Cake tins and pretty things...

I have mentioned before that I love hoarding cake tins and tools.

The basic cup cake pan is a must, I have 2 deep ones for doing cupcakes in and 2 shallow ones for doing pies (or mini yorkshire puds) in, the shallow ones are also handy if I'm baking lots of cupcakes as I can still use those, the shape just isn't quite as good.

I got mine from the supermarket, I always line them with cupcake cases so there is no real need to spend lots on a cupcake pan.

If you're going to bake lots of layer cakes you need at least 2 round pans the same size, mine are 8 " and I find they are just the right for how I like to cook them. Everyone is different, again I tend to line mine with cooking parchment paper (the cakes come out easier and the tin is less likely to get damaged) I got them from the supermarket as well. Mine are non-stick but I have used silicone ones before and they work perfectly fine too.

You don't have to spend a fortune when your starting out, keep a look out at local pound and bargain shops - you'll be surprised what you can find.

This Alan Silverwood pan is probably one of my favourite pans, it was expensive but I use it so often as it makes the cutest cakes mini round cakes with no waste. I also have the Alan Silverwood adjustable pan which is quite useful.

I have a large collection of pans in all sorts of shapes and sizes which I have collected over the years, I recommend getting a silicone Bundt pan as they are much easier to get the awkward shapes out of and great for all sorts of quick and impressive looking cakes.

This website does a whole range of good silicone moulds for various things (their mini robots are brilliant for chocolate and make really detailed treats to put on the top of cupcakes), and Amazon and ebay are great places to find any others you could possibly need.

For piping I use this nozzle set and disposable piping bags from Lakeland plastics. The big star nozzle does the perfect swirls on cupcakes, and this Wilton nozzle makes lovely roses without any effort (Note: I did not buy mine from this shop but it was the best link/picture I could find quickly.

Look out for sprinkles and cake toppers at your local supermarket you'll probably be surprised at what cute things you can find. I use Wilton gel food colourings when I need to, gel's are much better at providing vivid colours without needing much and they don't tend to interfere with the texture of the cakes/creams/buttercreams.

At some point I will get all my pans/moulds out a photograph them just to show how many I have, but not today :)