The Busy Mums Baking Blog
5 Cake Decorating Mistakes That You Can Avoid
Despite what you might see on social media, my cake decorating journey has been filled with its fair share of mistakes and mishaps. But each mistake taught me valuable lessons, that I want to share with you, so you can avoid making the same mistakes. 1. Less is More...
5 Tasks to do in Advance for Stress Free Cake Decorating
5 Tasks to Do in Advance for Stress Free Cake Decorating Planning when and how you’ll complete all the tasks for your cake decorating projects can be overwhelming. Leading to stress and frustration, But fear not! There are many activities you can prepare in...
From Novice to Pro: How to Achieve your Cake Decorating Goals.
Tips to Progress Your Cake Decorating Skills. Learning any new skill can be overwhelming, and cake decorating is no exception. There's so much information out there it's difficult to know where to start. If you're just starting, and the prospect of creating beautiful,...
Mastering Fondant: 5 Tips to Stop your Fondant Tearing
Are you tired of spending hours perfecting your cake only to be frustrated by a less-than-smooth fondant finish? You're not alone! Tearing fondant coupled with unsightly bumps that no amount of ‘smoothing’ can banish. Your perfectly baked cake can quickly become a hot...
5 Questions you should be asking before you start baking.
If you want to start baking and would love to become a creative and confident baker you might be feeling overwhelmed and out of your comfort zone. I get it. There's just so much information out there it's difficult to know where to begin. But don't be disheartened....
How Eggs Work in Baking: Egg science that will improve your baking.
How Eggs Work in Baking. Eggs are my favourite baking ingredient. So many possibilities hidden inside some seriously clever packaging that both protects and sustains the contents. Whether they’re the star of the show in meringues and souffles or...
Longing for Perfect Baking Results? The Flour Facts you Need to Know.
From artisan loaves that are crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside to delicate tender crumbed sponge cakes. Flour is the main ingredient. If you're longing for perfect baking results understanding how flour works in baking will get you on the right track....
3 Sugar Science Facts that will Improve your Baking
Sugar Science: What Every Baker Needs to Know. As many of us try to find ways to reduce, and in some cases, even eliminate sugar completely from our diets, how does our understanding of sugar science help us achieve this goal? Especially...
5 Benefits of Baking for your Child & How to Make it Easy!
5 Benefits of Baking Children's Mental Health Week typically falls within the first week of February. But what are the benefits of baking and how do they help your child achieve a positive mindset? The last 12 months have been extremely...
The Baking Science of Butter. How Baking Ingredients Work.
The Baking Science of Butter. Ever wondered how the ingredients you use for baking work? View this as your introductory guide to baking science. 😊 Over the next few weeks, in a series of posts, I'll be breaking down all the important science bits...
5 Common Mistakes That Stop You Making Buttercream Like A Pro
How To Make Buttercream Like A Pro. Whether it's a cake or a batch of cupcakes, nothing takes your bake to the next level like a super smooth buttercream. Perfect buttercream is full of flavour, perfectly compliments your sponge, and melts in the mouth....
How to make time to bake using one simple recipe.
How to make time to bake. Finding the time to bake is one of the biggest hurdles to getting started. By the time you've completed all the priority tasks on your to-do list, you just want to put your feet up and enjoy a moment to yourself. ...
How to bake great cakes. 3 Science secrets you need to know.
How to bake great cakes "Bake with the kids they said", “It’ll be easy and fun!” Yeah Right! Now your kitchen looks like a war zone. The kids scarped ages ago, leaving you to clean up the mess. And... To add insult to injury the cake looks like it should be put in...
The 3 Secrets of a Great Tasting Bespoke Cake
What's in a Great Tasting Bespoke Cake? In a previous blog, click here to read, I wrote about the importance that structure plays in a bespoke cake. For any celebration where a bespoke cake is served it should definitely look the part. I am still amazed at the number...
Traditional Easter Cakes and Treats
The Traditions of our Easter Cakes and Treats. Ahh Easter!! Easter Cakes, chocolate eggs and bunnies. To be honest I’ve never really understood the concept of an Easter bunny. Santa...Yes, tooth Fairy...Yes! But a chocolate laying bunny rabbit?? Where did that one...
The Anatomy of a Perfect Wedding Cake
The Importance of Structure. It doesn’t matter who you entrust with the creation of your wedding cake. A professional cake designer, family friend, or even if you decide to go for off the shelf, there are some key structural components that must be present. This will...
How to Survive Baking With Children this Half Term
Top Tips for Easy, Stress Free Baking. As a parent, trying to fill school holidays with activities for your little ones can be difficult. I know I have two school aged children of my own. Running a home based business during the school holidays is even more of a...
Wedding Cake Trends 2018
Do I Have to Follow a Trend? At the start of every year there’s always the usual predictions for the years next big trends. It occurs in every industry, from shoes and handbags to mobile phones, and wedding cakes are no exception. From nature to fashion and modern...
