Lindy’s Cakes Blog

When demonstrating I am often asked to explain the difference between the gums we cake decorators use. When making modeling paste I prefer to use gum tragacanth rather than its synthetic substitute CMC basically because gum tragacanth gives me a firmer paste and I find it easier to work with.

The proportions I use in the UK are 1tsp to 250g sugarpaste. Knead the gum into your sugarpaste and… Continue reading

I keep being asked how to adapt a cake recipe to bake a larger or smaller cake. It’s not difficult and instructions are given in both my ‘Cakes to Inspire and Desire’ and ‘Celebrate with a cake!’ books! Below however is the chart you will need:

How to use the chart:

I love stencils they are fantastic, so quick and easy to use. I first came across culinary stencils in Florida last year at the ICES convention, I saw them being demonstrated and I’ve been hooked ever since.

The easiest way to use is stencils is on a flat surface, however once you have practiced a few times then you can also stencil on the side… Continue reading

Cakes usually sink when the cake batter is not completely cooked; everyone’s ovens are different so you need to find the optimum baking time for you oven.  Also towards the end of baking test the cake repeatedly to see if it is fully baked. If a skewer inserted into the cake does not come out clean, then bake the cake for a little longer.

However other things can be… Continue reading

Sugarpaste, also referred to as rolled fondant or ready roll icing,  is available from supermarkets and cake decorating suppliers in many countries of the world. However not everyone likes what is available to them and many countries new to the craft of cake decorating do no have a ready source of sugarpaste, so I’m often asked how is it made.

We are very lucky here in the UK we… Continue reading

Rarely a week goes by when we are not asked about Lindy’s first book Hobby Cakes and this is no exception. For those of you who haven’t seen it, the book contains amongst others:

• Mini car cake
• Fishing cake

I couldn’t create my cakes without this very useful product!

White vegetable fat (shortening), is a solid white fat that has traditionally been used in pastry making, however in cake decorating it has a number of uses:

We are often asked about how to use ball tins. Firstly, it’s worth mentioning that the ball tins we sell have the manufacturer’s suggestions/instructions printed on the reverse of the box label so please remove it if you are throwing the box out!

Usually the simple answer to this is that either, the paste hasn’t been kneaded enough or the consistency of the paste isn’t correct i.e. it is too soft and stretchy or it is too hard and dry.

Cracked/Crazed Sugarpaste