Table Of Contentbitten by the baking bug...
Since I became known as someone who bakes a lot, I’ve noticed how people’s faces instantly light up
when you talk about cakes. A shared love of making, admiring or enjoying cakes and cookies is a
wonderful talking point. Most people have baked something before and many wish they were better,
thinking that ‘fancy stuff’ is beyond their reach. I often encourage my friends that baking and cake
decorating are accessible skills with great results for anyone prepared to practise a little.
Writing this book, I realized that while most people have baked sponges or biscuits, the majority will not
have ventured far into cake decoration. The past three years – since I started writing my blog Maison
Cupcake – has seen a huge surge in baking and cake decorating ranges available in high-street stores.
I firmly believe that the only barrier to succeeding in your first sugarcraft projects is gathering the right
equipment and taking a little time to experiment.
This book features a range of baking projects with simple decoration; even if you’ve never held a piping
(pastry) bag or kneaded sugarpaste (rolled fondant) before you will find projects you can do in this
book – they are graded with one to three spoons for how easy or difficult they are.
Once bitten by the baking and cake decorating bug, unless you have a big family or a community group
to donate to, sharing treats out quicker than you can make them can be tricky. The beauty of small-scale
bakes is that everyone can try a few things at once!
Sarah
maisoncupcake.com
tools and equipment
Shown in this section is a selection of the baking and cake decorating equipment
used in this book. Some items are needed for every project and others for a few
specific ones; check the ‘you will need’ list for each project.
general baking equipment
1 Baking parchment 15 Cannelle mould
2 Sieve 16 Metal cutters – circular and heart
3 Scales – preferably digital shaped in a variety of sizes
4 Rolling pin 17 Paper cupcake cases
5 Electric mixer – large stand-alone model • Mini – for bitesize cakes – foil 20 x 32mm
or handheld with a large bowl (3/4 x 11/4in); paper 24 x 30mm (1 x 11∕8in)
6 Baking beans – for baking pastry cases ‘blind’ • Standard – used for traditional fairy
7 Small palette knife – to lift cookies cakes – 25 x 45mm (1 x 13/4in)
and spread buttercream • Muffin – used for larger American-style
8 Wooden spoon and silicone spatula cupcakes – 45 x 49mm (13/4 x 2in)
9 Cocktail sticks (toothpicks) 18 Lollipop sticks – for cake pops
10 Wire cooling rack 19 Polystrene or oasis block with holes – to stand
11 Baking sheets cake pops in
12 20cm (8in) square cake tin (pan) • (Not pictured: double boiler for making
13 12-hole baking tins (pans) – sized accordingly chocolate ganache and marshmallow fluff and/
14 Madeleine or mini-madeleine tin (pan) or plastic microwave saucepan for Candy Melts)
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cake decorating equipment
1 Piping (pastry) bags – disposable, 12 Sticky labels – for identifying icing at a glance
handmade paper or re-usable, with coupler 13 Gel or paste food colourings
2 Piping tubes (tips) – selection of round, 14 Lustre liquid, powder and sprays
plus large star for piping buttercream 15 Edible glitter
swirls and roses or mini meringues, small 16 Cling film (plastic wrap)
star for piping mini pavlova nests 17 Miscellaneous sugar baubles and sprinkles
3 Miniature non-stick rolling pin 18 Candy dipping tool
– for rolling out sugarpaste 19 Crystallized rose and violet petals
4 Square acrylic mat – to roll out small 20 Sugar thermometer – used for fondant icing
quantities of sugarpaste, also to cover 21 Chopstick – great for making tiny circles
cut-out pieces while working such as babies’ eyes and nostrils
5 A4 plastic sleeve cut at base so you can open 22 Fine brush – for applying lustre
like a book – for modelling sugarpaste petals powders or liquids
6 Pins – to pierce tubes (tips) if icing dries out 23 Latex gloves – to prevent food
7 Plunger cutters – to cut out daisy colouring staining your hands
and blossom shapes 24 Plastic modelling tools – for shaping
8 Piping gun with syringe nozzle – for and modelling sugarpaste
filling choux buns and fingers
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11 Sealable plastic tubs – for storing royal icing
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recipes
recipes
8
vanilla sponge cake
This classic vanilla sponge recipe forms the basis of many projects in this book; this recipe will
yield 32 mini cupcakes, 18 standard cupcakes or 12 muffin-sized cupcakes. For a 20cm (8in)
square cake for cutting into fondant fancies, increase the recipe quantities by 50 percent,
using the table supplied. The sponge can be flavoured as desired (see flavour variations).
ingredients… for cupcakes for a 20cm (8in) square cake
unsalted (sweet)
125g (41/2oz) 180g (61/2oz)
butter, softened
caster (superfine) sugar 125g (41/2oz) 180g (61/2oz)
large (US extra large)
2 3
eggs, lightly beaten
vanilla extract 5ml (1 tsp) 7.5ml (11/2 tsp)
self-raising (-rising) flour, sifted 125g (41/2oz) 180g (61/2oz)
milk 20ml (11/2 tbsp) 30ml (2 tbsp)
1 Preheat the oven to180ºC/350ºF/Gas 4. Take
three 12-hole tins (pans) and line with 32 mini
paper cupcake cases.
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