Cutter & Squidge - Cake Decorating

Cutter & Squidge is Londons only all natural bakery, using British sourced ingredients.

After arriving at Cutter and Squidge we were offered a drink and then taken to a table where all our ingredients and prep for the class were arranged on the table as seen below on the left.

We waited for the rest of the group to arrive, giving us time to talk and introduce ourselves. There was a range of people attending the class with an equally wide range of skill levels to suit. This course was designed to be easy to follow for beginners, but also to provide more professional techniques and tips for the more advanced.

we were supplied with; a vanilla sponge cut into three layers, three piping bags containing vanilla cream cheese buttercream, strawberry jam, and strawberry buttercream respectively. Meringue pieces and an assortment of other ingredients were also provided in pots before us.

At the beginning of the class we were introduced to Emily and Annabel Lui, sisters and co-owners of Cutter & Squidge. Their aim is to use as many natural ingredients to make beautiful and delicious cakes and products without the artificial taste of many supermarket bought cakes of today. One of the ways they do this is by using all natural products to colour their butter icing. Shown on the right are a few of the products they use; including matcha powder for green, freeze dried raspberry powder for red/pink and blue spirulina powder. As you can see the powders are very vibrant in colour so only a small amount is needed to colour the icing. They also add great flavour to the icing giving it a more predominate flavour of the ingredient than you might get with bottled flavourings.

After this a demonstration was given on how to set up the seaweed based plastic and cardboard to help keep the cake straight when building and help provide some structure to the layers. Once this was done we used a milk simple syrup to lightly soak the first layer of sponge. Following with equally spaced blobs of the two buttercream's and some of the jam. To add texture to the cake we were then told to sprinkle some chocolate pearls, crumbles of digestives and pieces of the meringue on to the cake. Before placing the second layer of sponge on top and repeating. With the third layer, while still soaking with the milk simple syrup, we piped a layer of strawberry buttercream, smoothing it with an off set palette knife.

From here we were then provided with a range of items to decorate the tops of our cakes.

Once our cakes were complete we spent some time taking pictures with the group and our finished cakes. Before packing our cakes into boxes and receiving a certificate for the course.

I really enjoyed the course and I am looking forward to doing more with them in the future. Cutter and Squidge also do immersive afternoon teas with the current one; the Potions Room having a wizard theme and a new room aiming to open in the summer. I am hoping to experience their new afternoon tea once it opens.

RECIPES:

Vanilla Sponge 15cm/6-inch cake

175g unsalted butter, softened

175g caster sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature

1tsp vanilla bean paste

240g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

85ml buttermilk, at room temperature

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1. Preheat the oven to 180’c

2. Put the softened butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla bean paste in a mixing bowl.

3. Sift in the flour and the baking powder and mix with a hand held electric whisk, starting on slow and then progressing to medium, for about 1 minute until well combined, scraping down the sides every few minutes.

4. In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk and bicarbonate of soda together until foamy, and quickly add to the cake batter.

5. Mix at a medium-high speed until combined; do not over mix or the sponge will be tough.

6. Divide the cake batter into the pans specified in the recipe and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes for three pans or 30-35 minutes for two pans until golden and springy to the touch.

Milk simple syrup

Strawberry jam

400g frozen strawberries

12g caster sugar

Small squeeze of lemon juice

1. Stir together all the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over a low-medium heat for about 10 minutes.

2. Stirring until the fruit has broken down and jam has thickened.

3. Leave too cool. It will keep in the fridge for up to 2-3 weeks.

Strawberry butter cream

6 egg whites

260g caster sugar

430g unsalted butter, softened

Freeze dried strawberry powder

1. Stir together egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl.

2. Place over a pan of gently simmering water.

3. Heat gently, stirring occasionally, for about 20 mins or the sugar has dissolved.

4. Remove the bowl from the pan and use a hand-held electric whisk to whip for 10-15 mins until cool with stiff peaks.

5. Add softened butter and whisk for a further 5-7 mins until light cream in colour.

6. Take a small amount of the icing and melt it. Then mix the strawberry powder into it to make a smooth paste.

7. Add to the icing and mix together to flavour and colour the icing.

Cream cheese Custard

100ml double cream

20g cornflour

2 eggs

100g white chocolate

100g cream cheese

1. Combine the cream and cornflour in a saucepan and whisk till smooth.

2. Add the eggs and whisk until fully combined.

3. Place saucepan on a low-medium heat and cook for 10-12 minutes, whisking, until thickened.

4. Remove from the heat.

5. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in short bursts.

6. Combine the thickened cream and melted chocolate in a bowl with the cream cheese and whisk till fully combined.

7. Transfer the custard to a bowl and cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 1 hour before using.

Biscuit digestive

125g unsalted butter, melted

250g plain flour

60g granulated sugar

60g soft light brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 190’c

2. Mix together all the ingredients by hand in a bowl until it resembles a fine crumb.

3. Tip onto a baking sheet lined with greaseproof. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 mins until lightly golden.

4. Fork through the mixture as it cools to create a fine crumb.

5. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks or in a freezer for up to 3 months.

Other decorative items:

• White Chocolate pearls

• Rose petals

• Dried fruits

• meringue

#experience #cake #icing #fruit #decorating