Decorating

IT 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 filling

SERVE 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 palette

There’s nothing quite as delightful as a well-dressed cake. If you’re thinking about giving your bakes a little extra magic with hand decorations, here are the items of cake decorating equipment for beginners you’ll need to get started.   This is by no means a definitive list as cake decorating and the tools you’ll require very much depend on the ambition of your designs. However, this basic list of kit is a great place to start if you’re looking to wow with your cake presentation.   Piping bag and nozzles  A reusable piping bag and nozzle set is a good investment for any baker as it allows you to hand-write piped icing onto your cakes, cupcakes and cookies. Cheesecakes are much harder to pipe onto as the surface isn’t dry, but it can be done right before serving if you wish to attempt it.   Top tip: if you’re a keen baker looking to try hand piping techniques,

INVOLVING CHILDREN IN BAKING IS NOT ONLY LOTS OF FUN BUT IT CAN HELP INSPIRE A FUTURE GENERATION OF BAKERS! More often than not, you won’t have to ask twice for a hand baking in the kitchen when the kids are around. Baking is a fantastic way of getting children interested in preparing wholesome food from scratch and enjoying the rewards with a few delicious treats afterwards. What can begin as a rainy day activity could even become a lifelong passion!   Here are a few suggestions for a fun family baking session:   Stay safe in the kitchen and explain the dangers when cooking around sharp knives and hot ovens. Doing this before you start to measure out any ingredients is a good idea as children are less likely to be distracted by all the delicious food around them. Choose an easy recipe to follow and measure out all the ingredients beforehand. Reading through the steps first will help kids to learn

SOFT, SWEET AND WITH ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES – WHEN IT COMES TO DECORATING CAKES WE’RE RATHER FOND OF FONDANT. READ ON TO LEARN THE BASICS OF CAKE DECORATION WITH OUR BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO DECORATING WITH THIS EASY TO USE ICING. Presentation is such an important part of baking and it can also be the most fun part too. After all the careful measuring and temperature adjusting is done, you can turn your sponges into something spectacular with sprinkles, glitters, writing icing, marshmallows, sweets, chocolates… the list goes on!  Sugarpaste decorations are not only easy to make but can be made up to a few days in advance and stored in an airtight container once dried for a fabulous last minute finishing touch. As the saying goes, we eat with our eyes, so getting the basics down when it comes to sugarpaste will open up so many decorating options for prettifying your bakes. Here are a few frequently asked questions about working

ICING A SPONGE CAKE WITH BUTTERCREAM CAN FILL EVEN THE MOST ABLE OF BAKERS WITH DREAD, BUT IT’S REALLY A PIECE OF CAKE WITH A FEW TIPS FROM THE EXPERTS. As you can imagine, we frost a lot of cakes in The Hummingbird Bakery kitchens. Three key ingredients that make a good cake decorator are a steady hand, confidence and plenty of attempts at getting it right! The good news for any aspiring baker wishing to brush up on their baking and decorating techniques is that anyone can have a go.

ICING AND DECORATING CUPCAKES WITH A TEMPTING SWIRL OF BUTTERCREAM FROSTING IS ONE BAKING SKILL WHERE PRACTICE DEFINITELY MAKES PERFECT! One question we are asked a lot by our home bakers is how to frost a cupcake with our signature swirl. The simple answer is: it’s easy when you know how! It takes the Hummingbird bakers lots and lots (and we mean lots) of cupcakes before they can get the frosting to look just right, so we thought we’d ask the baking experts at our Soho branch on Wardour Street just how they get their cupcakes looking so good…   How to frost cupcakes:   Timing Speed, confidence and a steady hand all help but don’t feel frustrated if it doesn’t come right straight away – it takes plenty of practice. While our fastest frosters can finish decorating a tray of twenty four cupcakes in just four minutes, it will take considerably longer