Cupcakes
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The Hummingbird Bakery April 15, 2023Cupcake Problems and How to Fix ThemEVER HAD YOUR CUPCAKE RECIPE TURN OUT A FLOP? PEELING CASES, SINKING SPONGES AND OVERFLOWING MIXTURES ARE JUST SOME OF THE CUPCAKE BAKING PROBLEMS THAT CAN BE EASILY FIXED NEXT TIME YOU COME TO BAKE. Cupcake sponge problems To find solutions to dry, burnt or cracked cupcakes, visit our blog on the Top Twelve Sponge Cake Problems and How to Fix Them. The main rules for baking any sponge apply to cupcakes too. Cupcake frosting problems If your buttercream or cream cheese frosting isn’t going so smoothly, visit our blog on Cupcake and Cake Frosting Problems Solved to troubleshoot. Lumpy cupcake batter Use your ingredients at room temperature and they will combine more easily. Butter that isRead More
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The Hummingbird Bakery April 15, 2023Cupcake and cake frosting problems solvedSOMETIMES CUPCAKE FROSTING CAN GO WRONG. IT CAN TURN RUNNY, GO LUMPY OR SPLIT (GULP!). LUCKILY, WITH A LITTLE KNOW-HOW YOU CAN TURN YOUR FROSTING NIGHTMARE INTO A DREAM. Frosting mixing times: Buttercream frosting – beat for five minutes or more, the more you whip the fluffier it gets (too much might trap air bubbles though) Cream cheese frosting – beat for ideally around five minutes, but no more or it can go too runny or split Frosting is too runny. This could be because the butter was too soft or you added too much milk if it is buttercream frosting or it could be that you have overbeaten it if you’re making cream cheese frosting.Read More
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The Hummingbird Bakery April 15, 2023Baking with substitutionsIF YOU’RE BAKING WITH SUBSTITUTED INGREDIENTS, HERE ARE A FEW OF OUR TIPS SO YOU CAN CARRY ON BAKING. We’ll start by saying we generally don’t recommend substituting ingredients when it comes to baking, if you can help it. Baking is a precise science and even changing one ingredient can affect the final outcome. But sometimes for dietary reasons, an allergy or personal preference, it is necessary to substitute ingredients. We thought we’d put together a couple of pointers for home bakers looking to make ingredient swaps in their baking. Can I bake gluten-free? It is very simple to bake gluten-free. Just swap the exact amount of dry gluten-containing ingredients (flour and raising agents) for gluten-free alternatives. We use Dove’s Farm gluten-freeRead More
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The Hummingbird Bakery April 15, 202320 baking mistakes to avoidNot bringing your butter, cream cheese and eggs to room temperature.Butter should be used at room temperature in cubes, unless the recipe calls for chilled e.g. pastry recipes. Don’t cheat and microwave your butter to warm it to room temperature as this causes it to melt and it won’t cream with the sugar properly. If making pastry, ingredients should be chilled and the room and surfaces should be cool. Not creaming butter and sugar together for long enough. Always cream butter and sugar together for at least five minutes with an electric mixer or electric hand blender. This will make your cakes light and fluffy every time. Overbeating cream cheese. This should only be beaten for a minute or two or else it can go runny. Overheating chocolate. Melt chocolate gently over a water bath in a heatproof bowl. This will melt it gradually and prevent it from becoming grainy. UsingRead More
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The Hummingbird Bakery April 15, 2023Sweet Baking Ideas for Valentine’s DayIT HAS ALL GONE A BIT HEART-SHAPED AT THE HUMMINGBIRD BAKERY. IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO SWEETEN UP YOUR SPECIAL SOMEONE WITH A JUST-FOR-YOU BAKE, TRY OUT SOME OF THESE BAKING IDEAS – WITH A ROMANTIC TWIST! Filled Cupcakes Make your Valentine go all gooey with cupcakes that have a hidden centre. Filled cupcake sponges are a doddle to make and for the more adventurous baker they can allow the imagination to run wild with endless flavour combinations. To fill a cupcake, you need to allow the sponge to cool before taking a sharp, small-ended knife to remove a small section of the sponge. With your chosen filling at the ready, fill the cupcake with a piping bag before replacing the small sponge lid. You can use a paring knife, an apple corer or a specialist cupcake coring tool - whichever works best for you. Don’t throw this extra piece of sponge away - you can trim it down and use it as a lid once the fillingRead More
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The Hummingbird Bakery April 15, 2023Halloween cupcake decorating ideasSERVE UP SPOOKTACULAR HALLOWEEN TREATS WITH IDEAS ON HOW TO DECORATE CUPCAKES WITH CREEPY HALLOWEEN DESIGNS! Fright night is drawing in and guys and ghouls will be gathering for tricks and treats! Spook your Halloween guests this season with these gruesome cupcake decorating ideas. Witch will you choose? Black Cats Sprinkle chocolate cupcakes with chocolate vermicelli sprinkles. Add yellow jelly sweets for eyes and a pink jelly sweet for a nose. Pipe on details for the eyes and whiskers with chocolate icing. Liquorice laces can also be snipped with scissors to make cat’s whiskers. Crescent Moons Roll out white or yellow sugar fondant icing and use a moon-shaped cutter to make your crescent moon shapes. Let shapes dry on baking parchment for 24 hours. Ice cupcakes with dark blue frosting and smooth over with a paletteRead More
