You’ll find lots of useful advice here, including replies to questions that we are frequently asked and other helpful information from our website, hummingbirdbakery.com (you can also look on the FAQs section of our website, where there is more helpful advice). Using this chapter for reference and following the recipes carefully will help ensure your cakes, pies and cookies turn out perfectly each time. Above all, we hope you have fun making the recipes.
Ingredients
Quality is key when choosing ingredients for baking. For the best results, buy the best you can afford, and always use full-fat dairy products, as the higher fat content is very important for achieving the right texture and flavour. Here is some important information on selected ingredients.
Butter
This should always be unsalted, as salt can affect the taste of the finished dish. If you’re using it for making a sponge, it needs to be very soft, so take it out of the fridge an hour or so before you start cooking — or soften it for a few seconds in the microwave if you’re pushed for time. For pastry, butter is best straight from the fridge as everything needs to be kept ice cold.
Buttermilk
Like standard cow’s milk, this needs to be full fat in order to work properly. It’s available from the dairy aisle of most large supermarkets, although you could try substituting with a mixture of half whole milk and half full-fat natural yoghurt.
Cream cheese
Unlike the butter in our frostings which should be at room temperature, cream cheese should always be used cold from the fridge or it will make the frosting runny. Overbeating cream cheese in a recipe will also tend to make a frosting or filling runny and unsalvageable. We only recommend using full-fat Philadelphia cream cheese. Fat content is crucial in helping the recipe to turn out correctly and provides a luxurious and creamy taste.
Cocoa powder and chocolate
Use a really good-quality brand of cocoa powder and good-quality chocolate with a minimum of 70% cocoa solids if you’re using dark chocolate. We recommend Green & Black’s, but Swiss and Belgian dark or milk chocolate works well so long as you stick to the 70% rule for dark.
Baking powder and bicarbonate of soda
These may only be used in very small quantities, but they are essential for helping a sponge to rise and to prevent it being dense and heavy. They are not interchangeable — each works in a slightly different way to create a reaction. Follow the recipe carefully for the right amount, using level spoon measurements. And do check that they don’t linger in your cupboard too long or beyond their ‘best before’ dates or they may not be so effective.
Vanilla extract
For the best results, it’s important to use natural vanilla extract (or ‘essence’, which means the same thing) rather than an artificial vanilla flavouring. By all means experiment using vanilla pods, if you prefer, but you may need to make a few batches to get the flavour right.
Food colouring
Liquid food colouring is readily available from any supermarket, but as there are many different brands, all with slightly different colour ranges, you may need to shop around to find your preferred shade. A better colour can usually be obtained from a gel paste, available from cookshops and specialist cake shops or online. You will need less paste than you would liquid; just add a little at a time until you achieve the desired result. A proper deep red is the trickiest colour to achieve. For this a ‘non-natural’ red gel paste is best — we recommend the Sugarflair or Wilton brands, available online. (‘Natural’ colourings aren’t strong enough to create a good depth of colour and, when baked, your sponges will turn brown rather than red. Adding more will just spoil the flavour and cause the batter or frosting to split.)
Pumpkin
In this book, all the pumpkin we’ve used is tinned. Libby’s brand tinned pumpkin can be found in larger supermarkets in the UK and can be ordered online if you can’t find it locally. Although you can bake and mash your own fresh pumpkin purée, it tends to be more watery and less intense than tinned. If you boil fresh pumpkin, it will definitely be too watery when mashed.
Molasses
In the USA molasses is found in every supermarket. It’s similar to black treacle, but slightly less dark and less intense. You shouldn’t substitute pure treacle for molasses, as it will be too strong. You could mix half black treacle with half golden syrup to approximate American molasses. Here in the UK, you can generally find molasses in health food shops. Meridian brand Natural Pure Cane molasses is recommended and this can also be bought online.
Bourbon
We’ve included bourbon in many of the recipes, which is an American whiskey, usually from Kentucky. If you’re striving for 100 per cent authenticity, then Jim Bean, Wild Turkey or Maker’s Mark are all famous brands of Kentucky bourbon. A Tennessee whiskey, such as Jack Daniels, would be just as good as would any whiskey from the UK.
Gluten-and dairy-free substitutes
At Hummingbird we haven’t yet found any good substitutes for dairy products or eggs, although do feel free to experiment yourself to see if you can create something to your taste using dairy-free ingredients. You can use gluten-free flour, however, and we’d recommend the Doves Farm range. You can also substitute bicarbonate of soda and baking powder with gluten-free alternatives.
While most of the ingredients in this book can be bought from a supermarket, you may come across one or two slightly unusual or specialist items. You should find most of these in larger supermarkets or specialist cake stores, but if you don’t, then online suppliers who deliver to your door are often the best alternative.
Equipment
Weighing scales
Measuring with accuracy is really important in baking, as the chemical interactions of all the various ingredients are what make your finished sponge or loaf. Digital scales are ideal, therefore, as they give more accurate readings than mechanical ones.
Electric mixers and whisks
Making a cake by hand using only a spoon or whisk is very hard, requiring a great deal of time and effort, which is why most of our recipes call for either a freestanding electric mixer (with a paddle attachment, or ‘flat beater’ as it’s sometimes called) or a hand-held electric whisk. Creaming butter and sugar together for a sponge or whipping a frosting to perfection requires a good few minutes of constant beating, which is almost impossible to achieve by hand. In the USA, before electric whisks and mixers were invented, most frostings were of the boiled variety, which took a lot of stirring but didn’t need to be as finely and airily whipped. Unless you’re a very keen baker, there’s no need to invest in an expensive mixer, however. Hand-held electric whisks (or hand-held blenders with a whisk attachment) can be bought cheaply from larger supermarkets and are useful for all types of cooking, not just baking.
