Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

for the recipe of mrs jones 10″ cake is the dense enough for covering in sugarpaste and also stacking and sturdy enough for carving if not does anyone have a good recipe that i can use constantly?

Another good easy vanilla recipe is this one http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10860/. I use it for celebration cakes and for carving. Other members have tried it too with favourable results. Again freeze before carving.

Hi madeitwithlove, I was just wondering if I used this recipe and covered it with sugarpaste how long will it last? I’m hoping to make a cake this weekend and decorate it through the week for next weekend. I normally make a madeira cake but find it can be quite dry. Thank you.

Hi jrj

The cake will not stay fresh for that length of time, for sponge cakes work on a time scale of 3 – 5 days, Madeira two weeks from decorating to eating. Madeira doesn’t have to be dry, there’s lots of information the site if you search ‘Madeira’. If you add quarter teaspoon of glycerine per large egg to your batter it will make it moist and extend the shelf life by a few more days. Brushing simple syrup on the cake layers will also add moisture. Make simple syrup by boiling equal quantities of sugar and water for a minute or two, cool and brush over cake layers with pastry brush. You can substitute the water with juice of choice and also add a whole vanilla pod to the liquid during boiling for extra flavour. Hope this helps, if you need more information please post again. x

Thanks for the advice madeitwithlove. Your answers to people’s questions are always so helpful. I normally add glycerine to the Madeira but have never brushed the layers with syrup so I will definitely try that today. Thanks again and I’ll let you know how it turned out xx

Hi I may have missed this but, how long does the cake from bbc good food last. thank you.x

Hi kath12

I bake that one a lot. I get a good four to five days, it’s not a straight sponge mix as it uses a little plain flour which makes it slightly denser than a plain sponge but not quite as dense as a Madeira. x