There has been a dramatic increase in the number of people taking part in home baking. Some of this increase in popularity will be due to shows like ‘Great British Bake Off’ which seems amateur bakes fighting it out over a number of weeks to see who will be crowned Best Baker at the end of the series. The contestants take part in skills challenges and also partake in signature bakes which they have practiced and honed beforehand.

There also seems to be a never-ending supply of you tube videos that show people the basics of cake decorating and take you through step by step in how to create a beautiful home decorated piece of lovely sponge. For a big gathering it is still a good items to look at having a professional create your show stopper and if you are searching for caterers Shropshire be sure to take a look at http://www.freshandlush.co.uk/

What do you need to start? Well, first of all you need a good mixer. If your serious then a bowl mixer like the type you can see on the Bake off is the best. That way you can make sure that the ingredients are mix together perfectly so that you get a good rise on the cake and you will have a nice solid base to decorate from. If you want to just keep it to small scale projects then a hand mixer is fine. Imagine how are our Great Grannies got on with just a spoon and a bowl. They must have had biceps the size of tree trunks. You will also need an oven, but I imagine that you probably knew that. Its important the oven is on as soon as you start as you will need to have the oven good and hot and up to it’s temperature so that the cake can go straight in. Whatever you do don’t open the oven when it’s cooking.

Now that you’ve got the oven on and the cake is cooking lets see what you will need to decorate the thing when it comes out, and it has cooled. You can’t go sticking icing on it when it’s hot no matter how keen you are.

• A piping bag. This is vital for adding the yummy icing in a most beautiful way. You put the cream icing into this. It can be a messy experience.
• Selection of nozzles. This go into the end of the piping bag. As you squeeze out the icing the scalloped ends will produce some nice shapes.
• Tools and Palette knife this will help you get an even spread over the cake and the tools will allow you to do designs.
• A rotating base. This is essential so that you can turn the cake and get an even spread all around and make sure you don’t miss any bits.

Best of luck!