Baking tins
Hummingbird recipes are written with specific tin dimensions in mind, so always use the size of cake tin specified or the cooking time will be affected. Whatever the size of the tin, we recommend you fill it to around two-thirds full. This allows space for the sponge to expand and should help to prevent the mixture from overflowing. Cake tins should be about 5cm (2in) deep.
Sugar thermometer
For making caramels or the various sweet treats in this book, a sugar thermometer is very useful, indeed indispensable if you’re a beginner baker, for checking that the mixture has reached the right temperature.
Piping bag
A piping bag is recommended in a number of recipes in this book. A disposable bag — or baking parchment rolled into a cone and taped together — with a hole cut at the tip to the size specified by the recipe can be just as effective as a standard type of bag with a nozzle.
Oven
All the recipes in this book have been tested in a conventional oven. If you are using a fan-assisted oven (which tends to cook things faster), it’s a good idea to read the manufacturer’s instruction booklet, which will probably recommend turning down the temperature a little. If you no longer have the oven instructions, we suggest reducing the temperature by 10 per cent.
Ice-cream makers
An ice-cream maker is important if you’re looking to produce fluffy balls of ice cream free from ice crystals. You can, of course, freeze your mixture in a plastic container in the freezer, making sure you mix thoroughly every hour or so in order to get the ice cream airy and minimise ice crystals, but it is more time-consuming and harder to get a perfect result. There are two types of electric ice cream makers: those that have a bowl that must be frozen in advance, and those that freeze the ice cream whilst churning. The fully automated ice cream machines are a lot more expensive, so do think about your budget and how often you may make ice cream before you purchase.
Methods & Techniques
Sponge Making
When you’re baking a Hummingbird cake, you need to follow the recipe exactly as written. Baking isn’t a time for experimenting with different proportions; the wrong balance of ingredients can cause a recipe to fail. Our methods may seem unconventional at times, and our proportions not as you’re used to, but they are tried and tested, so trust us! See also the following tips:
Sifting dry ingredients
It’s good practice to sift flour, cocoa powder and icing sugar before use. This removes lumps and improves the texture of the finished cake.
If combining dry ingredients like these, it is easiest to simply sift them together, then mix them by hand with a spoon. (Avoid mixing them with a machine as this raises a dust cloud, sending some of your carefully weighed ingredients up into the air.)
Creaming
When creaming butter and sugar, it should be done for a good length of time — 5 minutes or more — until the mixture is really light and fluffy. It is almost impossible to beat the mixture too much at this stage. However, once the flour is added, beat as little as possible, gently folding or stirring it in until just incorporated, as overbeating the mixture at this point will result in the cake being dense or heavy.
Adding liquid ingredients
When adding liquid ingredients to a cake batter, it is usually best to do this in a couple of batches, pouring in just a bit at a time and mixing well between each addition to properly combine the ingredients. Our sponge batter can be quite runny and may sometimes look a little split, but don’t worry — your cake will still turn out beautifully.
Cooking times
These can really vary depending on your oven (and also how many items are baking at the same time). Just because the specified cooking time is up, it doesn’t automatically mean the cake is done. For every recipe, we give a time range, so use this as a rough guide, checking your cake after the minimum time, but leaving it for longer if it needs more time in the oven, and checking it regularly. Try to avoid opening the oven door until the minimum recommended cooking time, or you risk your sponge sinking.
Testing when cooked
To tell when your cake is ready, insert a skewer into the middle of it. If it comes out clean, with no mixture stuck to it, the cake is cooked. You should also look to see if it is well risen, springy on top and golden brown (though this last bit obviously depends on the flavour or colour of the cake — for example, a chocolate sponge will never be golden!).
Cooling
Cakes should be completely cool before you frost or store them. The frosting might melt or slide off the cake otherwise, or the cupcake cases may peel away too readily.
Frosting Cupcakes
1. Use a 50ml (1¾fl oz) ice-cream scoop, if you have one, to place a generous amount of frosting on top of the cupcake. These can be bought online and are sometimes known as food-portioners.
2. With the flat surface of a palette knife, spread the frosting around the top of the cake, smoothing downwards and making sure it covers all the way to the edge of the paper case.
3. Put the flat tip of the palette knife in the centre and move in a circular motion to make an indented swirl in the frosting.
4. To create a pretty peak on top, lift the palette knife upwards at the last second.
5. Now enjoy your gorgeous Hummingbird cupcake with its perfect swirled frosting. If you wish, sprinkle over the decoration of your choice, such as coloured strands.
Frosting Layer Cakes
1. Place the first layer of sponge on a board or plate. With a palette knife, smooth a generous amount of frosting onto the sponge, making sure it is evenly spread and almost reaches the edges. Place the second sponge layer on top and smooth on the frosting as you did for the first layer.
2. Add the third sponge layer in the same way. (If you’re making a four-layer cake, the third sponge layer will need to be topped with frosting and the fourth layer added too.) Then lightly frost the sides of the cake. This is just a ‘base coat’ to pick up any loose crumbs. Also give the top of the cake a light base coat of frosting.
3. Now frost the sides and the top of the cake again, this time with a thicker layer of frosting; it should be thick enough that you can’t see any of the sponge through the frosting.
4. Using the flat tip of the palette knife, add texture to the sides of the cake by either gently pulling the palette knife upwards, from bottom to top, to create lines in the frosting or by pulling the palette knife around the circumference of the cake to create the lines.
5. Again using the flat tip of the palette knife, create the pattern on the top of the cake by starting from the outside edge and pulling the knife over the frosting and into the middle in gentle curved lines.