Question 1

How long did it take you to perfect your recipes and skills?

Accepted Answer

Honestly I feel like I am still learning something new every day. There is so much to learn.    I have been baking for a long time and I would say I have only just, in the last two years, felt like my recipes and skills have become what/wehere I want them to be!

Question 2

Did you always know the style you wanted to do?

Accepted Answer

I had NO IDEA at the start. Who does?    There was so many different styles out there and I decided to try a few different styles and techniques before I realised I loved the classic, simple, elegant designs.

Question 3

Do you ever need to repair your cakes once delivered?

Accepted Answer

Luckily I don't really have to "repair" but this is all because of the stability of my cakes.   This isn't just down to the stacking, there are MANY reasons: - The structure of your sponge and if you have trimmed them straight. - Your filling - making sure it isn't causing any sliding due to too much filling. - If you have crumb coated (i.e. I use ganache to make my cakes even more stable) - A stable buttercream recipe - have you seen Chemily's Buttercream Recipe? - And lastly, yes, the stacking - a tutorial will be coming soon.

Question 4

What size are your tiered cakes?

Accepted Answer

My three tier cakes are always the following sizes: Top Tier: 5" Middle Tier: 7" Bottom Tier: 9"   My two tier cakes are always the following sizes: Top Tier: 5" Bottom Tier: 7"

Question 5

How many hours do your three tier wedding cakes take to make?

Accepted Answer

This really depends on the cake design but roughly a three tier cake will take me 3 days from start to set up.    I bake the sponges two days before the wedding date. Baking three tiers takes about 5 hours (not including cooling time).    Then one day before the date I trim, fill, ganache, ice, stack and decorate (if any stencil is required or ombre effect etc). This takes the whole day - from 9am until 5/6pm.   On the day of the wedding, I decorate the cake with any fresh flowers required (either in the morning in my studio or at the venue) and then I have to deliver the cake. Normally on a cake delivery day I am in the car from 9am and I don't return until about 3pm.    There really isn't a set time on how lone a cake takes as each cake is individual.

Question 6

What is your favourite cake flavour?

Accepted Answer

So a bit of a funny one..   Carrot cake is my ALL TIME favourite cake flavour but I don't make it!   Why? It is very simple, I don't want to add any risk to my baking in regards to nuts. I haven't found a carrot recipe I love that doesn't contain nuts yet so I have taken it off the menu.   My favourite of which I do make is my White Chocolate & Raspberry Sponge - recipe available here.

Question 7

Do you do 1:1 classes?

Accepted Answer

Hopefully one day I will!   I LOVE teaching people so I would love to start 1:1 classes - I just need to find a bigger work space first.

Question 8

What height are your cakes?

Accepted Answer

My tiers are always 7-7.5" tall. So a three tier is about 22" tall.   The small change in height depends on how I apply my ganache and buttercream. As I do my ganache and buttercream free hand the height can vary.

Question 9

Do you use real butter or margarine in your buttercream?

Accepted Answer

I use block butter (what some call real butter) - but you should buy my recipe to find out more 😜

Question 10

My buttercream is grainy, can you help?"

Accepted Answer

Firsrtly, buy my recipe 😜   Secondly, your buttercream will be grainy because of the brand of icing you are using (not necessarily because of the ratio of icing to butter).   Try different icing sugars (even supermarket own brands) to find your favourite.

Question 11

How to get REALLY white buttercream?

Accepted Answer

BUY MY RECIPE 😘

Question 12

What is "Baking Butter"?"

Accepted Answer

Quite a few of my sponge recipes refer to "Baking Butter" in the ingridients.   Baking Butter is an oil based butter.   DON'T PANIC - if you cannot find Baking Butter in your country, you can substitute this for Block Unsalted Butter. You just need to make sure you whip your butter up to make it nice and fluffy (airy) before adding it into your mixing bowl!

Question 13

How to size up the recipes?

Accepted Answer

All my recipes are for 6" cakes but you can size these up.  You simply need to double or triple the recipes depending on how big your cake pans are.  For example, for an 8" cake - I would double my recipe. So I would do one batch of my recipe for the first two tins and then another batch for the second two tins. It is as easy as that!  Yes you need to cook them for longer but the temperature doesn't change and you only have to cook them for an extra 10mins for every extra inch tin size. So a 8" tin would need 20 more minutes than a 6" tin.

Question 14

What size eggs to use?

Accepted Answer

The beauty of my recipes is that they are VERY easy to use!  You can use either medium or large eggs OR a mixture of both - how wonderful is that!!!

Question 15

Are you recipes only used in England?

Accepted Answer

NO! Is the short answer.   We have people from all over the world buying and using our recipes perfectly!   However - all our recipes and PDF downloads are in ENGLISH only.

Question 16

We don't have "Self-Raising" Flour in our country, what can I do?"

