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A Thread for all UK bakers!!

post #1 of 3058
3/14/09 at 6:43pm
Thread Starter 
Hi There,

I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread for all us UK bakers.

Here we can share recipes, good cupcakeries, suppliers etc.

At the moment I'm searching for good basic recipes. I've seen so many recipes that call for crisco / shortening or recipes that call for boxed cake mix but I'm desperately searching for a from scratch vanilla & chocolate cupcake recipe that calls for free range eggs, real butter and Madigascan vanilla etc!!!!

Do you have the ultime recipe for either of these flavours that you would like to share? I've seen cupcake recipes that also call for milk but then I see Peggy Porschen only uses a basic vanilla Victoria sponge recipe?!! So many recipes to choose from my head is starting to hurt!

Sorry, rant over! On a more positive note I'm baking all 3 mothers (my mum, step mum and mother in law) cupcakes for mothers day hence the reason I need a good solid recipe that will stay moist for a few days. I'm a bit scared about posting cupcakes via the Royal Mail all over the country but fingers crossed!

Looking forward to hearing from other UKers!

x
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The secret to happiness is many cakes!
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post #2 of 3058
3/15/09 at 1:18am
check out www.bsguk.org There is a sponge cake recipe from The dinosaur on there that apparently is marvelous, we dont get the flour in SA so I havent had a sucess with it.
HTH!
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post #3 of 3058
3/15/09 at 6:44am
Thread Starter 
Hi Riana,

Thanks for yopur reply. I have already tried that recipe!! I tried the chocolate version though and had to add melted chocolate top the batter because it wasn't chocolaty enough. I will give the vanilla version a whirl though.

Thanks x
The secret to happiness is many cakes!
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The secret to happiness is many cakes!
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post #4 of 3058
3/16/09 at 3:57pm
i stick to a victoria sponge too - it works! and you can do so much with it too. sometimes i add a bit of milk, depends on how its looking.
good luck with the posting too!
xx
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post #5 of 3058
3/16/09 at 4:06pm
posting cupcakes by royal mail???
good luck dear!! icon_smile.gif
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post #6 of 3058
3/16/09 at 4:17pm
Hi

I'm a UK baker and it's a great idea to post some recipes relevant to our ingredients. I find the following recipe fabulous for either cupcakes or larger stacked cakes, it stays really moist for ages and tastes great, this is the smallest quantity and makes between nine and 12 muffin sized cupcakes (depends how generous you are):

125 g unsalted butter
125g self raising flour
125g unrefined caster sugar flavoured with vanilla pods
2 free range eggs (large)
a cap full of Nielson Massey vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk

This has never failed for me and for the chocolate version I weigh the flour and lift out a really generous heaped tablespoon of flour and replace it with cocoa but just do it to your taste.

Hope this helps, I would love a really good chocolate recipe that uses melted chocolate.

Claire x
www.justdarlingcakes.co.uk
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post #7 of 3058
3/17/09 at 2:42am
hi justdarling,

I use this recipe for my chocolate cakes and it stays moist and yummy! I haven't used it for cupcakes though,

1/2lb marg
4oz chocolate
2tbs heaped cocoa
1/2 cup water

5 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups self raising flour

put first 4 ingredients in a pan to melt,
don't overcook!
leave to cool

whisk eggs with sugar add flour and then add cooled pan mixture.

bake on 150 for aprox 3/4hr

I have doubled this recipe and also done it without waiting for chocolate mix to cool and it works every time!

hope this helps you!
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post #8 of 3058
3/17/09 at 3:36am
Thanks Slush that sounds great I will try it later icon_smile.gif Do you do this as a hobby or do you have a business. I've been going about 7 months and the baking side is going well but the paperwork is freaking me out, I really need to tackle it this weekend.

Thanks again for the recipe x
www.justdarlingcakes.co.uk
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post #9 of 3058
3/17/09 at 4:05am
Hi just darling,
am starting to do it as a business,
have advertised once and had a few orders.
also don't have paperwork in order!!
all the tools etc have cost a fortune!!!!
still a bit unsure on how to price my cakes, have started out quite cheap I think but then....am just starting.
How do you price yours? like the americans? per portion?
good luck with the recipe
I've just thrown one in the oven for a last minute order!!
may take a bit longer to bake than it says.
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post #10 of 3058
3/17/09 at 4:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by riana

check out www.bsguk.org There is a sponge cake recipe from The dinosaur on there that apparently is marvelous, we dont get the flour in SA so I havent had a sucess with it.
HTH!



