Celebration Cakes - Top 10 Baking Tips

1. Use quality fresh ingredients.

A Good cake starts with quality ingredients, eggs should be as fresh as possible, old eggs won´t aerate properly and your cake won´t be so light. Cocoa Powder should be pure, not drinking chocolate. Lemons should be freshly squeezed, vanilla should be pure vanilla extract. Ganache should be made using chocolate with at least 70% cocoa solids.

2. Have all your ingredients at room temperature.

Essential for aeration.

3. Know your oven.

Although you should follow a recipe as closely as possible, ovens can vary slightly in temperature. Get used to your oven before enbarking on a special cake.

4. Be consistent.

Don´t mix metric and imperial measures, large eggs usually weight around 2oz each, if you arn´t sure about the size of your eggs, weigh them.

5. Soak Fruit for rich fruit cakes.

Wash and dry your dried fruit, place in a polythene bag and soak in 10ml brandy per pound of fruit, for 7 to 10 days turning the bag daily. The inside if the bag should look dry, this means the fruit has soaked up all the brandy. Then you are ready to bake!

6. Turn tin upside down for sponge cakes.

When you tin has cooled enough to handle, turn it upside down on a wire rack, still in the tin. It will stay nicely moist, as the steam will rise up into the cake. As soon as your cake is cool enough place it in an airtight container, to stop it drying out. For larger cakes try tinfoil and clingfilm, or simply turn the tin over onto a clean surface, such as a cakeboard until you´re ready to work on it.

7. Timing.

Test your cake by placing a clean skewer in the center. The cake is ready when the skewer comes out clean. Underbake and your cake will sink in the middle, overbake and your cake will be dry.

8. Line your tins.

Make sure you single line and grease for sponges, and double line for rich fruit cakes. Fruit cakes should have an extra few layers of paper around the outside, tied with string to protect the cake during the long cooking time. Melt a little butter in a pan or the microwave, and use a pastry brush.

9. Bake in Centre of Oven, and don´t overload it.

Unless you have a commercial oven then bake your cakes in the centre, if you have an electric oven then use with the fan off if possible.

10. Mature Fruit Cakes.

Mature rich fruit cakes for at least 1 month before needed.

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