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Can I stack 2 sponge
cakes on top of each other for a wedding? |
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Yes you can, but you must dowel the bottom cake
so it takes the weight of the top cake.
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After you've made a
rich fruit cake can you feed it with sherry and
brandy |
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Feed you cake with which ever alcohol you
prefer, I give mine the first drink whilst it is
still warm in the cake tin.
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Can an iced Madeira
cake be frozen? |
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Yes but do not put any jam on the cake, also the
icing will go very wet and takes approx 24 hours to
dry out . Do not add decoration until you have fully
defrosted the cake. Royal icing does not freeze.
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Can you recommend
somewhere I can learn how to put together wedding
cakes and all the basic techniques in decorating? Do
you do courses or demonstrations? |
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You're in luck! Yes we do courses and
demonstrations on a regular basis! See our "Courses"
page.
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Can you tell me why
you wash fruit before making a fruit cake and does
it mean you wash packet fruit? |
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You wash fruit before adding it to your cake
mixture so make sure it is all clean. Even
pre-washed packet fruit should be washed. Also it is
a chance for you to remove any fruit stones or
anything else from the fruit because remember once
you sell the cake you are the person the customer
would complain to and it has been known to find all
sorts of things in packets.
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Do you ship cake
pans to the US? What are the prices and shipping
charges? Can I use a credit card? |
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Yes we can and certainly we take credit cards.
However the shipping charges can be extremely high.
We calculate shipping charges on the weight of the
actual order plus some things we sell are very
fragile so you really need to use a little
discretion.
You can always email us and we'll try to estimate
for you.
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Does it matter what
size cakes we use for a wedding cake? |
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Yes it most defiantly does.
Remember to keep equal proportion between each cake
e.g., 10", 8" & 6" or 11", 9" & 7" or 12", 9" & 6"
for a three tier and for a two tier use the top two
tiers not the bottom two other wise it looks as if
you have lost your top tier.
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How can I tell if my
cake is cooked and how do I stop it doming? |
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To stop your cake doming try cooking it on a
slightly lower temperature and cook it for a little
longer, you can tell if your cake is cooked if a,
when you insert a knife it comes out clean, when you
tap the bottom of the cake tin a fruit cake will
sound hollow. Some fan assisted ovens can make your
cake dome but do not worry a great way for levelling
your cake before icing it is to put the cake back
inside the cake tin you cooked it in and slide the
knife across the top, this will ensure a perfectly
flat cake if however your cake does not quite come
to the top of the tin before inserting your cake
back in the tin put a couple of cake drums approx 1"
smaller in the bottom of the tin then put your cake
in on top of them and continue as above.
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How do make ivory
icing? |
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By far the easiest way is to simply buy it! The
colour you should be looking for is Champagne which
is essentially an ivory colour. You have to buy the
icing anyway - this saves an awful lot of work!
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How long does your
sponge cakes last? |
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This a hard one to answer it depends on a few
factors, has glycerine been added, how is it being
kept. We would expect ours to have approx 2 weeks
but we do say 4 days as we do not know how the
customer will keep it.
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How soon can I make
my wedding cakes for an August wedding? |
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For an August wedding you could start approx 2
months before easily, just keep them in boxes to
keep the dust off do not keep them in air tight
containers.
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I am struggling with
Madeira cake. Even though they are very moist and
taste great they always come out half the size that
is required with a dome shape top that I cut off. I
have to make two just to make a suitable sized cake.
Any help is appreciated |
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Make sure your mixture half fills your tin, that
is the first thing to check. The reason a cake domes
in the middle instead of rising at the sides is due
to fan assisted ovens. If you use one then consider
laying a top of greeseproof (not tin foil) over your
tin with a small hole in the middle just until it
has risen and began to set. This should stop the
mixture being blown into the middle of the tin
causing a hump. I hope that this helps.
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I made a number 2
for my son's birthday but the oven was covered in
mixture as there are no bottoms in the tins and it
was not level on top for me to ice and if I turned
it over the number would have been back to front? |
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Sit a number tin back to front on a baking tray
that has a layer of greaseproof paper on it, line
the inside of the tin with strips of greaseproof
paper, then get the corners of the greaseproof paper
on the baking tray and twist well so that the sides
turn up so that if any mixture seeps out it is
caught up in the paper and will not go all over the
oven, when the cake is cooked and cooled cut the top
off your cake if needed and turn the cake out.
When you turn it over your number will be the
correct way round and have a beautiful flat top and
bottom.
Silicone paper can be used instead of greaseproof if
that is all you have
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If I stack a 3
tiered cake will it collapse. are there special cake
supports around? |
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Not if you do it right!
In the most simple terms the largest and heaviest
cake goes on the bottom (and NEVER stack a fruit
cake on top of a sponge). Then position where you
want your pillars - using 3 is easier than using 4!
You will find the pillars are hollow this is so you
can use dowels pushed through them to the base of
the supporting cake so the weight actually rests on
the cake base rather than the cake. A dowel is
simply a piece of plastic or wood rod which you cut
off level with the top of the pillar (making sure
the length of all the dowels are the same to make
the cake level.
It may be too late by the time you read this but we
do run courses on assembling and finishing wedding
cakes. If you are close enough -come along.
It's not terribly difficult but equally - it's not
for the faint hearted!
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My Madeira cake is
full of holes. It looks like Swiss cheese! Having
just invested in a Kenwood Chef, I wonder if I am
mixing it wrongly. |
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I would say that you are over beating it so you
get too much trapped air in the mix, or have lumps
of sugar in your mix which dissolved when cooking
and leaves holes. Just beat it slowly and fold in
your flour.
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What is a Madeira
cake cooked in |
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A cake tin! Madeira is a type of cake not a
special shape so whatever takes your fancy!
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What is the best way
to store fruit cake for long term |
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Put it in the freezer, wrap in greaseproof paper
and a box if possible and just put in the freezer,
get it out 24 hours before you need to decorate it.
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Where or how can I
get ivory icing for piping cakes |
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You can buy ivory food colour from us or any
sugarcraft specialists, then you can get any shade
of ivory you wish.
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