Baking Tips

♥ Preheat the oven. This ensures that your cake will be cooked evenly and at the right temperature as soon

as it goes into the oven.

♥ Always grease or line your baking pan or cake tin with greaseproof paper. This prevents the cake fromsticking and burning.

♥ Bring all cold ingredients such as butter and eggs to room temperature before use for best results.

♥ Never fill a cake tin more than half full.

♥ Place your cake tin in the centre of the oven as this will ensure good circulation of air around the tinduring cooking.

♥ Always ensure the cake is completely cool before handling or decorating it to avoid crumbling, breakageor movement of the cake

♥ To prevent your cake sticking to the plate or board, dust the surface with icing sugar

♥To cleanly cut through an iced cake, dip your knife in water to stop the icing and cake from sticking.

Chocolate Facts

♥ 17,000 people in Belgium - that’s 1 in every 200 workers - are involved in the making, selling and promotion of chocolate

♥ One chocolate chip provides enough food energy for an adult to walk 150 feet. Therefore, it takes about 35 chocolate chips to walk a mile or 875,000 to get you around the world

♥ It takes the whole of one year’s crop from one tree to make half a kilo of cocoa

♥ USA army rations include 3 x 40g chocolate bars

♥ Terrys of York will produce more than 350 million segments of chocolate orange a year

♥ 66,000 Crème Eggs are made every hour

♥ During the Aztec reign, a slave could be bought for 100 cocoa beans

♥ 1 in 7 15-24 year-olds claim life without chocolate is not worth living

Simple Topping Recipes

♥ Buttercream 250g butterteaspoon vanilla extract600g icing sugar2 tablespoons milk

In a large bowl, creamtogether the butter andvanilla. Blend in the sugar, a quarter at a time, beatingwell after each addition.Beat in the milk, andcontinue mixing until lightand fluffy

♥ Chocolate Fudge Topping

3 squares chocolate1 tbsp. butter1 1/2 c. sugar1/16 tsp. cream of tartar1 lg. can evaporated milkDash of salt1 tsp. vanilla

In double boiler, melttogether 3 squareschocolate and 1 tablespoonbutter. Add slowly 1 ½cups sugar, 1/16 teaspooncream of tartar, 1 large canof evaporated milk, dash ofsalt, 1 teaspoon vanilla.

♥ Glace Icing100g (4oz) icing sugar –Sieved15ml spoon (1tbsp) water

Mix sieved icing sugar withwater in a basin. Beat untilsmooth, add colourand flavouring as required.The icing consistency needsto be thick enough to coatthe back of the spoon. If it'stoo thin add a little moresieved icing sugar, if it's toothick add a few more dropsof water. Remember to doit little by little.