Baking Advice

ARE YOU CELEBRATING THANKSGIVING? LONDON’S HOME OF AMERICAN BAKING TAKES A LOOK AT SOME OF THE TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING TREATS AND SHARES TIPS ON PREPARING THE PERFECT PIE CRUST. The leaves are turning all kinds of golden colours and there has been an abundance of wholesome seasonal foods and goodies around. With our friends in America preparing for Thanksgiving, we can’t help but daydream about all the delicious treats traditionally shared over the holiday table. There is turkey, of course, but what’s for dessert? Sweet pies with golden pastry crusts deep-filled with luxurious fillings to devour by the slice are a classic Thanksgiving indulgence. Pumpkin, apple and pecan and just a few of the favourite American bakes. We bake these American-recipe desserts to order all year round, so we thought we’d put together a few tips for a pie that's to die for! Top tips: Have a rest – One tip to help you

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

WE HAVE A LOT OF FUN COMING UP WITH CUTE AND QUIRKY DECORATIONS FOR OUR DAILY SPECIALS CUPCAKES, BUT THESE EDIBLE LITTLE STRAWS HAVE TO BE ONE OF OUR FAVOURITES! LEARN HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN FONDANT STRAW CUPCAKE DECORATIONS IN OUR STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE. In our new cookbook ‘Home Sweet Home’, we’ve shared our recipe for Strawberry Milkshake cupcakes which feature little edible drinking straws to decorate. We wanted our cupcakes to look just like the tall, frosty glasses filled to the brim and decorated with a stripy straw – pure Americana! We think these adorable fondant straws add the perfect finishing touch. The good news is they are a doddle to make with a little practice.   Step one Start with two balls of soft fondant icing in red and white. You can mix any colours you fancy, but we like the classic look of red and white straws. Ready-to-roll icing can be bought and coloured with edible

WHO CAN RESIST MELT-IN-THE MOUTH FUDGE? SWEET AND CREAMY, THIS POPULAR CANDY IS A WONDERFUL RAINY DAY RECIPE AND MAKES AN ADORABLE GIFT. HERE ARE OUR TOP TIPS FOR WHIPPING UP DELICIOUS FUDGE IN NO TIME! When putting together recipes for Home Sweet Home, we thought it was about time to try out something a little bit different and added sweet candies like fudge, marshmallows and brittle to our collection. Making your own sweets is a great opportunity to get more familiar with sugar work and if you get more confident you’ll be well on your way to making a whole array of sweet goodies. Beautifully wrapped homemade fudge (if you can bear to give any away!) is always well received and lots of fun to make yourself. It also keeps well if stored in an airtight container in a cool dry place, certainly

GET THE SCOOP ON MAKING SMOOTH, MELTINGLY DELICIOUS ICE CREAM IN YOUR OWN KITCHEN WITH HELP FROM THE HUMMINGBIRD BAKERY. If you’ve baked from our bestselling cookbook ‘Life is Sweet’, you might have been excited to see the chapter on ice cream but apprehensive if you’ve never tried to make ice cream before. Well, we are delighted to share the secret that ice cream is really easy to make! And once you have mastered the basic ice cream custard, you can get creative and make a whole world of new and delicious ice creams. So, flip to the chapter on ice cream in ‘Life is Sweet’ and give this frozen treat a go.     Top 10 tips for making irresistible homemade ice cream Here are our top ten tips for making your own ice cream:  

WHETHER YOU’RE TAKING CUPCAKES HOME FROM OUR BAKERIES OR CARRYING CUPCAKES YOU’VE MADE TO A PARTY, TREAT THOSE LITTLE SPONGES WITH CARE! Getting your precious cupcakes from A to B safely is an important job. Our bakers are here to help with their top tips for keeping your cakes in perfect condition in transit. Watch our Cupcake Care video over on our YouTube channel here.   FAQs I purchased cupcakes from your bakery and they have been placed in upside down! What’s happened? Our cupcakes are never placed upside down by our staff. This is not possible to do as all of our staff use tongs to box up products, which naturally hold the cupcakes the

Not 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. Using

CALL IT PIE CRUST, CALL IT PASTRY, WE JUST CALL IT DELICIOUS! THIS GOLDEN CASING FOR COUNTLESS DELICIOUS FILLINGS IS SO IMPORTANT TO GET RIGHT AND WE WILL SHARE OUR BAKING KNOW-HOW ON HOW TO BAKE THE PERFECT HOMEMADE PASTRY EVERY TIME.    A cool room, cool surfaces, cool hands and cool ingredients all help.When pastry is too warm it goes very greasy, so make sure that your surroundings aren’t too hot. It’s fine to allow the butter to soften a little if you wish, but be careful not to let it get too hot or your pastry will be difficult to work with.   Rub in the pastry with light fingers and don’t overwork it. Overworking the gluten in the flour will make the pastry tough. It simply needs the ingredients to be rubbed

SINCE WE INTRODUCED CINNAMON BUNS TO OUR BAKERIES WE’VE BEEN GETTING TO GRIPS WITH THE ART OF DOUGH MAKING. WHETHER YOU ARE MAKING SWEET ROLLS LIKE THESE OR A PLAIN DOUGH FOR OTHER BREADY TREATS, WE UNCOVER THE PROCESS BEHIND DOUGH. A favourite quick breakfast treat in America, cinnamon buns are made from sweet dough that rises with the help of yeast. Master the stages of making a basic yeast dough and you’ll be armed with a recipe that can be made into a variety of buns, rolls, breads and doughnuts. Sweet dough relies on a higher fat content than other savoury dough and this gives it that fluffy, soft texture when you pull the baked roll apart. This is why we add butter into this particular recipe, as basic savoury dough doesn’t have butter in it (occasionally it may call for a little

WE GIVE OUR LIST OF THE 10 MUST-HAVE KITCHEN TOOLS EVERY HOME BAKER SHOULD HAVE TO HAND TO HELP TURN OUT THOSE SHOW-STOPPING BAKES. 1. Stand mixer Where would we be without our trusty mixers? A stand mixer is an important investment for any baker and will cut down the time required on any mixing or whisking task. We recommend you choose the best stand mixer within your budget, these things last for years and years so it helps to get a quality machine that you can rely on recipe after recipe. Use for mixing cake batter, creaming together frostings and whipping up egg whites for meringues. The removable bowl and beaters can be easily cleaned with warm soapy water but require counter space to be stored. Virtually no effort is required when you have a stand mixer doing the work for you.