lorinda

You mentioned that you were looking for threads/forums about breadmaking. Might I suggest you check out Dan Lepard's site, which has very active forums and I'm gratified to see that Mr Lepard, busy baker that he is, has time to help all of us amateurs. As for tips, there's heaps of things that could be responsible: is your yeast active (is the dough rising at all?), how is your kneading technique, are you using enough water (usually more than recipe says), and of course as you mentioned, bread (strong) flour is important too.

Thank you for all your replies, they are most helpful.

I am doing a beginners' cake decorating course, and loving it. However, all my flowers have been white so far, I need to buy some paste colors, but would like some advice on which brand is good generally, for intensity of color, shades available, ease of use. I have come across good mentions of Americolor and Sugarflair. What do people think? My teacher said she didn't prefer Wilton but preferred Sugarflair because it didn't dry out - or something like that - due to the alcohol content. Thanks in advance.

I found this thread very interesting and informative, since I am making the wedding cake for a friend's wedding (a 3 tier fruit cake). If the wedding is at the end of April next year, when should I make the cakes to allow for proper maturation? How crucial is the maturation?

I'm afraid I haven't got any answers as yet, but I have just embarked on some test baking in preparation for a friend's wedding cake next year. My recipe, like yours, calls for the fruit to be macerated overnight in alcohol (+ orange or apple juice). I left the fruit for a few days as I tried to find a suitable cake tin. After baking, I cut the cake in half. One half is being matured and sprinkled with rum every week or so, for around 3 or 4 weeks I guess. The other half I tasted straight away. It was very nice and moist, so I can say that if you don't wait for the cake to be matured, does not mean it is too dry. Cutting it on the same day as baking was a little difficult - a tad soft and some of the fruit falls out. My guess is that letting it mature means it dries up a bit, and the cake holds together better on slicing. I'm a bit curious whether the cake goes mouldy during maturation, as I'm not sprinkling that much alcohol as the raw boozy taste isn't universally palatable. I noticed you said you are making the cake with one real tier, 2 styro tiers and 2 kitchen cakes. As I am inexperienced in wedding cakes, could you please tell me what the kitchen cakes are for? Are they sliced in advance, so that they can be served quicker? It's a great idea!

Shalmanese, I know exactly what you mean, having experienced the same angst myself. Returning to Sydney from London where I was spoilt with choice with many different types bread flours to choose from, all from the local supermarket, found Sydney was woeful! I suspect that flour mills and supermarkets are trying to push bread mixes because (a) higher profit margin; and (b) they think, rightly or wrongly, that most people who make their own bread use a machine. From my own experience, not that many people make bread and cakes from "scratch" these days. I have come across a lot of recipes for bread in local magazines which state plain flour - and pity those who follow it with poor results. Bakers order their flour from distributors and it comes in 25kg bags, from such places as Manildra mills. With regard to unbleached bakers flour, I have found that "Wallaby" flour made by Laucke works well. It has 11.9% protein. I get this from my local Coles (Hurstville), in 5kg sacks. I also know of a fruit shop nearby which sells Manildra bread flour in 10kg bags and very economically priced, but haven't tried it. I have tried Defiance Baker's Flour but found the resulting bread to be hard and not very well risen. If you look on Laucke's website, they also make several types of other bread flours for different types of bread, with varying protein and water absorbency, but I haven't found these at supermarkets.

I get buckwheat noodles from a Chinese grocery store in London's Chinatown called 'See Woo'. The trick is that they are not placed in the main noodle section, but in the 'Japanese' section in another aisle. Cost around 80p for a packet. They also have a store in North Greenwich.

I think the queue is a testimony to the power of marketing and not the product itself. I had some when my brother bought several boxes back from the first store in Sydney and didn't think it was anything special, too sweet for my tastes so I had to scrape off the glaze. The only cool thing about Krispy Kreme stores are the free donuts they hand out, cos I wouldn't pay for them.