Basic Equipment

Right so today’s post is about the basic equipment that I use pretty much every time I bake. About a year or so ago my sister bought me a subscription to Baked and Delicious, a twice monthly magazine with a piece of silicone bake ware and about 7 recipes in each issue. I was a bit sceptical about silicone because I’d used it before to make cupcakes and it wasn’t very good but I LOVE LOVE LOVE it now! I literally couldn’t bake as well as I do without it. I do still use paper cases for fairy cakes, cupcakes and muffins because it kind of adds a little something to the finished product! Now I’ve got a draw stuffed, literally stuffed, full with different bits of bake ware from a tart pan to a brioche mould to sponge pans. I’ve also received non silicone items such as cookie cutters, a set of scales and some storage tins. It’s a really good magazine to subscribe to if you want easy step-by-step instructions and some quality free bake ware!

Ok onto my essentials for easy baking:

My Dualit whisk – from my boyfriend, makes mixing so easy and it’s nice and compact!

It comes with normal whisking arms, the balloon whisk and dough hooks. The dough hooks are amazing for making bread because there is completely no need to need the dough!

My pink spatula – this came from the Baked and Delicious magazine and is fantastic for getting every little remnant of cake mix out of the bowl.

My two most used silicone pans – the 7 inch deep square and the 8 inch deep round pan. These are brilliant, all I do is pour in the mix, bake and turn the cakes out after cooling for 10 minutes or so. No greasing, no lining and they clean easily as well!

My oven gloves – last but not least and  probably the most important thing as they stop me from burning my hands (quite so much as usual!) from my sister and I think these are from Next (as I've uploaded the picture I've realised how dirty they look - just used a lot!).

So these are the things I use pretty much every time I bake with variations on the pans. If anyone has any questions I would love to answer some!

Lizzi :)

Fairy cakes

So after a positive reaction from one of the girls I work with I am going to write this blog with gusto! I thought I’d start off with something straightforward so I’ve made vanilla and almond fairy cakes and decorated them with simple icing decorations. Whilst I was baking I was thinking about the equipment that I use so I’ll probably post my favourites and can’t-live-withouts.

I’ve got various recipe books and I use the internet quite a lot for ideas and inspiration. This recipe is taken from Bake Me I’m Yours….. Cupcake.

For approximately 18 fairy cakes:

115 g (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened

115 g (4 oz) caster sugar

115 g (4 oz) self raising flour, sieved

2 medium eggs, beaten

½ tsp vanilla extract (I baked 2 batches and substituted the 2^nd lot with almond extract)

Heat oven to 175^oC (350^oF)

Beat sugar, butter and flour together. Slowly add eggs and extract and keep beating. Mix until well combined and quite light. The mix is described to be a ‘soft dropping consistency’ when it is ready. It doesn’t take me long to get to this stage. Divide the mix into the fairy cake cases and bake for 10-15 minutes depending on your oven. Mine is a bit temperamental so I have a tendency to check every 5 minutes or so. Use a cocktail stick to check they are cooked. I always check the biggest cake and the stick should come out clean. Turn out onto a cooling rack.

Icing:

I make up my own icing and it’s different every time! I used 50 g butter, 50 g full fat cream cheese and approximately 250 g icing sugar but it was a bit of a pour and see situation! I used this on the almond cakes and just decorated with glace cherries.

For the vanilla cupcakes I used ready roll fondant icing. When I’m not working I make my own but it’s so much quicker using shop bought stuff when I’m busy! I just got some good sized cutters and decorated as I went along. This icing just needs a little water to make it stick and always use icing sugar to roll it out.

Now time for the results!

I'd love to hear any comments people have!

Lizzi :)

Hello!

So, my name is Lizzi and I'm very new to blogging! I recently stumbled across a style blog and have really enjoyed reading it. It made me wonder whether I could do something similar, however I am absolutely no good at style! On the other hand I LOVE baking and fortunately my boyfriend loves eating my creations! So theoretically I hope to be posting some recipes and some pictures and posting my first blog!

Lizzi :)