I have just blown my 17 year old ds's mind....

[BertrandRussell]

He was late this morning so I did his lunch for him. I made a cake yesterday that was iced on the top only, so I cut a slice in half and turned the top bit over so the icing was In the middle and wouldn't get everywhere. He has just texted genuinely amazed at my brilliance. Who knew being supermum was so easy.......

"choccyp1g

My other time saving trick for sponge cake making is to make the buttercream first, then use the same bowl to mix the cake."
Where does the butter cream go?

@Micke milky way spread and clotted cream sounds amazing.

I pulled into a petrol station tonight with the left hand side of the car to the pump (where the filler cap is)

DS asked in a jokey way if we had an American car. It appears he thinks cars always have the filler cap on the drivers side.

He was amazed when I told him cars can have filler caps on either side

Then I showed him the arrow on the dash that shows which side the filler cap is... mind blown

Agnu How do some people have no icing/only middle bits?

The op is clearly a troll as she has not been back since last night to tell me about cake and make me drool. I KNEW IT BERTRAND

I've got a cake trick that blows people's minds...
To cut up a round, or any remotely symmetrical shaped, cake: slice it in half then proceed to cut slices parallel with the first cut, instead of cutting wedges. This means that not only does everyone get an easy to eat shape but those who like lots of icing can have edge pieces & those who don't get the middle bits. Once you're done slicing, push the 2 remaining sides into the middle so they're pressed against each other & stops the cake drying out. Why not just make a square cake?

"Why not just make a square cake?"

Because cakes are ROUND. Obviously.
Christmas cakes are square. All other cakes are round.

FFS Johnny, 34 YEARS and 5 MONTHS! Are you still adjusting for being premmie or something...?

trust me, since they are clearly still at home and being hand fed organic NO SUGAR goodness by mummy in their 30s there's no way you should be boasting...

MY Christmas cake is round. Not that I've made one this year, too much stuff going on.

But it is a Fabulous Cake, I get requests to make it for others. Might have something to do with the sheer amount of brandy the cake gets fed with..... 😁

My other time saving trick for sponge cake making is to make the buttercream first, then use the same bowl to mix the cake.
Saves a bit on washing up.

But where does the buttercream go while you make the cake? Surely it needs stored in another bowl- which then needs washed???

StealthPolarBear and Isadora2007

I had to think about that for a moment, then I realised that I put it into the piping bag.

Any spare icing goes into a plastic box which we would use anyway, because we pipe or spread each cupcake as we eat them, so we can put a lot or a little according to taste.

The cakes don't hang around long enough to get stale in this house.
I'm sure you're right about it not mattering really, but somehow the idea of a bit of flour and raw egg in buttercream seems wrong.

Illogical I know, given that I have been caught eating Royal Icing (made with raw egg white) with a spoon.

Do it with an iced finger too (providing it's not got jam in). You get an icing sandwich.

Doubt my 17dd would even have noticed!!!

Brilliant idea. I'm impressed that he texted you - that's really sweet!

@Bertrand, thank you for the recipe.

I blew my dd's (she's grown up now) mind recently. She had a friend over and they were sitting in the kitchen talking anout something they'd been binge watching on Netflix. I made tea and, while taking my cuppa out, asked what the series was, saying I might give it a go. DD "I'm not sure you'd like it mum; it's a bit explicit, 3 way sex scenes and" I interrupted as I left the room, flapped my hand and said airily "oh, bin there dun that..."

Hang on. Milky way spread? Like the inside of a milky way but in a jar?

I may as well give in to the diabetes now.

I've blown my 18 yo DD's mind by telling her that the blouse I am wearing is older than her!

Oops, sorry

Once you're done slicing, push the 2 remaining sides into the middle so they're pressed against each other & stops the cake drying out.

remaining pieces? dry out? That would imply the cake residing in it's cake box after the family get their mitts on it for more than about 43 seconds. Err, is just that my greedy lot then?

While we're doing wonder woman bragging (not remotely stealthily) I have made Nigella's chocolate olive oil cake for my DDs birthday for a good few years as it's GF and DF and she loves it. She always asks for the same cake, decorated with chocolate-orange buttercream, and a giant 'flower' made of chocolate orange segments on top. I so love it when they ask for easy stuff. The only thing is, despite following the recipe so carefully, it's always a bit sunken. Then I looked closely at Nigella's recipe and realised hers is too. Took me literally years to work this out. So I tweaked mine a bit. And it came out just perfect, no big peak and no sunken bit. According to my daughter, I now make better cake than Nigella. I can die happy....