I want to start baking cakes...what 'equipment' do I need?

[MiniMilk0610]

I currently have nothing, not even a cooling rack or a cake tin

So what do I need?

To start with, I'm mainly interested in making cupcakes (I know, I know...but I love them, figure it's better than spending loads of money buying them ) and birthday cakes for DCs, victoria sponges etc.

Should I get silicone stuff?
Eg for cupcakes, is it better to get cupcake moulds like these or a cake tin like this or both, or something else entirely??

And what shapes/sizes/types of cake tins am I most likely to need for regular cakes?

And cooling tray, pastry brush...anything else?

And is there anywhere cheaper but still good quality to buy these things from than Lakeland?

Sorry for all the questions, always been more of a savoury cook so no idea what I'm doing when it comes to making cakes!

MiniMilk considers that she's meant to be on a diet

You don't need a pastry brush, not in your first round of buying things, you can dab stuff on with your fingers. And your cooling rack doesn't really need to be good quality, it's just somewhere to put cakes while they cool, any old wire mesh thingy will do, get one from Asda even.

Silicone cake tins are good for stuff not sticking (so good for the victoria sponge), but if you are making cupcakes I would get a metal bun tin and paper cases.

I have very cute shaped cupcake cases from John Lewis. Hearts and stars and things...

Am a total silicone convert.

You don't need a pastry brush, unless you want to make pastry rather than cakes?

And you can use your grill rack as a cooling rack.

For victoria sponges I recommend getting the cake tins with the detachable sides and base, much easier to get the cake out and to sandwitch a filling between two layers of cake.

If you have silicone cupcake cases, does that mean you only cook 8 cakes at a time? And you can't make any more til they have been eaten?

Thanks everyone
Don't know why I thought I needed a pastry brush

I did wonder that about the silicone cupcake cases Trillian...figured I'd need to buy 2 packs of them so I could bake more at once...gets expensive tho.

Does anyone have any links to cake tins they'd recommend for victoria sponge cakes etc? What size tin do most standard recipes use?

The bun tin looks good, would the shallow one or the deep one be most useful for cupcakes in cases? (clueless )

Do you have a mixing bowl and scales?

I have about a dozen cases and pop them out of the silicone once they're cooled.

Actually, thinking about it, I have more than a dozen

Deep for cupcakes, shallow for fairy cakes

Yeah I do have a mixing bowl & scales at least Mixing bowl is glass though, that'll be ok right?

So do the cupcakes stand on their own ok once out of the silicone cases? Incl with icing/frosting? Do you ice them first or after you've popped them out? I'm thinking of making these carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing look yummy does the recipe look like it will work well?

Thanks trillian, think the tins you linked to are on 3 for 2 offer anyway so might just have to buy both

I use these all the time for baking:

2 x 20cm sandwich tins with removeable bases
8inch/8 and a half inch/9 inch cake tins with springform bases
1lb loaf tin ( also have loaf tin liners I got at Lakeland )
12 hole muffin tin
20 hole mini muffin tin
12 hole fairy cake tin

Greaseproof paper
Cupcake/muffin cases
Hand held electric mixer ( although I would love a KitchenAid )
Capacious ceramic mixing bowl
Electronic scales
Palette knife
Spatula
Measuring jug ( very good for adding eggs gradually )

HTH

Get something like this for your cupcakes

Asda are fab for baking ingredients / cupcake cases & decorations

My individual silicone cupcake cases stick and I hate them. Generally though silicone bakeware is brilliant.

Do you have a rolling pin?

Enjoy! baking is so nice to do!

Mixing bowl,
one wooden spoon (or silicon) for you and one for each DC
Cake cases or Muffin cases (depending on what you want to bake)
Cake or Muffin trays. (I got my silicon ones from Aldi)

That's as a mimimum but Madeira cake is very easy for that you'll need a loaf tin and a lemon squeezer.

I usually get mine from Morrisons or Wilkinsons or there is a cut price shop near to us that does all the silicon baking gear at very low prices.

If you are feeling flush Bake-o-Glide.

That should have been Silicone sorry.

And yes a glass mixing bowl is fine.

TKMaxx quite good for baking equipment. I get by with a mixing bowl from Dunelm Mill, scales from TK, silicone spatula from TK, I just use a normal baking tray with fairy cake cases on it from supermarket (ds loves arranging these on the tray), and an electric hand mixer (good for really creaming the butter and sugar - the key to fluffy cakes apparently).

Because ds loves to 'do bakings' I adapt the recipes to do just six fairy cakes at a time, using one egg and 55g of the other ingredients - this way meaning that we can bake every day he asks without much expense or wastage of cake, and it still takes a good amount of time to do

If you have a size of tin that is different from any recipe, just keep the same proportions (easiest based on eggs) and adjust up or down to fit your tin.

Oh yes, hand mixers are good too, think mine was about £4 from Sainsburys.

Definatly a silicone spatula, great for getting all the mix out of the bowl... Could easily mean a whole extra cup cake! They're only about a quid from the supermarket.

Also if you are disciplined enough get seperate wooden spoons. We're really slack with this and so regularly have garlic viccy sponge. And once even a very spicy custard. Was quite nice actually.

Not strictly equipment but would say definatly invest in a decent bottle of vanilla. You'll use it loads and it goes far making it good value. The one i use is about four quid and comes in a dark brown glass bottle with a cream label. Sorry can't remember the name and none in cupboard to check!

Good luck!

My hadn miser is my grant gran's - it's great! I have that vanilla MoonFace - just make sure it says real true proper actually made from vanilla on it!

How crap is my typing there?

Hand mixer, not hadn miser!