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The Hummingbird Bakery April 15, 2023How to make your cupcakes/cookies the same sizeTHERE’S NOTHING MORE SATISFYING THAN A TRAY OF CUPCAKES ALL NEATLY RISEN TO THE SAME LEVEL OR A STACK OF COOKIES ALL IN PERFECT MATCHING ROUNDS. HOW DO WE ACHIEVE THIS BAKING MAGIC? WE’LL TELL YOU ALL ABOUT IT! Making your cupcakes and cookies a uniform size is a matter of scooping out the mixture equally before baking. You will end up with a jumble of different shapes and sizes if you don’t scoop out neatly and equally, so it pays (if you’re really picky about your presentation) to use a food portioner rather than a spoon to serve out your cupcake mixture or cookie dough. Here’s how you make your cookies or cupcakes the same size: Invest in a food portioner: this is like an ice cream scoop but it is designed to hold a particularRead More
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The Hummingbird Bakery April 15, 2023Video: How to frost a cupcakeEVER WONDERED HOW WE GET THAT SIGNATURE HUMMINGBIRD SWIRL? IN OUR LATEST VIDEO, OUR EXPERT BAKER SHOWS YOU EXACTLY HOW TO FROST A CUPCAKE USING ONLY A PALETTE KNIFE. It takes our most skilled bakers no time at all to frost a whole tray of cupcakes and this is because they have their palette knife skills down to perfection. When you learn to ice a cupcake without a piping bag, it cuts your decorating time down and makes washing up a piece of cake. No pesky bags or nozzles required. Personally, we also think the swirl looks great and it’s our favourite style of cupcake frosting. If you wish to write on a cupcake with a small piping nozzle, just follow steps 1-2 below and flatten the top into a flat dome shape instead of a cone. We like the swirl method the best because it ensures every last bit of the sponge is covered with smooth, fluffy frosting and this prevents it from drying out. Watch our videoRead More
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The Hummingbird Bakery April 15, 2023Baking guide to raising agentsWE RAISE A FEW IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ABOUT OUR DEAR OLD RAISING AGENTS AND WHAT THEIR UNIQUE PROPERTIES BRING TO YOUR BAKES. What do raising agents do? Raising agents are powders that are added to baking mixtures which react chemically to release carbon dioxide. The bubbles of carbon dioxide add air to the mixture, which is then baked and the air bubbles become locked into the protein structure of the sponge creating the fluffy crumb we know and love. Can I swap one raising agent for another? The short answer is no. For the longer answer, read our explanations of how the individual raising agents work below. Raising agents react in completely different ways, so it’s advisable to choose a recipe for the raising agent you have available orRead More
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The Hummingbird Bakery April 15, 2023How to fill cupcakesA HIDDEN CENTRE CAN ELEVATE A SIMPLE CUPCAKE INTO A CROWD PLEASER. WE SHARE A SIMPLE TECHNIQUE FOR HOW TO FILL YOUR CUPCAKES WITHOUT USING A CUPCAKE CORER. Once you try filling cupcakes at home, you’ll realise just how easy it is and you won’t be able to resist trying out all the tempting filling combinations around. Coring a cupcake means to remove a little piece of sponge and a filling is then piped or carefully spooned into the centre, the idea being that when you bite into the cupcake, you’ll get that extra surprise of a sweet centre. How to core and fill a cupcake Follow our step-by-step guide to coring a cupcake: Cool sponges are essential to this technique. Allow your cupcake sponges to coolRead More
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The Hummingbird Bakery April 15, 2023How to travel with cupcakes and cakesThere aren’t any snakes on a plane, but it there might be cakes on a plane! Everyone loves a holiday, no one more so than a hard-working cupcake, but freshly baked cakes are delicate things and they can be transported only with care. We have compiled a few tips for those wishing to transport their cupcakes a little further than across London and Surrey from our bakeries. General cake transportation tips: Ask in-store for our plastic cupcake box inserts, which will fit gently around the cupcakes and keep them from moving around in their boxes. Be mindful of the temperature as it can affect the cake’s stability. If it’s warm or in direct sunlight, frostings can melt and cake layers can slide, so try to keep the cakes as cool as possible. On a very hot day, you might want to take two freezable ice packs with you to pack around the box.Read More