Hot new baking tips I gathered this week:
If you want strongly coloured icing, spend money on the best colours you can find.
To make an iced cake easier. Freeze a Madeira sponge and ice it while half defrosted.
If your cake won’t rise, maybe the baking power isn’t fresh.
Too much baking powder can be counter productive.
If you are too impatient to cream butter and sugar properly, know this and choose a recipe such as carrot cake that uses oil.
To pipe successfully choose a bigger nozzle.
At least half marg not all butter makes a lighter icing.
Smear food colouring up the inside of your piping bag before you put icing in to make cook smeary coloured icing.
When in doubt, cheat.
All these tips came courtesy of the very lovely Kate Moore, Whitworths Sugar’s baking expert.
Kate was so impressive, she could deliver baking advice, while talking on the phone and icing buns with one hand.
Watch our hangout to see how she does it.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_E8TJAmKUQ]
Thanks Jo. It was good fun to do – not least because, what doesn't get broadcast is the private typed comments between the group. If you see sniggering, it's probably why.