by Catherine Lear

Created on: March 22, 2010   Last Updated: March 24, 2010

There is nothing nicer than a homemade slice of cake; however, the art of making cakes is becoming lost, as we tend to buy shop cakes. This is such a pity because making a cake is quite easy and can be quicker than you think.

There are plenty of cakes that you can bake but you need a little patience to get the art of cake making right, although easy you have to get the measurements spot on and this will only come with experience as we tend to look at the cake mixture and say, it looks a little to wet, or it looks a little to dry, and then we tend to spoil it by adding a little to much wetness or add a little bit more flour.

Therefore, the first rule is that if the recipe says three eggs you only use three eggs and you never add an extra one, the same with the flour if the recipe says 8ozs that is all you use.

The second rule is that you get yourself a very good scale so that you get the measurements' right on the flour, the butter, and the sugar.

The tools that you use are important, a good electrical cake mixer is better than using a hand held mixer, it will beat more air into the mixture than a hand whisk.

The tins that you use are important, I find that when making a simple sponge cake that I can fill with butter cream and strawberry jam two 8-inch tins that are 1inch deep is better than using one 8inch deep tin that will take longer to bake and will come out of the oven that little bit dryer.

The way that we mix the mixture is important as well, you will find that just lumping all the ingredients' together, and mixing is not as good as beating first the butter and the sugar together to a smooth paste and then adding the eggs one at a time so that the mixture becomes a creamy continuance.

Adding the flour is an art as well, and you have to use the right sort of flour, when making a sponge type of cake you must always use self-raising flour, never use plain flour as the sponge will not rise, and it will be a stodgy lump. Also when adding the flour use a four sieve, and hold the sieve just above the bowl, this will add more air into the mixture making the sponge a little bit lighter.

Once the flour is now in the bowl do not use the electrical mixer, just use a large spatula to fold the flour into the mixed butter eggs and sugar.

Once you have folded the flour into the mixture, it is time to equally share the mixture into the tins. Use tins that are Teflon coated and line the bottoms with greaseproof paper; this will help you to turn the cake out of the tin once it is baked.

Always preheat the oven to the desired temperature, for a simple sponge this will be 180 in an electrical oven. In addition, the time is important as well, again for a simple sponge this will be 30 minuets. Never open the oven until the 30 minuets is up, as the centre of the cake will fall into itself.

To test that the cake is done, just touch the centre of the cake. It should just spring back if it is done. Once it is done then take it out of the oven immediately, leave for about five minuets and then turn out on a wire tray that will help the cake to cool, once it is cool you can now fill with what ever you are fancy takes   

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