How to make a chocolate shell for your giant cupcake

A popular cake at the moment is the giant cupcake. Several companies make the pans for this cake, I have seen Wilton, Ecko, Bakers Secret, Fox Run and a silicone moulds available in shops. I have been walking past this tin in the shops for some months now and finally gave in a bought a Wilton giant cupcake tin in early September. Eager to try out my new purchase I volunteered to make my sister-in-laws birthday cake (she turned 21 again this year, lucky girl!).

A favourite cake combination of mine is chocolate and peppermint. So what better way to suprise people then to cut through a white chocolate shell to find chocolate cake and then to take a bite and discover that your pink roses are peppermint flavoured. Delicious.

Enjoy xxx
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Buttermilk

Photo credit: getwelllivewellbewell.blogspot.com

Making a recipe that calls for buttermilk? This simple substitute will mean you wont get caught out again:

Ingredients:

• Milk (just under one cup)
• 1 Tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice

Preparation:

1. Place a Tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup.
2. Add enough milk to bring the liquid up to the one-cup line.
3. Let stand for five minute. Then, use as much as your recipe calls for.

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Dusting Sugar

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Tip: Ever wonder why your icing sugar seems to disappear in to your slice or cake within hours of dusting it on? 

The pure icing sugar you buy from the supermarket is very finely milled (10x) so it is easily adsorbed in to the cake. Dusting sugar can be purchased from cake decorating supply shops and is coarser (6x) than icing sugar, it also contains maize starch to stop it from absorbing in to food.  Woolworths and Coles (Australian Supermarkets) now stock 'Queen' vanilla bean dusting sugar which you can try, but be aware if you are dusting more than one cake it can be a little pricey. If you cant get dusting sugar near you try using icing sugar mixture. This is the same texture as pure icing sugar but contains a small amount of cornflour (about 3 percent), this makes it better for dusting than the pure icing sugar. Also if you dont have icing sugar mixture on hand just add 1 teaspoon of cornflour to 1 cup if pure icing sugar and sift it together.

I find the best way to apply dusting sugar is with a small hand held sieve or sifter.

Enjoy xxx

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