.

When cooled cut out the centre of 5 of the cakes and stack using butter cream, fill with you chosen sweets and add the last layer. Thinly coat the outside with butter cream.

Using your food colours from the sponge make 6 different coloured batches of butter cream and with a frill tube pipe from the bottom of the cake to the top and then into the centre, alternating colours as you go.
We got about 30 portions from this cake and they were generous! So you could get more!

If you would prefer to watch how this Piñata cake is made and decorated there will be a video following shortly.

Hope you enjoy making this cake, it's well worth the effort for the surprised and happy faces!
Let me know how you get on and what you filled yours with?

Best Chocolate Brownie Ever!

I've tried a number of chocolate brownie recipes in the past but none come close to this one, it's crunchy on the top and gooey in the middle with chunks of chocolate in every mouth full, fabulous!

You gotta try this, let me know what you think, it could be your best ever brownie too!

Ingredients

275g/10oz plain chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

275g/10oz unsalted butter

85g/3oz milk chocolate, cut into large chunks

85g/3oz white chocolate, cut into large chunks

175g/6oz plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

325g/12oz caster sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas3. Line a 30x20x3.5cm tin with buttered greaseproof paper.

Put plain chocolate and butter in a bowl over boiling water until melted.

Sieve flour and baking powder into a bowl. Remove melted chocolate from heat and stir in the sugar.

Add the eggs and vanilla essence, then fold in the flour and chocolate chunks.

Pour into prepared tin and spread out evenly. Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.

The top should be firm but the inside should be soft when baked.

Allow to cool in the tin before carefully removing and cutting into small squares, cos it's very rich!

Edible beads for cakes!

Silicone bead moulds are a very effective way to make edible beads for adding detail and enhancing the finish on your cakes.

See how easy it is with this video tutorial and give it a go!

They make a lovely border around cake bases as an alternative to ribbon or royal icing. Draping them down the sides can help achieve that very popular vintage look with different sizes and patterns available to choose from.

Using shimmering dusts can give a pearl effect or to add drama gold and silver edible paints are great.

It's Not Just A Spatula!

This is an every day essential, ergonomic spatulas are fab, you've got to get yourself one!

I've just treated myself a bright green one and am not disappointed.
Really easy to clean as it is all in one, no where for nasty germs to hide, just wash in warm soapy water or put in your dishwasher.
Being made of silicone, it very flexible and gets every last drop of cake mix, chocolate or butter cream out of your bowl, nothing is left.
Great in non stick and ceramic pans too, can take the heat, releases everything from the surface of the pan and doesn't scratch or stick.
I've only had mine a short while and would be lost without it, my wooden spoons are redundant!
Why don't you try one? Choose from one of the lovely bright colours and let me know what you think!

Sprinkles aren't just for sprinkling!

Fab & Fun Rainbow Sprinkles Cake!
This eye catching cake is oh so simple, all you need is sugar paste, sprinkles and edible glue.

After covering your cake with sugar paste, apply a thin layer of edible glue all over the surface and press the rainbow sprinkles on flat with your hands removing any excess. Placing it on a white covered cake drum emphasises the chaotic pattern of the sprinkles, as does having a plain white cake to set off the numbers. These are cut out of flower paste and left to dry before applying the glue and sprinkles in the same way.
It's advisable to keep patterns separated to avoid clashing of colour and design, complementing your creation.

Cake Drum, Board or Card, that is the Question!

What do you use and when? This is one of the most frequently asked questions in our showroom.

Cake drum is the thickest at 13 mm, covered in foil and comes in many shapes, including hexagonal, heart and oblong, sizes from 6" to 20" and colours such as silver, gold, black, pink, blue and purple.
These are perfect for heavy fruit cakes or as a base for a wedding or special celebration cake.
As a guide you would normally have a cake drum two inches larger than the cake, 8" cake, 10" drum, however if you are icing the drum, as you probably would with a Wedding cake it's advisable to opt for three or even four inches bigger, 10" base cake, 13"/14" cake drum this an important consideration as most cake stands at the venue or to hire are at least 14" and will help to enhance the overall appearance.

Cake boards are 3 mm thick and made from very strong board in order to take the weight of heavy cakes including those to be stacked as in the case of multi tiered Wedding cakes. Being more cost effective they are frequently used in the making of novelty and celebration cakes. Also available in different shapes, sizes and designs, they are a great way to set off your creation.

