My Kitchen Table

Five days. Five bakes. So many smiles.

What an incredible week we had at our Junior Bakers Camp!

Over five fun-filled days, these amazing young bakers mixed, whisked, piped and decorated their way through:
🍓 Strawberry & Cream Sponge Cake
🧁 Vanilla Cupcakes
🍫 Chocolate Cake
🤎 Fudgy Brownies
🍪 Sugar Cookies

But the best part wasn’t the cakes…
It was watching their confidence grow with every bake.
They learned new skills, made new friends, encouraged each other, got creative, and left every day so proud of what they’d made.

Seeing their excitement when they held up their finished bakes reminded me exactly why I love doing this. 💛

A huge well done to every single junior baker—you should all be so proud of yourselves!

If your cupcakes are dry, dense, cracked or uneven, it might not be your recipe… it could be your technique.

Here are 5 things to avoid:
❌ Using cold ingredients
Room temperature ingredients mix together more evenly and create a smoother batter.

❌ Overmixing after adding the flour
Mix just until combined. Overmixing develops gluten, giving you heavy, dense cupcakes.

❌ Overfilling your cupcake liners
Aim for around ⅔ full (or the amount your recipe recommends) to help prevent overflowing and cracked tops.

❌ Putting them into a cold oven
Always preheat your oven so your cupcakes rise evenly from the start.

❌ Leaving them in the tin too long
Let them rest for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Perfect cupcakes aren’t just about having a great recipe…they’re about building good baking habits.

Creaming butter and sugar isn’t just mixing…
it’s what gives your cake its light, soft texture

When done properly, it should be:
• lighter in colour
• smooth
• slightly fluffy

If it still looks yellow and dense, it needs more time.
This step adds air into your batter and that’s what helps your cake rise and stay soft.

Get this right, and you’ll notice a big difference in your bakes.

Cake 101: What NOT to do when mixing flour for a cake

The moment flour goes into your batter, everything changes.

This is where I see so many beginner bakers accidentally ruin an otherwise perfect cake.

Here’s what NOT to do:
❌ Don’t dump all the flour in aggressively
Add it gently (especially if alternating with liquids) so it incorporates evenly.

❌ Don’t beat it on high speed
Once flour goes in, mix on low speed or fold gently.

❌ Don’t keep mixing until “extra smooth”
A perfectly silky batter is not the goal here.
✅ Mix just until the flour disappears
A few tiny streaks are okay — they’ll finish mixing as you fold.

Why?
Because overmixing develops gluten.
Too much gluten =
❌ Dense cake
❌ Tough crumb
❌ Tunnels / big air pockets
❌ Less soft and fluffy texture

Think of flour like this:
Once it goes in, treat your batter gently.

Less mixing often gives you a better cake.

💬 Are you guilty of overmixing after adding flour?

Cake 101: 5 things to avoid when making a cake

Sometimes it’s not the recipe causing problems… it’s the little habits we don’t realise matter.

Here are 5 mistakes I see beginner bakers make all the time 👇

❌ Using cold ingredients
Cold butter, eggs or milk don’t combine properly and can affect texture.

❌ Eyeballing ingredients
Baking is science, a weighing scale will give you much more consistent results.

❌ Overmixing the batter
Too much mixing develops gluten and can leave you with a dense or tough cake.

❌ Skipping oven preheating
Your cake needs consistent heat from the start for an even rise.

❌ Opening the oven too early
I know it’s tempting 😅 but opening the door too soon can cause sinking.

Small changes = big difference in your bakes 💛

Which one have you been guilty of?

When corporate team building meets cake decorating. Team building the fun way….
Creativity , learning and loads of fun