I got a new Piping Set... Again

So over the weekend I thought... 'You know what? I just don't have enough Piping Bags and Nozzles' so while I was in Liverpool I headed to the Lakeland shop to buy some new equipment. Here's what I got...

My New Piping Set :)

It was a little expensive at £11.99, but being metal, the quality of the nozzles is far superior to anything that I've used before.
The set includes a large piping bag which is perfect if you want to ice lots of cakes. The only slight problem is that oil tends to leak from the icing mixture through the bag, making your hands a bit messy, but otherwise it's perfect!

Happy Baking!

X

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

This probably wasn't the most ambitious of recipes, but it did make delicious cakes and gave me the perfect opportuntity to use my piping bags!
Before I started, I had been pretty worried that the icing was gonna be a disaster and that it would all go wrong, but as it turns out, I didn't have too much to worry about, and after a few practice runs I was icing like an almost-pro, or at least, icing a lot better than I'd expected.



The recipe which I like to use when making carrot cake, is one by Mary Cadogan, which I've stolen from the BBC Good Food Website and taylored to my own needs (Check out the original here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3229/yummy-scrummy-carrot-cake)
I generally prefer to leave out the cinnamon, nutmeg and raisins which are usually found in Carrot Cakes, as I feel that they overpower the cake a little. But if you decide to make these by all means include the spices - some people find that they improve the cake!

Ingredients for Cake

• 175g light muscovado sugar
• 175ml sunflower oil
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 140g grated carrots (about 3 medium)
• grated zest of 1 large orange
• 175g self-raising flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder

To make twelve Cakes

*Pre-heat oven to 180C/Gas 4/fan 160C *

1. Pour the Sugar, Oil and eggs into a large bowl and mix together until fully combined.

2. To this mixture add the grated carrots and orange zest, and stir until the carrot is evenly spread throughout the mixture.

3. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture and stir again until completely integrated.

4. Pour the mixture into cupcake cases until about 80% full, because these cakes don't rise too much, and put into the oven for 40-45 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for several hours until completely cool. (You can use a fridge if you want to speed this process up)




So this is how mine looked after they came out of the oven, and if you can see they've not risen too high, which allows plenty of space for icing!

For the Icing

You'll need a piping bag and a large(ish) nozzle either spikey or smooth - for want of a technical name! - and a hell of a lot of icing sugar, and a few dessert spoons of margarine.

With icing I always find that it's something which you've just got to keep mixing until you get it right, trial and error. Although the key rule is that you need a LOT more icing sugar than margarine. If you follow this then it should be fine, and you just keep adding icing sugar until the mixture becomes fairly stiff. (sorry I can't be more specific)


Here are my finished cakes - not bad eh? - I must admit I'm quite pleased with my little carrot cake cupcakes - escecially the mini cattots which I think look adorable.

Okay so that's it - Challenge One complete - see you next week for soft centred chocolate bites!

Happy Baking!

X

Buying for Baking: The Quest for Perfect Piping

I finally decided that if I'm going to do this thing properly, then I'll need to have some sort of equipment, so at the weekend, I went to buy supplies and pretty things to decorate my cakes with.
I arrived at the shop and looked around, and was instantly amazed by the wealth of equipment which is available to bakers - I never realised that there was such a large industry surrounding baking! (Which looking back, I suppose was pretty naieve of me, but it took my breath away!)
As I stood looking at all of the glitter and cake stands, coloured icing and cake toppers, it took every ounce of will power that I had not to buy the entire store. I was in absolute heaven, and ended up having to limit myself to piping bags, cake toppers and glitter, but I promise that I'll be back for more!



So I checked it all out and went merrily back home, happy with my purchases only to discover when I get there, that piping bags need Nozzles - who knew?!!
I've committed my first baking faux pas. In an attempt to correct this I went down to the supermarket in the hope of finding the all important nozzles. No luck. I began to despair.
A few days later I called by another supermarket and found what I thought I'd been looking for - A piping bag set, with actual nozzles!!!!! I snapped it up straight away and went on my way back home with the intention of making cupcakes later in the week...
I'd made a second mistake - These nozzles wern't for icing cupcakes, they were too small and were only for thin decorative icing...
Feeling absolutely crushed I made one final attempt to address my nozzle situation and went off to a department store in Clitheroe! It was in this department store that I found what will from henceforth be known as my primary nozzle... A snip at just over £2, it is everything that I'd dreamt it would be, perfect for icing even the daintiest of cupcakes!
So yay - My first baking crisis was narrowly avoided, and I now feel ready to take on the world with my nozzled piping bag in one hand and my spatula in the other!
Happy Baking!

x

If anyone knows of any good baking supply websites that may be of use to me then please feel free to comment me! :)