Cake cards at 2 mm thick are ideal for multi tiered stacked cakes where the boards need to be hidden from view, using the same size board as your cake they are for gateaux, sponges, and light weight cakes. Available with hygienic silver foil covering in round and square, sizes from 3" to 12".

Polycoated cards are the thinnest at 1.5 mm and have a non stick coating so will not allow the moisture from your cake to leach through. Available in 6" to 12" round and 6" to 10" square they are ideal for gateaux and light sponges. Also used for tiered cakes like the cards but not as heavy duty, so small light weight cakes only.

Gold and Silver foil is also available if you would like to reuse tired or damaged boards to reduce waste and keep your costs to a minimum.

I hope you found this information useful and that it has help you make an informed decision with regards to which one and when!

Baby Shower Cakes

Baby Shower Cakes are becoming increasingly popular, the term shower assumed to mean to shower the mother to be with gifts, such as , nappies, bottles, clothes, blankets and toys.
Traditionally for the first child and women only, they are hosted by a friend rather than a family member as it is considered rude to request gifts for our own families, however they are increasingly arranged by the baby's grandmother.
I remember when I had my first child twenty eight years ago, it was considered unlucky to celebrate or to have anything baby orientated in the house before it's safe arrival. The cot, pram and all the other paraphernalia were kept out of sight, usually at the baby's grand parents and would miraculously appear on the new families return from hospital with your new bundle of joy!
Now everything is prepared and celebrated up to a month before baby's arrival with some mothers choosing "it's a girl" or "It's a boy"  when the gender is known in advance, to adorn their cakes.

How times have changed!
 

If your organising a Baby Shower, and the gender is a surprise, why not try this easy cake below, it's covered in neutral yellow sugar paste with pastel pink , blue and green polka dots with some baby building blocks and edible ribbon, also made from thinly rolled sugar paste?

Mix And Match Side Design Cake

A set of side design cutters have been used to create this dramatic cake, with metallic gold modelling paste and Midnight black "Roll n Cover" sugar paste, set off by a black cake drum.

Gold modelling paste is a great product, after cutting into small pieces it's best warmed in the hand before working a piece at a time to make it pliable. It's then ready to roll out nice and thin on a surface greased with a small amount of petal base, this makes it easy to release and prevents it from drying out. Lightly grease the cutters before cutting out your shapes, this 8" round, 5" deep cake needed 20 pieces. After covering your cake with Midnight black sugar paste you can attach your decoration with edible sugar glue, making sure you line them up straight and put one directly above the other. Ruffle flowers are made from three different sized circle cutters after preparing the gold paste the same way, you fold the circles into ruffles and glue together before drying in some formers to hold there shape. They can be added to the cake when they are dry.

How To Use Side Design Embossers To Decorate Your Cake

This tutorial shows you how to effortlessly use embossers to add detail and dramatic effects to the sides of your cakes.

Brickwork is great for a boys "Knight's Castle" cake or you may have a resident builder in your midst, you might want to copy a house or a building, this is an accurate, fast and effective way to achieve life like bricks that look amazing.

Quilting looks fab on vintage cakes and makes great looking covers on bed cakes, or bedding on a crib for a Christening cake.

Diamond side design is most effective with added details such as piped dots, sugar balls, blossoms, or stars added to the centre of each cross. Alternate tiers of a Wedding cake picked out with such detail is really eye catching as are Anniversary cakes with silver or gold hearts added!

Why not give it a go, you'll be amazed how simple and effective it is! Embossing is even better on "Roll n Cover" sugar paste!

How To Make Edible Sugar Blossoms

In this tutorial you can see how easy it is to make edible sugar blossoms using a set of cutters, a non stick rolling pin, a foam flower pad and some odd bits of sugar paste.
They look great in different colours, sizes and with contrasting centres.
It's a really easy way to add some colour and some extra detailing to enhance a pretty and feminine cake.

A foam pad is a must for a cake decorator, it's handy for drying cut out pieces as the air can circulate and speed up the process.
My blossom cutters are always in use, they are great for filler flowers in sprays and space fillers on cakes to help bring a theme together and add a splash of colour.
Delicate centres can be added with a piping bag filled with royal icing using a small plain nozzle.