Why it’s Important to Enjoy Planning your Wedding.
Yes.. I know... you've heard it a hundred times before, but here it is again, 'Your wedding day will be over before you know it'. All that planning and organising, months of consultations and discussions over.. oh so quickly. You will of course be left with the most...
Christmas Cakes from Around the World
Next Monday is Christmas Day! I can hardly believe it because it seems like the past few weeks have flown by. In my most recent blog posts I’ve given you tips on Christmas shopping especially for the aspiring baker and sweet-toothed person in your life, Christmas cake...
Perfect Gifts for a Baker or those with a Sweet Tooth
December is upon us and it is about this time that Christmas shopping begins. That is unless you are one of the organised people that have already begun their Christmas shopping, or even one of the smug few that have finished it already! You may be someone that leaves...
When should I make my Christmas Cake and other Christmas Cake FAQs!
Some people have a hard and fast rule that Christmas can’t be mentioned until 1st December... but the order books are now open for my Christmas treats and there are plenty of people who are getting ready for the season already. If you are one of them you can see my...
Success at Cake International 2017
I’m still on a high after Cake International! The first weekend in November thousands of cake decorators and enthusiasts from all across the world descend upon Birmingham to attend the world’s largest cake show at the NEC. This year was no exception – there was a...
Easy Cupcake Recipe for Kids for Autumn Half Term
It’s that time of year again and half term is nearly upon us. As a mum, I know how tricky it can be keeping children busy during the school holidays. What with clubs and camps, play dates and outings - it can be a whirlwind of activities, but I always...
Budgeting – Customising Basic Cakes
Weddings can be the most expensive undertaking of your life and with the average UK wedding now topping £27k it isn’t surprising that some people find the prospect of planning their big day daunting. Milestone birthdays look to be going the same way and people...
Cupcakes 101
This week is National Cupcake Week so it was easy to choose the subject of our blog for this week - cupcakes obviously! I’ll be covering everything from the appeal of the cupcake, to a recipe and common problems and how to resolve them. Cupcakes have...
What Flowers are Best for your Cake – Decisions Decisions…
Edible flowers have been en vogue for some time, from sugar roses to real flowers - any floral decoration has been the go-to for fashionable eating. We have seen them featured in the TV programme The Great British Bake-Off and some edible flowers are sold in...
Bespoke Cakes vs Shop Bought Cakes
Yes this is a blog post written by a Cake Designer, but this post is not biased and unbalanced in favour of bespoke cake. In-fact this blog post is written to be balanced and fair, examining all the elements of both shop bought and bespoke cake. ...
Think you know everything there is to know about wedding cakes?
Weddings are full of traditions. Whatever the family background or the cultural influences in the wedding, I can bet that the one thing they all have in common is that there will be at least one tradition present on the big day. There are tea-drinking...
Choosing your Perfect Wedding Cake
Let them eat cake... Finding the perfect cake to reflect your personalities, needs and of course your budget is a major project for most couples planning a wedding. A bespoke cake is a big investment; back in 2014, Brides Magazine gave the average price of a wedding...
From Consultation to Wedding Cake
A couple of months ago I was extremely lucky to create a wedding cake in Essex for a reception at Ye Olde Plough House. A picture of the final cake had the greatest reach of any picture posted to my facebook page at that time. As it was so popular I've decided to...
How to Maximise your Wedding Cake Budget
Planning and organising a wedding can be an expensive affair, and your wedding cake is probably the most expensive cake you'll ever buy. That's why you need to get the most from your budget. The following 5 wedding cake tips will help you do just that. 1. Choose an...
Let’s Talk Cake – The Wedding Cake Consultation
So, you’ve ticked off those all important items on your wedding list: Date confirmed - Check! Venue booked - Check! Number of guests decided upon - Check! And now it's time for the CAKE!!! Even if you know very little about wedding cakes there’s no need to panic. As...
5 Top Tips for Wedding Cake Inspiration
So you’ve ticked off a few items on your wedding to do list, and now its time for the cake, but where do you start? You’ve no idea about cake, design, colours or flavours. It can be overwhelming. Do not worry. I’ve put together a collection of tips that will help you...
Time for Cake?
Time waits for no man, so the phrase goes. Especially when you have an important event to plan. All of those individual elements have to come together perfectly on that special day. The cake may be a small part of your wedding day, but being prepared and organised...
Wedding Cake Panic Ends Here!
After numerous attempts at starting this blog, I've decided the only way forward is to just crack on with it and keep it simple. In the spirit of this philosophy, I guess my first task should be to define the purpose of this blog, but first some context. My love for...
Kerry Herbert
Hi I’m Kerry Herbert. Welcome to my baking blog for busy mums where I combine my scientific and baking knowledge to help you learn how baking really works. So you can teach your kids how to bake with confidence!
