anyone good at cake making - help!

[hayleyhew]

I am going to attempt to make a birthday cake - guaranteed disaster! But want to give it a go. Have to make it nut and sesame free. I have a cake tin (borrowed) will have to cut cake in half to put jam and things in. Does anyone have an easy cake recipe - is it easy to get nice bits (thomas tank engine etc) to put on top that are nut and sesame free?

the easiest cake I make is an all-in-one sponge - I make two and stack them up (you could do one after the other if you have only one tin) as I always make a mess of cutting a big one in half, but you may be more dextrous than me!

I have no allergy experience so use regular supermarket ingredients - guess you'd have to read packets carefully re nut/sesame contact in the factories, but the cake itself contains neither.

The recipe and all the instructions are here
I fill mine with buttercream (50g butter beaten with 100g icing sugar and a little bit of milk) and jam.

As far as icing the top goes, I think your best bet is to make plain glacé icing (ie icing sugar with just enough hot water to make it spreadable) and use either Thomas-shaped candles or little Thomas toys to decorate it - you can't eat them but they're much easier than fiddling around with icing models etc and are definitely nut free!

I second Mrs Badger, I always make this allinone cake for birthdays and it NEVER fails. Good luck.

WOW - did it last night and it actually looks like a cake. Did the buttercream a bit runny and icing a bit thick but really impressed with 1st attempt. Real thing next week. Do you have any more easy bun recipes or christmasy recipes - mince pies etc. So pleased - I have got to get into the whole baking thing now cos of the allergies. Thanks again

6oz sultanas
6oz raisins
4oz currants
4oz glacecherries
3oz mixed peel
1/4 pint sherry
6oz butter
6oz soft brown sugar
4 eggs
4oz SR flour
4oz plain flour
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1oz ground almonds

Mix together all fruit. pour sherry over and leave to soak for 1 week, (optional Hayley, you could simmer it in tea/orange juice/sherry for 30 mins) covered. Stir frequently until required.

Grease & line a 7 - 8 inch cake tin

Method

Cream butter & sugar until soft & fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Fold in flour, salt & ground almonds. Drain off any liquid from the fruit and mix fruit into mixture stirring until well blended. Put into prepared tin, smooth top and bake just below middle of oven for 1 hour on gas mark 3. Then cover with foil and reduce oven to gas mark 2 and cook for a further 1.5 hours until firm to touch. Leave to stand in tin until nearly cold. remove from tin, prick well and pour over liquid from dried fruit. Wrap in foil or greaseproof paper and leave to mature until a few days before christmas, then marzipan & ice.

Tips: I don't like almonds so didn't use em. I also put some chocolate liqueur in with the sherry. also I don't like marzipan so didn't ice, but did make one for a relative which I did ice and it was easy. I have never made a christmas cake before and I have to say this recipe works like a dream.

I have posted a christmas cake recipe underneath, which cannot fail.

it's copied from another thread, but you can leave out nuts, cherries, etc.

Hang on, I'm off to get the nut / seed free cake I make here. Its a choclotae orange cake so we serve as an alternative to Pud for Christmas day, and it is about as simple and delicious as you can get (I should take the recipe book back to the library actually... but this is always in demand)

Ok:

ingredients:

125g unsalted butter
100g dark choc broken into pieces (quality really does cunt with this one)
300g good quality marmalade
150g caster sugar
pinch salt
2 large eggs, beaten mercilessly
150g sr flour

oven- preheat to GM4 / 180c

put the butter in the heaviest sauepan you have (although my pans are asdaq savers and still OK LOL). Melt on a very low heat. When almost melteed, stir in the chocolate, leave on the heat momentarily until melting begns then whip off and stir until liquid. Add marmalade sugar and eggs. Stir (wooden soon) and when when mixed, andd flour bit by bit. Put into tin and bake about 50 minutes, leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning oyut.
Sells extremely well at school fayres- especially Christmas ones. And I know the marmalde sunds odd, but suspend disbelief and try it, its well worth a go.

I also make this with home made jam when I have an overfull alrder. Apricot jam is good.

(er tis me ) below

great thanks will try this as not keen on xmas pud anyway - anyone know how to make good pastry want to make my own mince pies?

I made some mince pies yesterday. I don't weigh out ingredients for pastry. I put say 1 1/2 mugs of flour in a bowl and a big scrape of butter (well I use clover) and rub it into the pastry until it becomes breadcrumbs, if I need more, I use more IYKWIM. Oh and a pinch of salt, when you have breadcrumbs which are in my case moist, then I add desertspoons of water and mix with a fork for a while. Then grab it with both hands and push together, if it sticks you are ready, if you have not added enough flour, you can always add more, same with butter etc. I don't add sugar to pastry for mince pies as mince is sweet already. They look nice if you brush beaten egg over them, makes pastry go shiny. HTH.

be-ro is the no fuss baking book. website is good here , i think it has all the recipes on but book is only £1.50 (click on about us page) and has everything - scones, rock buns, quiche, cakes, all different types of pastry etc.

if you're making your own mince pies check the mincemeat carefully unless you are making your own. Luxury brands almost always have nuts and even the cheapest ones often have nut warnings. I can get frozen pastry that is nut free (not sure about sesame) and robertson's minemeat.

My home made pies are a bit of a disaster, even with frozen pastry

thanks for that will get robertsons - not very good at guessing quantities UCM, got any idea on measurements? Does anyone know how to make sausage rolls? Do you need egg? My son has an egg allergy - is there anything I can use instead? I have a cheese straw recipe but need to find something to substitute for egg? Much appreciate all your help - trying to get into baking, cooking now found out about allergies.

You can make sausage rolls without egg.

Make flaky pastry - or buy - the butter based ones are best!

Roll out into 2 long rectangle shapes about 6"wide and 10" long.

Then get sausage meat and roll out into thin sausage shape and lay on pastry about 3/4" from one side of the pastry. Brush both long edges of the pastry with water and then fold the pastry over the top of the sausage meat and stick down to the other side. Crimp all along the joined up long sides with the back of a fork.

The cut the sausage rolls to whatever length you like - then make a couple of slits in each sausage roll with a sharp knife. Brush with milk to glaze and then cook in a hot oven until they are risen and golden brown.

I weigh out half fat to flour for pastry, 1lb butter and white veg fat (vege lard substityts)mixed and 2lb flour made enough for almost 4 dozen mince pies.

how do you get them to look pretty - mine are invariably misshappen, often have pastry that is too thick and I often put in too much filling?

er, roll out pastry thinner?

home made ones are charmingly naive surely? Riverford sell theirs for £3 something a box and they look like they were made by a 3 year old (but atse amazing)

how do you make flaky pastry?

however thin I think it is it still seems to end up thick in places. I haven't got the trick of getting it into the tin without folds in places or it breaking into small pieces and having to start again. How do you get a circle of pastry into a bun tin - or do I need a special tin? How do you stick the lid on? I wouldn't even try if I could buy nut free ones!

Bun tin is fine. Gently press your circle in, and stick lid on with water.

Use star cutter to make star lid, and just stick points down, and put icing sugar on before serving to make "nice" looking ones (only a little mince)

Buy flaky pastry!