The lovely Gizzi Erskine was at ELLE HQ yesterday to judge the ELLE Fashion Bake Off and, while she was here, we asked her to share her top tips for flavourful fancies and avoiding a soggy bottom.
She may mince her meat but she certainly doesnt mince her words
1. Substance over style
Ultimately cake has to taste good, so that should be your primary focus, not what it looks like. If your cake is perfectly cooked and filled with something delicious then youre onto a winner. So many of these cupcake businesses that have sprung up focus too much on the cakes looking great and then they have far too much icing its disgusting!
2. Start simple
If youre a baking virgin, master your classic Victoria sponge. Its a technically interesting because its all about even volumes between your flour, butter, sugar and eggs. Once youve mastered that you can experiment and look at how other countries do it, the Americans make really great whipped cakes.
3. Get the science bit right
You cant estimate with baking! It really is a science. If youre doing general cooking you can add a bit of this and a bit of that, but with baking you need the basis of your cake to be perfect and that means precision. Then, boring as it sounds, youve got to get your method spot on. Fact is, to get a really light cake you need to get the air in, so beat it like mad. Id always go for an electric whisk; youre never going to get enough air in with just your guns.
4. Know your ingredients
Butter has delicious flavor but sometimes you get more moisture from using olive oil so try different things. One of my biggest frustrations in baking is when you see chocolate cakes made with cocoa powder chocolate cake should be made with chocolate! Likewise, if youre going to have vanilla you need to use vanilla extract, not essence.
5. Face your nemesis
Pastry is a bitch; it was my nemesis for such a long time. Now its the perfect poached eggs, I cant stand them now because Ive made so many recently. But its all about practice and that takes patience to keep trying until you get it right its often tiny things but if you keep experimenting youll get there.
So there you have it, all you need to become star baker in no time. And if you want to know how to satisfy your sweet tooth without turning into a pudding yourself, Gizzis latest book, Skinny Weeks and Weekend Feasts, follows the (brilliant) philosophy that a little of what you like wont hurt you good news with Christmas around the corner.
When it comes to Christmas, I say sod it. Enjoy yourself. I probably shouldnt admit this but on Boxing Day I fry Christmas pudding and eat it with cream its amazing. Then the New Year comes and Im back to eating normally. Its common sense really. We knew there was a reason we liked you Gizzi...