Lauren Finch - Finch Bakery: Sweet Homemade Treats and Showstopper Celebration Cakes

LAUREN & RACHEL FINCH SWEET HOMEMADE T REAT S & SHOWSTOPP ER CELEBRAT ION CAKES

CONTENTS Welc ome to Finch Bak ery FINCH BASICS Equipment Ingredient s Lining tins Colourings Flavourings and sprinkles Buttercr eam Chocolate ganache Fillings Piping bags and nozzles Piping techniques Tem pering chocolate Tem pered choc olate deco rations Assembling cake s Naked c akes Crumb coating and applying butterc ream Smoothing butterc ream Scraper techn iques Drip techniques Half and h alf cak e Cake ja r tut orial CELEBRATION CAKES, CUPCAKES & CAKE JARS Classic Victo ria sponge Chocolate fudge c ake Funf etti layer cake Cherry Bake well cake Carrot ca ke Candy oss cake Red velve t cake Peanut butte r cak e Sticky toee pudding cake Lotus Bisc o cake Creme Egg cake Vani lla and chocolate half and half cake COOKIES & COOKIE CUPS Chewy chocolate chip cookies Chunky chocolate chip c ookies Pumpkin spice cookies Red velve t stued co okies Nutella stued c ookies Lotus Bisc o stu ed cookies Cookie dough stued cook ies Smore s cookies Giant personalize d cookie White chocolate ganache cookie sandwiches Milk choco late ganache cookie sandwiches Raspberry and white chocolate ganache cookie sandwiches Dark choco late and sea salt ganache cookie sandwiches Red velve t cookie sandwiches Funf etti cooki e cups Lotus Bisc o and caramel cookie cups Cookie dough cookie cups Peanut butt er coo kie pie

Geo-heart cak e shapes Cake pops an d cake sicles SMALL BAKES Classic scones Lemon and blueberry sc ones Cinnamon roll sc ones Basic macaro n shells Battenberg macaron s Candy oss macaro ns Caramel mocha mac arons Unicorn macar ons Strawberry doughnut macaro ns Ice crea m cone cupcak es Ter ms and translations Conversions Index Acknowledgements TRAY BAKES Chocolate br ownies Chocolate ca ramel br ownies Creme Egg brownies Slutty bro wnies Vega n chocolate chip br ownies Loaded white chocolate blondies Jammie Dodger blondies Apple and cinnamon blondies Fros ted unicorn blondies Lemon and blueberry blondies Chocolate or ange blondies Smore s browni e pie Banoee pie Cinnamon rolls NO BAKES Summer fru its white chocolate cheeseca ke Battenberg cheesecake Tr iple-layere d cookie dough cheesecake bar Lemon and ginger cheesec ake Hard ca ndy lollipops Milk choco late ro cky road White chocolate rocky r oad Salted car amel r ocky r oad Lotus Bisc o roc ky road Hot chocolat e bombs Peanut butt er cup s Chocolate ganache balls

WELCOME TO FINCH BAKERY W e rst starte d the bake ry from our par ent s k itchen just bef ore our 21st birthday , making a three- tiered , wobbly , wonky mess of a cake t hat rei gnited our childhood love f or ba king. Over the years as our skill s grew , b aking for family and friends beca me more than a hobby and we opened our rst s hop on Queen Stre et in Gre at Harwood, La ncashire in 2016. From there, Finch Bake ry has gro wn from a small fron t counter oering a fe w dozen tr eats each d ay to selling hundre ds of c ookies, brownies , cupcake s, rocky r oads and e verybody s f avourite cake jars, both instor e and online . Now, with an incre dible 30-stro ng team working ov er th ree sit es and cre ating all kinds of delectable treats, w eve ju st opened a new agship sto re on Queen S treet. Our cust omers tra vel fro m all over and que ue down the stre et of our smal l Lanca strian town to get their x of Fin ch goodies, but while being closed for over a year through the globa l pandemic, we shifted our focu s to online delivery so that no-one would have to go without their favo urite bro wnies, cookies and c ake j ars. W e also started selling our own r ange of equipment and partnere d with our favourite baking brand s so that you c an all cre ate your own Finch tre ats at home. We s tarted Finch Bak ery with no expectations. F rom our sim ple love for bakin g cake s and with the support of family , friends, our amazing team, and, of course , our incredible legio n of fa ns and customers, both online an d local, the business has gr own be yond our wild est dre ams. W e a re so pr oud to be able to inspire others to start bak ing whether for y our o wn business or just for pleas ure, we hope that by sharing some of our mos t sought- after tips, tricks and techniques, we ca n help you to cr eate y our o wn wonderful bakes at home. Many of o ur r ecipes ar e re ally versatile, so we encour age yo u to experiment wit h avours and deco rating t echniques to suit your own style and taste you might n ot always get it perfe ct the rst time (we d ont either!) but we hope yo u have fun as your baking skills and condence grow . W hether you are one of our long- time followers o r just starting out with baking we hope it s o ne delicious journey!

FINCH BASICS

10 / FINCH BASICS EQUIPMENT From essential tools that y ou may alre ady have at home to specialist baking equipment that can help to give your c akes a professio nal nish, here is the equipment w e couldnt do without. MIXER / HAND-HELD ELECTRIC WHISK Most rec ipes in this book c all for a mix er. We use a KitchenAid, howe ver, there ar e so man y other brilliant mixe rs available to choose fro m as well. If you do nt have a mixer , you can use a hand- held electric whisk inst ead. CAKE & BAKING TINS Each re cipe in this book uses either a 20c m (8i n) round or a 20 x 30cm (8 x 12in) re ctangular tin. If you w ant to re place a re ctangular tin with a square one , use a 23cm (9 in) tin. W e r ecomme nd rectang ular an d square tins that have str aight sides (rather than t apered sides) to ensure even bakes. We use Silverwood c ake t ins. SILICONE MOULDS The newest cr aze in the cake world, you ca n buy silicone moulds in pr actica lly every shape and size. T hese are great for c reating lle d chocolate shells and tempere d chocolate shapes. CAKE DRUMS We p refer to use cak e drums , which are sl ightly thicker than c ake b oards, t o crea te a stable base for al l of our cele bration c akes. A c ake d rum should be at least 7 .5 cm (3in) wider than t he un-iced cak e to a ccommodate the crumb coat, buttercr eam lay er an d a decora tive bord er around the bas e of the cake, if re quired. WEIGHING SCALES Combining baking ingre dients can be an e xact science, which is wh y reci pes call for accu rate measuremen ts its best to use electric sc ales. ANGLED PALETTE KNIFE Yo u can use this ve rsatile tool to apply , smooth and make patterns in butter crea m, lift cookies and macaro ns from baking tr ays, s pread batt er, or apply g el food colouring, among many things. CAKE SCRAPERS We u se our o wn range of meta l cake scrapers , but there are plen ty of me tal, acrylic and plastic versions ava ilable. Essential fo r achi eving a smooth nish or adding patterns such as stripes or a zig -zag t o butterc ream, a c ake s craper is a must-have for impressiv e cake decora tion. PIPING BAGS AND NOZZLES Good-quality piping bags are vital for succ essful piping we re commend larg e, anti-slip eco or biodegradable plastic piping bag s. Owning every single no zzle is not im perativ e; start o with a couple of open and closed st ar no zzles and build your coll ection as your skill s grow . MACARON MAT Use a macar on mat t o ensure perfectly ev en macaron s every time. The y are available online, or alternatively , you can prin t a paper template to use underneath high quality baking parchment . Th ere ar e also di erent sh aped macaron templates ava ilable to tra ce such as hearts, bears, unicorns and man y others.