How To Create A Wood Effect With Sugar Paste

This tutorial shows you how to use a wood grain impression mat to give maximum effect on sugar paste/fondant icing.
Adding some colour helps bring out the grain and any added detailing for that WOW factor.
Why not give it a go, it's surprisingly simple?

Teddy brown "Roll n Cover" sugar paste is a great base for a natural wood effect and is very easy to use. It takes on detailing well and remains pliable for longer so you have more time to create your masterpiece.
Dark brown paste food colour mixed with rejuvenating spirit, painted on with a brush is how the detailing is enhanced. Changing a wood effect in to a WOW effect.

How To Use A Silicone Lace Boarder Mould

This tutorial shows you how to use a silicone lace boarder mould using a mixture of modelling and sugar paste/fondant icing.
It's very easy to use and can be added to the sides, base or top of your cakes to give a vintage effect result.
The lace can be made in any colour or have colour or lustre added to it to achieve many different looks all with the same mould.  

White "Roll n Cover" sugar paste has been used mixed with left over flower or modelling paste to a ratio of 50:50, this ensures detail definition and enables you to bend and move the lace around your cake without it cracking or breaking.
Non stick knives are very useful with any silicone moulds as they will not sharp enough to cut or cause any damage, they are also great for trimming off excess sugar paste from the base of your cake without damaging your cake board or drum.

Edible Sugar Plaques For Cakes

This video shows you how to make and decorate edible sugar plaques for the top of celebration cakes using sugar paste/fondant icing and edible pens.
It's very simple, can save lots of time and if piping is not your thing, it enables you to personalise your cake by adding an inscription, age and name, without all the fuss of mixing icing or cutting out lettering.
Children have great fun drawing and writing on these for that special someone.

I've used white "Roll n Cover" sugar paste mixed with Gum Tragacanth for the hardening agent and a variety of edible food pens in the making of this tutorial.

How To Make Shapes On Wires

This tutorial shows you how to use flower and modelling paste to make Snowflakes, Stars and Hearts on wires for adding height and the WOW factor to your cakes!
It's surprisingly easy, all you need is some shaped cutters, metallic wires, edible glue and glitter and some flower or modelling paste.

I've used metallic Gold and Silver modelling paste to make the hearts and stars in this video as well as White flower paste for the snowflakes.
The Glitters used are Hologram White, Hologram Gold and Hologram Silver these are non edible, non toxic, which is fine to use on these decorations as they are on wires and it is always advisable not to eat them because of the health and safety issue.
They look fabulous all glittery and sparkly adding a touch of glamour to any celebration cake!
The Snowflakes are great for Frozen cakes to give that frosty, Icy effect.

Edible Teddy Bear Step by Step Tutorial

Watch and follow this tutorial to make your own edible sugar paste/fondant teddy.
Perfect as a celebration cake topper, ideal for a birthday, Naming Day or baby's Christening.
Dress it up by adding a party or top hat or some flowers to the head or a tie or bow tie to the neck.

Our own, very popular "Roll n Cover" Teddy Brown sugar paste is used in this video as it is easy to use, pliable, great for covering cakes and model making too!
Try a different colour, baby pink or baby blue teddies are great on Christening and Naming Cakes.

Click here to see our range of "Roll n Cover" sugar paste, available in many colours, white and ivory.

Easy Edible Rose Tutorial, No Tools Needed

All you need is some left over sugar paste for these easy to make beautiful edible roses, no tools or equipment necessary, just hands and this easy to follow guide.
Perfect for the top of cup cakes, celebration cakes, deserts or cascading down your very own home made wedding cake.
Give it a go, it couldn't be simpler!

Our very own Hot Pink "Roll n Cover" sugar paste is used in the making of this video, it's pliable, easy to use, doesn't crack and is perfect for cake covering and modelling!

Click here to see the full range our superb, and very popular "Roll n Cover" sugar paste.

How to make a Minion cake

Watch our easy step by step guide to make your very own Minion cake, just in time for the new Minions film. The perfect show stopper for your birthday celebration.

Our own "Roll n Cover " sugar paste/roll out fondant is used in the making of this video as it is very pliable and easy to use, just knead and roll out on to icing sugar and place over your cake.
Available in the perfect colours; Sunshine yellow for the Minion, Ocean blue for the Dungarees and Midnight black for boots, gloves, buttons, head band, smile and spiky hair.

Click here to see the rest of our Roll n Cover range of sugar paste.