Some recipes, like those for sponge cakes, ask you to whisk the egg and sugar mixture until it forms a ‘ribbon trail’. To check if you have reached this point, stop whisking, lift the whisk out and wave it across the top of the mixture. If it leaves a ribbon trail that lasts for 2-3 seconds before it disappears into the mixture again, then it is ready. If not, just keep whisking until this point is reached. Another way of checking is to slowly draw a figure eight over the surface – if the start of it is still visible by the time you finish it, then the mixture is ready. read less

When lining a shallow tin, such as a Swiss roll tin or slice tin, the simplest way to ensure that the base and all four sides are lined is to take a single piece of non-stick baking paper that is about 8cm larger than the base of the tin. Grease the tin so the paper will stick and then smooth the paper over the base to cover, pressing it into the corners. Then make a cut from one of the corners of the paper towards the centre just to the point where the paper meets the corner of the tin – this cut will allow the paper to sit neatly in the corner. Repeat with the remaining three corners. read less

Some like ‘em crisp, some like ‘em chewy. If you fall into the chewy camp with your meringues it is easy to make sure they have this hard-to-resist texture by taking them from the oven as soon as they have finished baking and cooling them at room temperature. For crisp meringues, turn off the oven, leave the door slightly ajar and leave them in the oven to cool.

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When making a pie or tart there is no need to grease the tin before you line it with pastry – the high butter content in the pastry will naturally stop it from sticking to the tin. If you grease your tin, the pastry is more likely to slip down the sides/shrink during baking leaving you with a tart case that with very short sides and not much room for your filling.

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