Baking, Recipes and Tutorials - The Pink Whisk

Flour Tortillas

Posted on June 7, 2013 by The Pink Whisk

At last! It appears to be BBQ weather, and whilst I’m stuck for Father’s Day ideas I figured a BBQ might be just the thing to treat your Dad. Now BBQ’s don’t naturally lend themselves to baking but a batch of these flour tortillas will certainly go down a treat.

This is early morning baking while the weather is hot, get up early and make a batch then turn off the heat and go and enjoy the sunshine!

Ingredients:

235g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

35g lard or vegetable fat (Trex)

125 – 140ml water

Make 8. Continue reading →

Posted in Bread, How To, Rolls, Savoury | 4 Comments

Flapjack Bars

Posted on May 24, 2013 by The Pink Whisk

I know I’ve done flapjack before but this one is a bit different, its a thick buttery fudgy type bar flapjack, like you might pick up when you’re out and about. Great big slabs of flapjack with a good old layer of chocolate on the top.

The magic ingredient is the condensed milk, just don’t think about the amount of butter and sugar that goes into these and you’ll be fine 😉

And if you were after a traditional kind of flapjack, including a yoghurty top – you’ll find my recipes here and here

Ingredients:

225g caster sugar Continue reading →

Posted in Biscuit, Biscuits, Children, Chocolate, Kids, Treats | 30 Comments

Cake Decorating – Top Tips #5

Posted on May 3, 2013 by The Pink Whisk

Get yourself a good Sugarpaste Rolling Pin!

This one may seems a bit daft, but how many of you are covering cakes with a regular old rolling pin? Chances are its a wooden one and you’re finding it a bit on the short side? Sugarpaste rolling pins are super smooth and designed to be non-stick, they really are much better to work with than a regular kitchen rolling pin and mean that your sugarpaste is far smoother before it even makes it’s way onto the cake.

Get yourself a dedicated sugarpaste rolling pin, the longest you can afford (find them here in The Pink Whisk Shop). Put it on your birthday list or treat yourself. Covering cakes is a whole lot easier with one of these lovelies!

And once you’ve got it, you need to look after it. Don’t go ramming it in an already full cupboard you need to protect it from bumps and bangs. If you’re a little bit sewing handy get yourself a tea towel. Make a pocket in one of the long sides, measuring it around your rolling and stitch at either end of the pocket. Continue reading →

Posted in Decorating, Giveaway, Sugarpaste | 196 Comments

Cake Decorating – Top Tips #4

Posted on May 2, 2013 by The Pink Whisk

Make your own Modelling Paste

This will save you a fortune. Using a modelling paste for most cake decorations, flowers and bits and pieces is much much easier than using sugarpaste (fondant). It dries out quicker so will hold the shape you want it to with ease. You can also roll it much thinner than sugarpaste making decorations look much more refined. The downside is it’s expensive 🙁

Make your own instead by adding 1 teaspoon of Tylo powder to 500g sugarpaste and knead well. Continue reading →

Posted in Decorating, Sugarpaste | 8 Comments

Cake Decorating – Top Tips #3

Posted on May 1, 2013 by The Pink Whisk

Storing your left over Sugarpaste – Seal it Up!

If you’re like me you’ll always end up with some left over coloured sugarpaste at the end of a project. It needs storing well so that when you next go looking for the green you know you had it’s not completely dried out or welded itself together with a random ball of purple!

Save yourself a fortune and store your sugarpaste easily.

The answer…. a vacuum sealer!

Pop it in a bag, in the machine, press the button and it’s done!

Perfect, organised, fresh as a daisy, excess sugarpaste collection. Ready to be used up when you need it. It’s been one of the best bits of kit I ever bought, I have this one by JML – vacuum seal system. Continue reading →

Posted in Decorating, Giveaway, Sugarpaste | 264 Comments

Cake Decorating – Top Tips #2

Posted on April 30, 2013 by The Pink Whisk

Colouring Sugarpaste – Get the Dough Hook on it!

Ever turned your hands (and the worktop) purple/orange/green/black? Mine have been all sorts and usually when you’re off somewhere important. I don’t buy ready coloured sugarpaste as I find it too sticky and rather colour my own with gel paste colours. Yes I know you could wear latex gloves but I’m not that organised!

This works a treat when you need enough coloured sugarpaste to cover a cake (350g plus) it’s not going to work with a teeny amount that you need to make a decoration you might as well do it by hand, I’m talking a big bunch of sugarpaste and a whole load of gel paste!

Grease the bowl of your stand mixer with a little bit of Trex (white vegetable fat) Continue reading →

Posted in Decorating, How To, Sugarpaste | 16 Comments

Cake Decorating – Top Tips #1

Posted on April 29, 2013 by The Pink Whisk

I thought I’d share my 5 top cake decorating tips this week, just very little bits and pieces that I’ve learnt along the way and make life ten tons easier!

Maybe you’ll know my top tips already but just in case…. here’s number 1

Don’t Knead – Microwave!

Sugarpaste (fondant) has to be kneaded before rolling out and using to cover a cake. It warms up the sugarpaste and makes it soft and pliable ready to cover without splitting and cracking. The only downside to kneading is that that’s when all those little flecks and bits magically jump into the sugarpaste. Yes you know the blighters I mean! Continue reading →

Posted in Decorating, Sugarpaste | 13 Comments

Giant Cupcake Cookie Dough Bowl!

Posted on April 26, 2013 by The Pink Whisk

Who wants to dive in head first?

You don’t just have to bake cakes in the your Giant Cupcake Tin – time to get them out from languishing in the back of the cupboard and put them to some inventive uses.

And if you haven’t already got a tin, I think I may have convinced you this week to give it cupboard space! You can get your hands on the Wilton tin in The Pink Whisk Shop as a special deal with both my books – The Busy Girls’ Guide to Cake Decorating and The Pink Whisk Guide to Cake Making for good measure too, you’re going to have to be quick we’ve only got a few left!

Giant Cupcake Tin & Books – The Pink Whisk Shop

Makes me look like I’m wearing a hat! 😉

Ingredients:

Cookie Dough Shell

115g butter, softened

140g caster sugar

1 egg, large

1 tsp vanilla extract Continue reading →

Posted in Biscuit, Biscuits, Children, Chocolate, Treats | 17 Comments

Giant Cupcakes – Tips & Ideas

Posted on April 25, 2013 by The Pink Whisk

So I’ve given you two basic recipes for using in your Giant Cupcake Tins but I thought I’d also cover a few quick tips on working with it now.

Split it and fill it!

This photo is showing a cupcake base trimmed down, so it will fit in a chocolate shell. If you’re covering with buttercream or sugarpaste (fondant) then there’s no need to trim away the sides.

Cake is much easier to trim and split when it’s cold. Wrap your cake well in clingfilm and then chill in the fridge for a couple of hours. A sharp serrated knife is the best to use and always cut in towards the centre of the cake, never letting the knife burst out of the cake through the crust as that pulls away the clean shape of your cake.

Have you ever split a cake in two, lifted off the top feeling sure you’ll remember exactly which way it goes back on…..and then instantly forget? Continue reading →

Posted in Cake, Decorating | 5 Comments

Giant Cupcake Chocolate Shell

Posted on April 25, 2013 by The Pink Whisk

Yes it’s completely chocolate!

How about sitting your Giant Cupcake Cake in this?!

To make a Giant Cupcake base chocolate shell you will need 400g of chocolate, white dark or milk. My photos show a blue chocolate shell as it’s easier to see in the photos – tips of colouring white chocolate are at the end of the post. Continue reading →