How to avoid common baking mistakes

Sponge sinks
This can be caused by opening the oven door too early as the gases that raising agents create escape. Resist that urge! Or it could be that there’s too much raising agent. Make sure you measure it properly.

Sponge doesn’t rise
This can happen when not enough raising agent is added or if the mixture hasn’t been put in the oven promptly. The raising agent starts working straight away so move quickly!

Cakey brownies
Cooking time is key. You want the brownie set around the edges but a bit wobbly in the middle. It will continue to cook once out of the oven. To get the nice papery top, whisk your eggs for up to five minutes to get a moussey texture. 

Peaked sponge
A domed sponge is often caused by overmixing the flour. Fold it in by hand until just combined or you risk knocking the air out. If baking large quantities in a mixer, turn it down to slow when mixing in the flour.

Dense sponge
Avoid the all-in-one method. You
want to incorporate lots of air to
get a light texture, so beat the butter
and sugar really well until pale.

Hard cookies
To avoid biscuit-like cookies and get a soft texture, you need to slightly underbake them. You still want a golden colour but don’t wait until they’re hard as they firm up even more out of the oven.

Perfect your decorating

Big cakes

• For sandwich cakes, rather than smoothing the icing on, pipe buttercream around the edge and inside of the bottom sponge so you can see a nice finish on the sides.
• Semi-naked cakes (they have a light coating of icing on the sides but you can still see the sponge) look effective and are a good place to start if you’re not that confident.
• When filling big cakes, pipe a buttercream border, then put the filling in and more buttercream on top. This stops the filling spilling out the sides.
• Drip cakes look really effective and hide a multitude of
  sins! Try a caramel or chocolate hazelnut spread drip. Use a piping bag to squeeze it on as this gives more control. 

• To give a sharp finish on a layer cake, do a crumb coat: this is where you layer and stack the sponges, then do a very thin coat of buttercream or ganache (this can be more stable in hot weather) all over. Place the cake in the fridge for around 30 minutes to firm up the icing. Then add your outer layer. This initial layer should help avoid those annoying crumbs that can appear!

• To get smooth sides, use a cake scraper. Dip it
  in boiling water, then dry and use immediately to smooth the icing. To get a sharp edge on the top
  rim: once iced, let the cake set in the fridge for 30 minutes. Then heat the palette knife, and cut off
  the top edges of buttercream to sharpen it up.

Cupcakes

• If you buy just one piping nozzle, get an open star. With this you can create a Mr Whippy-style topping and a flat rose design.
• Don’t overfill your piping bag, or icing will end up squirting out the top and it’s difficult to handle.
• When trying a new piping technique, pipe onto greaseproof paper to practise first. Then scrape the icing off and put it back into the bag so it’s not wasted.
• Use colours to create unique looks. Put stripes of colouring in a piping bag then add plain buttercream and pipe. This makes some beautiful designs. I’d recommend gel colours rather than liquids – our Dr. Oetker ones are brilliant.