Accepted Answer

Do not panic!   If you can't get hold of Self Raising flour you can use Plain flour and baking powder instead.   For every 100g of Self Raising flour in the recipe, use 100g of Plain Flour plus 1tsp of baking powder.

Question 17

What is the best gluten free flour you have found?

Accepted Answer

Dove's Gluten Free Flour is my go to flour when I am doing my gluten free cakes.

Question 18

What temperature do you bake your cakes?

Accepted Answer

This is very dependent on each sponge flavour - my recipes can be found here.

Question 19

Do you ganache your cakes?

Accepted Answer

First thing to state if it isn’t obvious, I am 100% a buttercream girl so all my cakes are finished in buttercream - no exceptions.   I ALWAYS ganache my cakes with a ganache CRUMB COAT except if it is a semi-naked design (then I just do buttercream).I then ALWAYS finish my cakes in buttercream 💁🏼‍♀️Why do I do this?   Two reasons: 1. Ganache offers a lot more stability when it comes to buttercream cakes, as ganache sets a lot harder than buttercream. It also withstands hotter temperatures (not that I need to worry about this being in Northumberland 😅). 2. It tastes so dammmm good 🤤I also get asked, why don’t I just do ganache. Simply because I LOVE buttercream. I love the texture and the finish I can get with my buttercream cakes.   And finally all my cakes are filled with buttercream and preserves/curd/caramel depending on flavour - not GANACHE 😂   Side note: I don’t always whiten my ganache - because that’s a waste as it gets covered in my super white buttercream anyway ☺️

Question 20

My ganache keeps cracking, what can I do?"

Accepted Answer

So this can be for many reasons:   - Your ganache ration may not be right - my ganache recipe is available here. - Your ganache may be too thin - ganache can crack when it is applied too thinly. Think of your ganache like a chocolate bar, the thinner the chocolate bar, the easier it is the break. - Your cake layers and the filling you use between each layer may not be stable enough. You may be adding too much filling that is trying to burst out - this can be helped by applying a thicker ganache layer.

Question 21

Why does my ganache curdle/"split"?"

Accepted Answer

Your ganache will curdle when it has been heated too quickly.   But don't worry, here is a helpful video to help you fix "split" ganache: click here.

Question 22

How to whiten your ganache?

Accepted Answer

To get beautifully white ganache, you need to make sure you are using good quality chocolate - I use Callebaut 28% White Chocolate. 
 I then will whiten the ganache with Colour Mill White.

Question 23

How do you seal your fresh flowers?

Accepted Answer

A question I get asked pretty much every day, here is a quick video to show you what I do. You'll need: Food Safe Florist Tape Cling Film Scissors

Question 24

When is best to add fresh flowers to a cake?

Accepted Answer

Any flowers which I have collected the day before a delivery are prepped and kept in the fridge overnight in water.   I then dry and seal them the morning of delivery and decorate the cake with them.   This is to keep them as fresh as possible.

Question 25

How long do fresh flowers last on a cake?

Accepted Answer

I put fresh flowers on my cakes the morning of delivery and they last until the next day.    This will be dependent on how fresh your flowers are - I always try to make sure I get the freshest of flowers from my florist friends.

Question 26

Do you always dowel your cakes?

Accepted Answer

110% YES if they are more than one tier.   My Stacking Tutorial will be going up very soon and all will be revealed!

Question 27

Do you central dowel your cakes?

Accepted Answer

If they are more than one tier I ALWAYS central dowel my cakes.   No matter how far I am travelling, any cake that is more than one tier needs to be stable and this is why you MUST central dowel - especially with buttercream cakes.

Question 28

What icing do you use for stenciling?

Accepted Answer

I use american buttercream to do all my stenciling.    You need to make sure your cake is nice and chilled before you start to apply your stencil.

Question 29

What icing do you decorate your cakes with?

Accepted Answer

I am an AMERICAN BUTTERCREAM GAL 💁🏼‍♀️   All my cakes you see are covered in American Buttercream, there are no exceptions!

Question 30

What do you use to do the "ruffle" effect on your cakes?"

Accepted Answer

I use metal scrapers to create the "ruffle" effect on my buttercream - my favourite one to use is the Lissie Lou metal scraper.

Question 31

What do you use to dilute your lustre dust?

Accepted Answer

I use Culpitt Dipping Solution to dilute my Lustre Dusts.   You NEED to make sure you customers don't have any dietry/personal reasons where they can't have alcohol, as this solution is Food grade ethanol (96%)alcohol.

Question 32

What is the best lustre dust that you use for gold?

Accepted Answer

My go to gold lustre dust is Sweet Sticks Antique Gold - it has been my favourite since day one!

Question 33

What do you colour your American Buttercream with?

Accepted Answer

I always use Colour Mill products to colour my buttercream.    If you are struggling to get the bold colours you are after you need to let your coloured buttercream "rest" before using it.    The colour gets bolder the longer it is left to sit before being applied to your cake.

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BY EMILY-KATE || CAKE ARTIST