That is what I make. I have made vanilla, chocolate and Baileys flavours and its so yummy. Everybody loves that cake. You even can make Lemon or Coffee flavour.

Slush, I add up all the prices on ingredients, board, box, sugapaste, basicaly everything and multiply it by three and add another £10/£15 to it. Thats how I price my cakes.

HtH.
If you put your heart and soul, there's nothing you cannot do!
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post #11 of 3058
3/17/09 at 4:41am
Well, I'm British but live in The Netherlands, I still use & import tons of stuff from the UK though as the Dutch baking scene is woeful! Nigella Lawson's 'Buttermilk Birthday Cake' from her Domestic Goddess book is fabulous for cupcakes, layer cakes and 3D creations. For chocolate cake to die for I use the 'Killer Chocolate Cake' recipe found in the recipe section here - very dense and REALLY chocolatey (with no weird ingredients). I also love Nati's 'Chocolate Buttercake' recipe again in the recipe section - that one is better for kids & 3D work. If you want to weigh your ingredients when using an American (volume based cups) recipe, this site is invaluable:

http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking

As for pricing, I don't find Bashini's x3 way always very helpful (sorry Bash!). If I've spent 12 hours modelling a cake that serves only 15-20, well I'm sorry, you ARE paying me for that time, I'm not running a charity here!

Hope that helps!
AKA: bonjovibabe
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AKA: bonjovibabe
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post #12 of 3058
3/17/09 at 4:50am
This thread is exactly what I need as I can do a really nice vanilla sponge but my chocolate one is not nearly as good, but I only add cocoa not melted choc so am now going to give that a go. I would love to sell my cakes but am a bit worried as I have not done all the Environmental health stuff yet so would need to do the one day food handling course then have the home check before I felt able to go ahead so really only doing cakes for freinds at £15 which is a massive bargain for them but meets costs and means I get time to practice and build a bit of a reputation and portfolio for when I get my act together.

Very interested to see how you get on with posting your cakes!!!
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post #13 of 3058
3/17/09 at 4:54am
I am also going for the Buttermilk Cake that Bonjovibabe says, its gorguous of taste and you can also easily carve it.
For a chocolate cake I always use the Whimsical Bakehouse recipe, very dark chocolate cake with coffee (that adhances the chocolate flavour) and Dutch processed cacao in it. But no melted chocolate in it, so if you are looking for that, try some suggestions of the other girls.

By the way the site of www.joyofbaking.com is also really good!

And now I am not British (as you can see by my English icon_wink.gif), but Dutch and recently moved to Spain (and they have almost nothing here for baking or decorating icon_sad.gif ).

Regards,
Lara
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post #14 of 3058
3/17/09 at 5:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bonjovibabe


As for pricing, I don't find Bashini's x3 way always very helpful (sorry Bash!). If I've spent 12 hours modelling a cake that serves only 15-20, well I'm sorry, you ARE paying me for that time, I'm not running a charity here!



That's ok bonjovibabe. But If I have lots of flowers to make, then I calculate the price for flowers seperately and then add it to the final total. icon_smile.gif
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post #15 of 3058
3/17/09 at 5:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bashini

Quote:
Originally Posted by bonjovibabe


As for pricing, I don't find Bashini's x3 way always very helpful (sorry Bash!). If I've spent 12 hours modelling a cake that serves only 15-20, well I'm sorry, you ARE paying me for that time, I'm not running a charity here!



That's ok bonjovibabe. But If I have lots of flowers to make, then I calculate the price for flowers seperately and then add it to the final total. icon_smile.gif



Good plan Batman! I've just contracted for a wedding cake in May (for a wedding that will be featured in a wedding magazine here - can you say pressure - eek!), whilst the main design is simple (ivory fondant with ivory ribbons, diamante buckles and diamante trim on each tier), the tiers will be separated by handmade roses about 2in in diameter - I've estimated around 100 of them. So while the cake itself won't take too long those flipping roses WILL! Hence the price tag this cake will come with lol!
AKA: bonjovibabe
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