Cakes like a bit of care and attention, just follow a few simple rules to improve your cakes...

General: Follow the cake recipe strictly as even a small deviation can alter the end result. Leave experimentation until you feel confident with the recipe... and then have some fun playing around with it! It is particularly important to be precise with raising agents. Don't be tempted to add a little extra for good luck. The extra may cause the cake to rise too much and then go flat.

Sieving: I have never done this, but heard it makes the cake extra-light if you sieve the flour twice. Not strictly necessary, but worth trying if you have time.

Mixing: When you are mixing the cake batter, do not overmix. Mix everything in well, but stop as soon as the mixture looks evenly combined. I like to whisk my batter and find this works well, but always keeping an eye on the batter. I use a spoon to stir my carrot cake and fruit cake mix because they are too thick to whisk.

Baking: Make sure the oven is pre-heated to the correct temperature before the cake goes in. Usually cakes needs turning halfway through baking time, but if your oven bakes super-evenly, there is no need. if you turn the cake, do it as quickly as possible so that the oven door isn't open for too long... and don't open the oven door any more than you need to (once to turn the cake) or the cake may go flat as they are sensitive to oven changes.

And finally... a simple recipe for lemon cake to try: Lemon Cake

350 ml soya milk

170 ml vegetable oil

200g caster sugar

tsp vanilla essence

2 tablespoons grated lemon zest

350g plain flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1. Pre-heat oven to 175C/350F/Gas 4.

2. Grease a 7 inch round tin (or for a traybake use a tray about 10" x 8").

3. Place the soya milk, oil, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest in a large bowl and whisk thoroughly.

4. Measure out the flour and baking powder. Give a good stir to combine.

5. Sift the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and mix well to combine. Whisk if necessary).

6. Pour the mixture into your tin and bake for 50-60 minutes (7" cake) or 35 minutes (traybake) or until a cocktail stick comes out clean.

7. Top with icing and sprinkle grated lemon zest on top to decorate and also enhance the lemony flavour.

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READ MORE - Cakes like a bit of care and attention, just follow a few simple rules to improve your cakes...

Want to create the best looking birthday cake for your child's next birthday party? There are a number of steps that you can follow to make sure that you create the perfect cake each and every time. Here is a simple cake decorating guide that you can use to create the best looking cake possible for your kid's upcoming party.

1. Baking the cake. This is probably the easiest step of them all because all you have to do is follow the baking instructions that are provided with the cake mix that you purchased. Sometimes cakes can end up being a little dry. If you want to avoid this, consider adding a tiny bit more of some of the wet ingredients that are used in preparing the cake. One great way that you can increase the moistness of your cake is by adding another egg to the recipe. When the cake has finished cooking, allow it to cool overnight. Consider placing the cake in the refrigerator in order to achieve maximum cooling results.

2. Ice the cake. Before you attempt to do any decorating, make sure you ice the cake completely and smooth out any lumps and bumps that might exist. This initial icing layer should be allowed to cool before you continue with the drawing process. Again, place the cake in the refrigerator in order to let the frosting set up firmly.

3. Prepare your drawing tools. Having a well organized work space with your drawing tools ready and waiting will help make the cake drawing process go much more smoothly. Place all of your drawing accessories and tools in one place, place the cake decorating bags in another, and place the excess colored icing in another. Consider placing your cake decorating bags in tall glass jars, tip end down, to keep them organized and prevent icing messes.

4. Create the easiest decorations first. Draw borders and other large items first since these will be the easiest items to draw. Large bottom borders, top borders, and other large items can be drawn on in order to provide a starting point for other more detailed decorations and drawings.

5. Practice on other surfaces. Before you draw directly on the cake, consider drawing on another surface in order to get the drawing or decoration just right. When you are confident that you have it down, then go ahead and draw on the cake. You can use a cookie sheet or another flat surface as a practice area for your drawings. After each practice attempt, simply scoop up the icing with a spatula and place it back into the cake decorating bag.

6. Use accessories. There are plenty of common kitchen utensils and tools that can be used to make great looking designs. You can use forks, spoons, knives, spatulas, measuring cups, and many other common kitchen items to make creative and original designs for your birthday cake masterpiece. You can also use other items such as candy, nuts, decorating sprinkles, and many other items to create a perfectly decorated cake for your child's birthday party.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

READ MORE - Want to create the best looking birthday cake for your child's next birthday party? There are a number of steps that you can follow to make sure that you create the perfect cake each and every time. Here is a simple cake decorating guide that you can use to create the best looking cake possible for your kid's upcoming party.