Top Tips – Is it too hot in here?

Getting the temperature just right is another key step to baking with great results.  Oven temperatures can vary widely from oven to oven so it’s a good idea to try to get to grips with how your own oven behaves.

Baking with an oven that is running too hot can cause cakes to rise to a peak and crack.  The outer crust of the cake will form too quickly while the inside will continue to cook and may burst through the top of the cake.

While baking in an oven that is too cool can result in a shiny or sticky surface to the cake.  Baking too slowly in an oven that is too cool can result in off colour cakes and can also give cakes a grainy texture.

For best results turn on the oven to the required temperature about 20 – 30 minutes before baking.  Use an in oven thermometer to give a reliable temperature readout.

An oven thermometer, widely available from kitchen equipment shops, is a must have item if you are planning on baking a variety of different cakes.

To bake at the most even temperature in the oven place your cake on the middle shelf in the oven and never allow the cake pan to touch the sides of the oven walls.

If the oven bakes unevenly favouring one side over another, about 2/3′s into the baking time rotate the cake pan around for an even bake.

Cakebits

Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Top Tips – Weights and Measures

Weighing ingredients when baking is probably the most important part of the baking process.  Too much or too little of an ingredient can leave your cakes looking a little less like the picture in the cookbook and more like a toddlers latest playdough creation!

 

Weighing flour:  Loosen the flour with a quick stir before weighing. Cakes will bake with more reliable results through weighing out the amount needed rather than measuring it using cups.  A heavier handed person using the cups method may “pack” the flour into the cup and end up using more than needed.

Measuring liquids: When measuring liquids for a recipe use a clear measuring jug with clear markings.  Pour in the liquids with the jug placed on a level surface.  Read the level on the jug with it still standing on a level surface rather than bring the jug up to your level.  Again this will help with the accuracy of the measurements.

Measuring small amounts: When measuring small amounts of ingredients such as baking powder for example, use measuring spoons by scooping the spoon into the powder and then using a knife level off.  This will avoid packing the spoon and using too much.  Measuring small amounts of liquid, fill the measuring spoon to the top edge while holding the spoon over a seperate bowl or cup to avoid excess being added to your ingredients bowl.

 

Image courtesy of scottchan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

 

 

 

 

5 steps to Cookie Crumbliness

I’ve made these biscuits / cookies over and over and they’re so easy to make.  I stumbled on this recipe on the BBC Good food website and come back to it time and again.

Ingredients you will need are :

100g sugar, 100g butter, 1 tablespoon of golden syrup, 150g of self raising flour, chocolate chips (or a tablespoon of peanut butter or mini marshmallows or smarties or all mixed in if you want to go all experimental with them)

Step 1 :  Mix the butter and sugar together well, until you get a paste

Step 2: Mix in the golden syrup

Step 3: Add 75g of the flour and the chocolate chips, or your desired combo, and mix together.  Then, add the remaining 75g of flour.

Step 4: Spoon the mix onto your baking tray in mounds and don’t flatten them down.  There should be enough mix for 10 medium sized or about 5 giant cookies.

Step 5: Bake at 180 C for about 10/12 minutes or until they start to colour.  Let them cool before handling

Easy and delicious.

Cakebits x

Chocolate? It must be Sunday!

What better for a Sunday afternoon than a, dive in with a spoon and eat it all yourself, chocolate cake.  Nothing in the world like it.

Although, truth be told, any day ending in Y is good enough excuse for chocolate cake in my book.

Today though I won’t be posting a recipe for a cake BUT instead the most fantastic chocolate fudge icing to sit on top.
This recipe comes from “Cupcakes Galore” by Gail Wagman.

You will need :
65g butter
120g chocolate pieces
450g icing sugar
80ml hot milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Did I mention this icing is not for the faint hearted?

To make:
Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of hot water.Stir until it’s just melted and leave to the side to cool.
Put the sugar and hot milk into a bowl and stir until smooth. Add the vanilla, salt and the chocolate mixture. Using an electric mixer, beat the mixture until smooth and thickened. This should take about 5 minutes.
Use and enjoy as you wish.

Cakebits x

About Cakebits and pieces….

It’s a very exciting weekend for us here at Cakebits towers.  Our site has gone live.

Out there on its own in the big bad world.  Made a little bit sweeter and sprinklier I hope with our mix of cake decorations and sugar shapes.

I’m just going to spend the rest of the weekend now staring at the screen, normal service will be resumed soon!
Long live Cakebits!

How much cake mix do I need?

It’s a good question and usually the thing that confuddles confuses me most when I bake.
Just how much cake mix do I need when making a specific sized cake?

Recently I’ve posted a recipe for Sponge cake and also for a Basic fruit cake. So I’ll use these recipe amounts as a base, to give you an idea about how much you will need for different tin sizes.

Round Cake Tin

5″ tin         sponge cake recipe x 1                  fruit cake recipe x 1

6″ tin         sponge cake recipe x 1                  fruit cake recipe x 1

7″ tin         sponge cake recipe x 1.5               fruit cake recipe x 1.5

8″ tin         sponge cake recipe x 2                  fruit cake recipe x 2

10″            sponge cake recipe x 3.5              fruit cake recipe x 3

Square Cake Tin

6″ tin         sponge cake recipe x 1.5              fruit cake recipe x 1.5

7″ tin         sponge cake recipe x 2                 fruit cake recipe x 2

8″ tin         sponge cake recipe x 2.5              fruit cake recipe x 2.5

9″ tin         sponge cake recipe x 3.5              fruit cake recipe x 3

10″ tin       sponge cake recipe x 5                 fruit cake recipe x 4

5 Fruit Cake tips and a Basic Fruit cake

My first tip for fruit cake is for the fruit itself.  Toss the fruit and nuts in flour and this should help to stop it all from sinking to the bottom.  Shake off all the excess before adding to your cake mix.

Use good quality ingredients in your cake.  The better ingredients you put into the cake the better the end results.

You can substitute the alcohol for soaking the fruit with a fruit juice.

Your cake tin should be filled about 2/3′s with cake mix to allow room for rising!

Before removing the cake from the pan to cool, let it rest about 10 minutes in the pan to avoid breakage.

This is a great basic fruit cake.  This is the one I come back to time and again, no faffing about and easy to pull together.

100g / 4oz Butter, unsalted
100g / 4oz Dark Muscovado sugar
2 Eggs
100g / 4oz Plain flour, sifted
A pinch of salt
2 level tsp of mixed spice
450g / 1lb Mixed dried fruit, soaked overnight in 2 tbsp brandy
40g / 1½oz Glacé fruit, chopped
40g / 1½oz Blanched almonds chopped, (leave out if you don’t like them)
5ml / 1 tsp Black treacle
Finely grated rind of an orange and a lemon, about half of each.

To make this cake cream the butter and sugar together until you get a light and fluffy mixture.  Beat the eggs together. Add the egg mixture, a small bit at a time, to the creamed butter and sugar mixture.  Make sure to beat well after every egg mix added.

Next, fold in the flour, salt and spices gently.  Add the fruit, nuts, treacle and citrus rinds and heap into your greased and lined 6″ round baking tin.

Spread the mix evenly and create a small depression in the middle of the cake.  This will help the surface flatten out as it cooks and rises.

Bake this fruit cake for between 2 and three quarters – 3 and one quarter hours in a low oven.  Approx Gas 1, 140C (130c for fan oven)

When baked, leave the cake in the tin for about 10 minutes to cool down before turning out onto a cooling rack.  When the cake is completely cold, decorate!